German fairy tales are not the best solution for totally beginners, however, it’s worth trying reading or listening to their easier versions (see below). They are ideal for learners who would like to improve their vocabulary and have great imagination and love to read, listen or watch fantasy genre at the same time. We are talking here about stories and films which were written or made by Germans. The plot is always great, the films are of highly quality and you will enjoy watching them.
READING
If you would like to READ fairy tales, then feel free to take advantage of the following possibilities:
Reading – EASY language:
Literatur in einfacher Sprache – when you are there just click on the Märchen box on the left hand side menu. These texts have been adjusted for kids with hearing impairment.
Goethe Institute has adjusted 12 most popular Grimm fairy tales for learners: Grimms Märchen zum Lesen
Grimms Märchen zum Hören: Goethe Institute has also provided a possibility for learners to listen to fairy tales. They are between 3 and 16 minutes long.
Listening – “NORMAL” language:
You can listen toGrimms Märchenas radio dramas too. When you are on that web page, just click on the links in the right hand side menu.
FILMS
If you would rather WATCH films, there are two possibilities for you:
Another valuable source of fairy tale films can be found here: Märchen TV(this is actually a real fairy tale TV!)
FOR TEACHERS
Materials provided by Goethe Institute that you can use for your classes can be found here: Märchen im Unterricht. You can find many other interesting stuff there. Just look at the tabs at the top of the page!
Good way to improve your German is to read stories, books and newspapers in German, online or in print.
ONLINE:
1) Deutsch Perfekt – texts at different levels, written especially for learners
Deutsch Perfekt is a magazine for German language learners. However, their web site is full of valuable resources. After you navigate to the above site you will be able to see that the texts are sorted by topics and if you look closer at each and every text you will see the mark “leicht” (easy) “mittel” (medium) “schwer” (difficult). Chose the text that you like and enjoy the reading!
Every single week you can find a new story on this site. You can read or print them out and enjoy them later and you could even install ‘einfach vorlesen’ as an app on your phone! We are talking here about short and simple stories for children who are 3 / 5 / 7 years old. This is definitely a great opportunity for German language learners! Enjoy!
The “Augsburger Allgemeine” journal was so kind to provide us with online news in easy language which is at the A2 and above level. Every Friday new texts are being published – for people with difficulties in learning and those who do not speak German well. The letters are large, every difficult word is explained, sentences are short and mages can help you understand the text better.
This is a web page with stories in 3 different levels (easy, medium, hard) and in 8 different languages. It was created for kids who are starting to read. Also, it aims at kids who learn German as a foreign language (second language). All texts have been edited so that beginners do not have any comprehension problems.
If you prefer the “text + sound + video” combination – then this is the right thing for you. These videos with subtitles are showing easy stories and are interesting for children.
This story was writen by David Fermer – and it is not an ordinary story. It has multiple endings. It contains several short episodes (about 10 sentences long) and a question at the end of them – making you the one who will decide how the story goes on. And another advantage: you can read it online.
You should learn and practice a foreign language with topics that interest you the most. Quora in German is a perfect place for that. Language is not that difficult and you can read through other people’s answers to questions that could be interesting for you.
You will find here articles that were written by young journalists (kids). They write for their peers so you can expect vivid topics and interesting texts! They are grouped by categories: how we live, how we feel, what we like etc.
This is a section on the Alumniportal Deutsch and contains texts that are given in two versions – at the A2 and B2 level (the same text is given at these two levels).
These stories have been translated into German, you can however read their English translation too and hear a slow audio from a native German speaker. They are great for kids but also for the adults!
There are two extra stories for you from this edition:
Do you struggle with noun gender in German? You don’t have to! My friend Thomas Gerstmann has written easy stories consisting of basic masculine / feminine / neuter nouns! One book for each gender! Isn’t it ingenius? There is also one book that deals with Konjunktiv 2 and verbs that require prepositions. You can order your copy here:
11) All books from the edition Leo & Co. are at the level A1 (A1.2. – A 2.1.). They have been published by Langenscheidt. I recommend them very much. The stories are not too long, they contain many every day words, which is very important, and plenty of exercises at the end of each book. Here are three examples: Leo & Co. Die Prinzessin, Leo & Co. Ein Hundeleben, Leo & Co. Das schnelle Glück. You can order your copy in the window at the bottom of this page.
12) Easy books published by Cornelsen are generally not that good as the above edition (Leo & Co.), published by Langenscheidt. However, I could recommendDie Überraschung. It is at the A2/B1 level and it is interesting because of its rich plot which is similar to soup operas, however, surprisingly, not that hollow. You can order your copy in the window at the bottom of this page.
14) Among books for children, my favourite isDie kleine Hexe. You definitely need to be at the A2 level in order to be able to read this book because it is full of Imperfekt. This is an “old-timer” among books for children and the best-seller of all times. It follows adventures of a little witch and it teaches kids what are the good values in life. You can order your copy in the window below.
15) einfachebuecher.de which is a publishing house specialized for “easy” books. Those books are good for native speakers who have some reading problems or for foreign learners. They offer best-seller novels, short stories, detective stories, classics etc. that have been adjusted to different language levels (A2 – B1). Just scroll to the bottom of their home page and browse through the assortment.
