Amended: This post now includes 8 Easy German Book recommendations for A1-level learners,
3 from adult literature and 5 from youth literature.

All of the books listed here are A1 books, however if you look in a bookstore, make sure you look for an emblem or a marking with "A1" on it. No matter where you buy it, I recommend you purchase a physical copy so you can take notes in the book and also so you can use the included audio/mp3 download with the book.

These are books I recommend for you fo…

One of the best parts of German culture is the Apotheke, the pharmacy! Not because of the prescription drugs, but because of the products you can buy there. And the freebies--don't even get me started. I once bought some facial care products and make-up and they gave me a HANDBAG. A HANDBAG!!! I still have it. Die Tasche ist fantastisch! I even got a tea candlelight holder one year and since it was Advent/Christmas, the candle holder was in the shape of a star. Ja, das habe ich auch noch.

Every…

and make German a part of your everyday life.

Sometimes it amazes me how quickly people can pick up German words and sentence structure, even though they've never been to Germany and haven't learned German before.

Clients come to a lesson and they have no idea what German bread tastes like, but they can talk about German breakfast: das Brot, die Marmelade, der Kaffee.

It can be a source of frustration, however, to learn German, but only to have all these North American elements around us:  sp…

Besides books and reading, it's safe to say the board games are an important German cultural element. Games are so important to Germans that there is a Verein (club) that reviews games every year known as the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year).

German board games are awesome and some of them are now cult games of epic proportions. You might have seen Catan spread out on the coffee table in an episode of The Big Bang Theory. (Das war echt toll zu sehen.)

Here are a few games you could get to …

When you're buying a Christmas gift for someone who is studying German, you may not know exactly what they need. With one small piece of information, that is which level of German they are at, you can do some quality gift buying right here.

Be sneaky! Look on your German learner's book for one of these combinations: A1, A2, B1, B2, or C1. There might be a "+" after it or the book might show a range of levels, for example A2-B1. Sometimes the letter/number combination is on a blue square with th…