Guide to German Idioms
Sprachfuehrer zu Deutschen Idiomen
by J.P. Lupson
Publisher: Passport Books/NTC
ISBN: 0844225010

Compare Prices

Guide to German Idioms presents over 500 German idiomatic expressions and proverbs with their English equivalents, organized by subject area - from "Anger" to "Worry" or from "Annoyance" to "Stupidity." Within each category, the idioms are listed alphabetically by a keyword that occurs in the expression, such as "Geduld" ("Mir reißt die Geduld." = "My patience is wearing thin.") or "Bild" ("Das ist doch ein Bild für die Götter!" = "What a sight!"). To assist the reader in finding expressions, there are two indexes, one for English to German, the other for the reverse. Readers can also find idioms by subject or topic in the Table of Contents.

The book is not intended to be an exhaustive compendium of every possible idiom or proverb, but presents many commonly used expressions for everyday conversation. Under "Bild" (picture) for instance, the author has included only the single expression cited above, but not the several common "Bild" idioms that can be found in most German-English dictionaries, e.g., "im Bilde sein" (to be in the know, in the picture) or "du machst dir kein Bild" (you can't imagine). But the expressions chosen to fill the book's 128 pages include many that are difficult to find in the average dictionary or phrasebook.

The British author has included both American and British versions of expressions that may vary in the two cultures. For instance, the idiom "ein Unterschied wie Tag und Nacht" is rendered "as different as day and night" (Am.) and "as different as chalk and cheese" (Br.) For some expressions there is a background explanation of the origin of the term, which also may serve to help the learner better remember the idiom. For the expression "vom Hundertsten ins Tausendste kommen" (to get carried away, to ramble on) you learn that the meaning is derived from the use of an abacus in ancient times, whereby it was easy to accidentally transpose 100 into 1,000. Each proverb or expression is accompanied by a sentence or two (in German and English,) placing the idiom in context. This is important, since it is vital that one understands not only what an idiom means, but how it is used.

One of the few caveats one might raise about this book concerns the recent German spelling reforms. With a 1984 copyright (and no apparent updates), the book does not reflect some of the new spelling rules in German. But, since many Germans themselves continue to ignore the reforms, this is a minor failing. So, "im großen und ganzen" (on the whole,) this book should be a useful tool that will keep you "auf dem laufenden" (current, up to date).

Compare Prices