Bastian Sick

This book is a compilation of the author's "Zwiebelfisch" columns which appeared in the German magazine _Spiegel_. The continuing column may be read at http://www.spiegel.de/zwiebelfisch .

As a native speaker of English who has lived in Germany at various times and enjoys learning the ins and outs of the German language, the book is both a valuable resource and a little shot of Schadenfreude when I see that even native speakers of German struggle with some of the same things I do. The most show more disturbing recurring theme that appears in many of the specific language confusions discussed is the growing influence of English vocabulary, usage and orthography on German, by way of ads, pop culture and even the news media. I don't remember whether it was in this book or its sequel that I read Bastian Sick's offhand remark that "most German journalism today consists of translation from English," but I found it both scary and probably true. show less

Three collections at once is a bit much, but these are fun, and would be good for advanced German students as well as the German native speakers they are written for.

nervt manchmal mit speziellem Humor; für korrektes Schriftdeutsch brauchbar, bei Umgangssprache und lokalem Sprachgebrauch (rheinische Verlaufsform) zu Übereifer neigend

As with the first two, this is hilarious. I was laughing all the way through. Highly recommended.