Different Ways Of Learning German

Flag of Germany. 

 I am learning German daily using Duolingo.

A friend of mine from Toastmasters, after I gave a talk on learning languages, told me that he is learning German. To obtain German citizenship you have to achieve a moderate, level 3, level of German understanding, speaking, listening reading aloud and silent sight reading, if you are of German descent on one or both sides of your parentage (maybe grandparents?), and higher level A on the language test if you have no parentage, eg if you have lived there or worked for a German company overseas and want to apply for citizenship, which would give you financial benefits, rights to stay, help overseas, as well as kudos and pride and sense of belonging. 

Phone and Laptop Setting To German

My friend was using various methods of immersion. These included setting his phone and laptop to the German language. 

Wikipedia

I found it useful with Spanish and Italian once I reached a higher level, to run Wikipedia articles in the other language after reading an article in English.

German Language Stickers

My friend was also using stickers.

 I can also use sticky labels in the middle of my copy of the book German in 10 minutes a day. ISBN 0-916682-99-4.

When I could not find my book yesterday, I looked up stickers on Amazon. I had to be careful with what my search words found, I nearly clicked on cheap 'German stickers' which were not German words but German landmarks.  

My German stickers are in German only, not bilingual with English. So I had to look up some of the words.

Easy Obvious German - English Words

die Garage - the garage

der Garten - the garden (as in kindergarden)

das Haus - the house

die Kamera - the camera

die Lampe - the lamp

das Papier - the paper

das Sofa - the sofa

Useful Websites for learning German

amazon books

German in 10 minutes a day, by Kershul, Bilingual Books Inc ISBN 0-916682-99-4.

amazon stickers

duolingo.com

wikipedia language settings

wikivoyage phrasebook German

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What Do ISBN & EAN Numbers Mean?

 ISBN

The ISBN number, short for International Standard Book Identifier is the 13 digit book order code which gives the country, publisher, author and title. It also specifies paperback, hardback, or e-book, to be sure you get the right version. 

Old Or New Editions and Versions?

You might want the book's corrected or longer, up-to-date, illustrated version with the fancy cover. Or the cheaper, compact and lighter to carry, old version, a back number. Or even a rare and valuable, uncensored, signed first edition. 

The ISBN is used when ordering, or when the shop is stock taking, and when tracking. 

It is easy to understand that as a customer you might want the latest edition of a restaurant guide. Later reviews. Current prices and phone numbers. But a historian or historical novelist might want the oldest version of a street guide. 

An older edition of William Shakespeare's play will be priced differently to this year's. The same goes for Mrs Beeton's Cookery book which has been reprinted many times.

EAN Numbers

An ISBN number is printed in what is known as an EAN-13 format. The first two digits are the country.

EAN stands for European Article Number. It is an acronym. Acronym comes from the Greek for top and name, meaning new word formed from initial letters. 

Acronym

Acro, as in acropolis, top of the city. Ak from a previous language means top, tip, sharp point. EAN for European was changed to International Article Number but the term EAN is so well entrenched that it is still used. 

Nym means name. Put the two together and you get acronym.

Bar Codes & Prices

The bar code 9000 after the ISBN means there is no set price for the book. So as inflation increases, and so do printing costs and packaging, the price of the book goes up. 

Amazon or Kindle refused to accept a book with a marked price, because customers get irate at being charged more when the original typesetting of the first edition included the old price.

When I take books to events I may have two copies of the book. One has the cheaper price because I bought it last year.  After I have sold that one, the other book has the higher price because I ordered it in the current year and paid more postage. 

A separate issue is whether to pay in the local currency, the currency of the card (which may be where the card is registered, where you used to live, rather than were you are now, if you are an expat with two homes.

If the bank is charging you to change currency, you are better off using the home currency.

 

My Books By Angela Lansbury

 Benjamin Disraeli, Queen Victoria's favourite MP, and Prime Minister, said: 'When I want to read a book, I write one.'

When I travel, I take with me my latest book. The quick way for you and a bookseller to find and order a book is to use the ISBN number. Each number stands for an essential piece of information about the book, saving typing time, all abbreviated to 13 numbers.

ISBN

The ISBN number, short for International Standard Book Identifier is the 13 digit book order code which gives the country, publisher, author and title. It also specifies paperback, hardback, or e-book, to be sure you get the right version, the up-to-date or back number edition.

EAN

EAN stands for European Article Number. It is an acronym. 

9000 and Marked Prices

The bar code 9000 after the ISBN means there is no set price for the book, nothing stamped on it about the price. The first time you print or self-publish a book the lack of price seems a nuisance. You will have to spend time putting the price on each copy of the book. You need to remember the printing cost, the author's time and money, the delivery or packaging and postage if the book has been forwarded. 

You have to print stickers and spend time attaching them. That is another cost, effort and time. Risk of forgetting, having one book without. Or write slowly and neatly on sticker.

Printed Prices & Price Stickers On Books

But, if you hurry the sticking, because you are impatient, or the cashier or customer wants the job done, you risk having messy stickers at an angle. 

You could buy labels and write on them, ending up with amateur-looking hand-written price labels.

I remember thinking, why can't I just include the price on the cover? Many books do have printed prices on the cover.

Pricing Books - Price at £4.99p Or Not?

But there are other unforeseeable reasons the price goes up, or changes. 

Traditionally, shops list items at 99p or £1.99 or £4.99 or £9.99 which sounds cheaper than one pound or two pounds or five pounds or ten pounds. Why? Because you hear one, or two, or four or nine. 

However, if you are an author selling books to individual buyers at a book signing, it is a nuisance to have to stop and find 1p for each transaction. Instead of scrabbling in your purse, you need a see-through. zip-up purse containing several one penny coins. 

But the one penny coins are rare. Besides, lots of people don't want them. They might tell you don't bother. Keep the one penny. Whilst some people think that pennies add up to pounds, others think it is not worth my time to hang around to give or gain a penny.

This year, 2026, the volunteer cashier at Writer's Summer School book room told everybody that prices listed ending in 99 pence would be rounded up because it was quicker and easier for them.  They wanted to have whole numbers when calculating the percentage paid to the Writers' Holiday account, and the remainder forwarded to the book's author. 

The price on the cover of every book had to be changed. The price listed on the stock sheet handed by the author to the shop at the start of the week had to be updated. The price card inside the box which the cashier took each time a book was sold had to be updated. 

 

BOOKS ON POETRY & WRITING POETRY 

Angela’s Alarming Animals 

Poetry Pets & Pests 

 A-Z giving each animal’s characteristics such as diet. 

ISBN 978-1-291-49395-5

Lulu ID 13987252

Poetry Workshop Workbook  

Write new poems! 

Lulu ID 2228624 

Seriously Funny Poems

ID 931758 www.lulu.com 

ISBN 978-1-291-49752-6 

Illustrated large book with large pages and large print text written as one long poem, for children age 4-8. 

Writing Poetry For Fun 

BOOKS ON ETIQUETTE 

Etiquette For Every Occasion 

ISBN 071344710X

How To be A Bridesmaid.  

ISBN 0-7063-7003-1

This book was used for a demo on How to use Singapore Library presented to the American Women’s Association. 

Wedding Etiquette 

ISBN 0-7063-6868-1 

ISBN 0-7063-6538-0

The Wedding Planner

ISBN 0 7063 6867 3

BOOKS ON SPEECHES 

How to Be The Best Man  

Ward Lock 1st edition, later Cassell. Reprinted many times. 

ISBN 0-7063-6748-0

Wedding Speeches & Toasts 

ISBN 0 7063  7003 1

ISBN 0 7063-6642-5 (Published in 1988)

BOOKS ON QUOTATIONS 

Quick Quotations for Successful Speeches.  

A to Z by subject matter. 

ISBN 978-1-4461-9007-4 

You can take a quick look at the contents and a quotation on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quick-Quotations-Angela-Lansbury/dp/1291599193

Who Said What When 

Quotations for every day of the year. 

ISBN 978-1-291-94876-9

BOOKS ON TRAVEL 

Enquire Within Upon Travel & Holidays 

ISBN 0 214  20281 X

Jewish Travel Tales & Guidebook  

Anne Frank, Auschwitz, Houdini, Marilyn Monroe, Levi jeans, Singer sewing, many more stories and sightseeing 

Birthplaces, success stories, museums, cemeteries, entrepreneurs, singers and stars. 

ID 10658062

ISBN 978-1-4477-1091-2

Unforgettable British Weekends 

Weekend Breaks. Burgh island and many more.  

Paperback

ISBN 0-907070-37X

Hardback

ISBN 0-907070-361

BOOKS - FICTION 

Larry The Talking Labrador, Cathy the Cat And The Escaped Lions  

A schoolgirl’s dictatorial dog drags her around a zoo,  interviewing vegetarian wildlife to help her homework project, pursued by an irate, carnivorous, escaped lion. 

ISBN 978-1-326-32169-7

90000

The Tailor and The Spy 

ISBN 978-1-326-73649

Humorous historical escape and emigration, inspired by Angela’s ancestor, great-grandfather, reluctantly leaving Lviv in his homeland Ukraine, chasing love, via London’s chaotic, vibrant East End in the 1880s. 

HUMOROUS MEMOIRS  

Dating Online  Did I Really Write That

ISBN 978-1-84799-934-4 9000

Lulu ID 1040874

Embarrassing Moments  

(Book 1) 2025. 

ISBN 9798296557582 . 

Travel and Teaching in Singapore, UK, USA. 

WRITING & LANGUAGE 

Improve your English 

Examples, instructions and an A-Z of adjectives, nouns and names, so you can easily add alliteration, assonance and rhyme.

Paperback 

ISBN 978-1-4717-9749-1 

CHAPTERS & POEMS IN ANTHOLOGIES 

Contributor of short stories, poems and articles to numerous anthologies.

In the And Us series of anthologies by Carolyn Street I have some poems. 

 

Addictions and Us Compiled by Carolyn Street 2023  

ISBN 978 981-189 0383 

Chapter 11 Confessions of a Hoarder, Keeping Order

Poem entitled Hoarding Plane Traveller. 

Chapter 12 Fighting Fat, Getti ng Fit - Addicted to Eating Potatoes, Chocolates and Freebies. By Angela Lansbury.

Grief and Us

compiled by Carolyn Street 2023 

ISBN 978-981-18-6532-9 

Chapter 5 Coping with Bereavement and Depression by Angela Lansbury.

(No humorous poems in that book, although I recommend reading humorous poetry and watching humorous films or videos.)

Writing and Us  

Compiled By Carolyn Street 2024

ISBN 978-981-18-9039-0

Interlude 1 Author Angela Lansbury Title A Writer Is A Wronger (Poem) 

Interlude 2 Travel Writers' Rites

Interlude 3 A Plate of Poetry

Chapter 2 Get A Headstart With Your Writing

Chapter 3 Tips On Types of Writing

Chapter 4 Writing On Travel

Please share links to your favourite poems on my blog posts. I have more blogs on travel, and fashion.  

Also see my latest book, the amusing Embarrassing Moments on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk or Lulu.com . I have about nineteen other books on these websites.  

FAMILY HISTORY BOOKS

Soup and Sympathy

(A private family history book written for the Parkin family, our former neighbours in Hatch End.)

Pearl Sharot This is your life

Trevor Sharot This is your life

Lulu ID 11622157

COMMUNITY HISTORY

The History of Harrovians Speakers Club

SONGS

THE MAD MUSICIAN A Musical (110 songs)

ISBN 978-1-4709-8370-3

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Updated Saturday September 5th.