Books and Other Items for Expats and Travelers

In our German Way Store you’ll find books, Blu-ray discs, electronics, travel items, and other products related to living, working or traveling in Germany, Austria and German Switzerland.

Also see: Germany for Beginners: The German Way Expat Guidebook, co-edited by Jane Park and Hyde Flippo.

Jane’s Guidebook Recommendations

NOTE: Jane is no longer updating her German Way Store recommendations. Below are some items that are still valid and recommended by the German Way editors. – Many of the books and products below are available from either Amazon.com (USA) or Amazon.de (Germany). Please choose the Amazon store that is best for your location.

One of Jane’s earlier recommendations was the Franklin Speaking Language Translator, but it’s no longer available. So we now recommend this newer product: the Franklin M520 Global Translator for 15 languages, including German and English. See Amazon.de’s more detailed description below.

Franklin M520 Global Translator from Amazon.de
Price: EUR 54,03 with Free Delivery – Sold and shipped by Amazon.de
Amazon.de: “Beherrscht 15 Weltsprachen: Deutsch, Englisch, Französisch, Italienisch, Spanisch, Portugiesisch, Niederländisch, Russisch, Polnisch, Tschechisch, Ungarisch, Türkisch, Chinesisch (Mandarin), Koreanisch, Japanisch.
Mehr als 1,6 Mio. Einträge, darunter 150.000 Stichwörter und Redewendungen, 1,5 Mio. verschiedene Beugungsformen
18.000 nützliche Formulierungen und Redewendung für Reisende in 13 Kategorien (z.B. Einkaufen, Essen, Business, Hotel, Reisen, Wetter und mehr).”
BUY IT from Amazon.de

Also see: For Mom and Baby – Jane recommends books and products from Amazon.de, based on these German Way articles: Having a Baby in Germany: Prenatal Care and Having a Baby in Germany: Giving Birth.

Books about Switzerland

Get a deeper insight into Swiss life and culture with these book tips by Jane.

Swiss Life: Things I Wish I Had Known by Chantal Panozzo
With her trademark humor, Chantal Panozzo shares her evolution as an American transplant through all phases of withering and thriving as an expat in the extra clean cantons of Switzerland in 30 tightly written essays.
Swiss Life by Chantal Panozzo (Paperback, Amazon.com)
Swiss Life by Chantal Panozzo (Kindle edition, Amazon.com)
Swiss Life by Chantal Panozzo (Paperbook, Amazon.de)
Swiss Life by Chantal Panozzo (Kindle edition, Amazon.de)

Swiss Watching: Inside the Land of Milk and Money by Diccon Bewes
“We all know that Switzerland gave us the world of cuckoo clocks, triangular chocolate and penknives, but how about the Toilet Duck, Velcro and LSD? Europe’s landlocked island is a great subject for a cultural anthropologist and Bewes is a perfect guide.” – Financial Times
Swiss Watching: Inside the Land of Milk and Money by Diccon Bewes (Paperback, Amazon.com)
Swiss Watching by Diccon Bewes (Kindle edition, Amazon.com)
Swiss Watching by Diccon Bewes (Paperback, Amazon.de)
Swiss Watching by Diccon Bewes (Kindle edition, Amazon.de)

Slow Train to Switzerland: One Tour, Two Trips,
150 Years, and a World of Change Apart by Diccon Bewes
“In Slow Train to Switzerland, Diccon Bewes shows the ‘in the footsteps’ genre in a lighter form through a pioneering 1863 trip by the Junior United Alpine Club – seven English men and women whisked through the snowy peaks by Thomas Cook’s first organised tour of Helvetia. This adventure marked the beginning of the modern tourism industry. An amusing book not least because of the genteel comedy of manners of the English tourists is an offshoot of the fact that Switzerland to the Victorians was as threateningly exotic as Irian Jaya (West Papua New Guinea) is to us today.” –Lawrence Osborne, The New York Times Book Review
Slow Train to Switzerland (Paperbook, Amazon.com)
Slow Train to Switzerland (Kindle ebook, Amazon.com)
Slow Train to Switzerland (Paperback, Amazon.de)
Slow Train to Switzerland (Kindle ebook, Amazon.de)

Jane’s Expat Book Recommendations

Covering various expat topics

Raising Global Nomads by Robin Pascoe
Advice from someone who has been there and done that.
Raising Global Nomads (Paperback, from Amazon.com)
Raising Global Nomads (Paperback, from Amazon.de)

Third Culture Kids: Growing up among Worlds by David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken
This book comes universally recommended. Luisa Weiss references this in her interview on the GW Expat Blog.
Third Culture Kids (Paperback from Amazon.com)
Third Culture Kids (Kindle edition from Amazon.com)
Third Culture Kids (Paperback from Amazon.de)
Third Culture Kids (Kindle edition from Amazon.de)

A Portable Identity: A Woman’s Guide to Maintaining a Sense of Self While Moving Overseas, Revised Edition by Debra R. Bryson and Charise M. Hoge
A workbook for women faced with having to reinvent themselves while living overseas, written by two former expatriate spouses who are also counselors. The book educates and empowers expatriate spouses to take charge of the changes in identity that occur during an international relocation.
A Portable Identity (Paperback, from Amazon.com)
A Portable Identity (Paperback, from Amazon.de)

German Grammar

Books to help you improve your German language skills.

Klipp und Klar. Übungsgrammatik Grundstufe Deutsch in 99 Schritten/Ausgabe mit Lösungen – Neubearbeitung
I continue to refer to this book for a quick refresher of German grammar. The explanations are “klipp und klar” and you can can do the accompanying exercises to reinforce the lesson.
Klipp und Klar (Paperback, from Amazon.com)
Klipp und Klar (Paperback, from Amazon.de)

PONS Grammatik auf einen Blick Deutsch
Another handy reference while learning or simply writing German.
PONS Grammatik auf einen Blick (Paperback, from Amazon.com)
PONS Grammatik auf einen Blick (Paperback, from Amazon.de)

Cooking

Crock Pot – Schmortopf
For a taste of home.
Crock Pot from Amazon.de

German Way Store: More Books and Products in our GW Store.
MORE: The German Way Store – DVD and Blu-ray – More items for expats

German Way Expat Blog: View all blog posts by Jane»

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Related Pages
AT THE GERMAN WAY

• The German Way Store – Books, DVDs, travel items and more for expats or travelers in German-speaking Europe.
• German Way “Expat How To Guides” – Helpful step-by-step guides to help you cope with life and work in German-speaking Europe. Our guides cover topics from shopping to taxes, from apartment-hunting to banking, and from going to the dentist to buying a car.
• For Mom and Baby – Jane recommends books and products from Amazon.de, based on these German Way articles: Having a Baby in Germany: Prenatal Care and Having a Baby in Germany: Giving Birth
• Expat Blog – The German Way Expat Blog discusses issues of interest to expats in German-speaking Europe.
• Expat Repatriation – Re-entry or moving on when the assignment’s over
• Medications Overseas: Potential Hazards – Rx for expats in Europe
• The German Way Expat Forum – Join our forum, where we share info and tips about life in German Europe.
• The Autobahn in Austria, Germany and Switzerland
• Driving in Germany – Tips and rules of the road