Doppellebendouble life

Nine weeks with Hazel: radio engineer at Ramstein, renovator of a crooked old house, cellar scientist, techno dancer and secret double agent. Her story starts in English and slips into German a few words at a time. Week One is for complete beginners. By Week Nine you’re reading C1 German: newspaper reports, a public hearing, old diaries and a speech.

How to read it. Guess first. Tap a word only when you’re stuck: you’ll see what it means, a grammar note where it helps, and you can hear it said. Words you’ve looked up get a yellow underline. Each week has a level, from A1 to C1, and from Week Four on a box at the top explains that week’s grammar. In the later weeks almost everything is German. Turn the weave down to −1 or −2 and the hardest phrases switch to English, in green italics. Beat is Swiss and the neighbors speak Pfälzisch, so a few words are dialect, and their notes say so.