By Hyde Flippo
Updated
July 26, 2016
.
German News in English
DER SPIEGEL, along with FOCUS, is one of the two largest-circulation news magazines published in Germany. DER SPIEGEL is Germany's oldest news magazine, founded in 1946 as an obvious imitation of America's TIME and NEWSWEEK magazines. (For more ?about this topic, see
A Guide to German Magazines
.)
As one of Germany's leading news magazines, DER SPIEGEL is, of course, published in German. The level and style of the German in DER SPIEGEL can even be daunting for native German-speakers, much less for someone learning the language. Although I definitely recommend that German-learners?even beginners?make it a habit to regularly read at least small segments from German magazines and newspapers (see
A Beginner's Guide to Following the News in German
), DER SPIEGEL can be a challenge for even intermediate-level students of German. That's why I also recommend that German-learners subscribe to the free international edition of DER SPIEGEL in English.
A regular subscription in North America for just six months of the print edition of DER SPIEGEL runs into the hundreds of dollars. While a single copy of DER SPIEGEL in Germany costs only four euros ($4.50) in Germany, a copy purchased at a newsstand in the US costs almost $10.00. But you can read selected articles from DER SPIEGEL online for free. The newsletter edition in English is also free. You have to register, but the required info is minimal and it's free. (Note: There's also a German newsletter from SPIEGEL called DER TAG.)
As I write this, the Web edition of DER SPIEGEL International features articles with these titles: "Was Katrina Colorblind?," "Scientists Give New Orleans One More Chance," "Berlin, Meet William Timken" (the new US ambassador), "Was the Chancellor Debate a Snore-Fest?," and "Conspiracy in Beirut." What are the stories this week? If you subscribe to the free SPIEGEL English newsletter, you can keep up with German, European, and world events, as seen from a German perspective. The SPIEGEL ONLINE site also offers an RSS feed, for people into news blogs and such.
By the way, if you'd prefer to subscribe to a German newsletter
auf Deutsch
, see the
German News
Web site (link below). You can receive a daily email news brief in German. There is also a daily English edition offered by German News. An RSS feed (German or English) is also available. As mentioned above, Der Spiegel also offers a German newsletter.
Okay, back to DER SPIEGEL. From time to time, SPIEGEL also publishes special print editions on certain topics. One of the latest International Editions (4/2005) is entitled "The Germans." It's "a survey of Germany 60 years after World War II" and can be ordered online (with a credit card) from the SPIEGEL ONLINE site.
Below are links to SPIEGEL ONLINE in English. Give SPIEGEL's English edition a try!
Related Links
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German Newspapers in the US and Canada
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German News - English edition
- daily
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German News - Deutsch
- taglich
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A Beginner's Guide to Following the News in German
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A Guide to German Magazines