[UPDATE Our free vocabulary trainer at http://hermestrainer.pythonanywhere.com ] This intensive lexical builder is addressed to B1-B2 intermediate learners of German, who are already capable of reading easy German stories, and who would like to enrich (and/or refresh) their vocabulary up to the advanced level in order to approach more complex German texts. Each piece of vocabulary is embedded in at least three example sentences in order to appeal to active understanding and trigger both short-term and long-term memory. Whenever possible, different meanings of the terms or expressions concerned are also illustrated. The vocabulary lessons are interspersed with concise but essential reminders of German grammar. At the end of the book, readers are offered a bilingual, paragraph for paragraph version of one of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s famous stories, namely “Rath Krespel” (1818), translated in English by J. T. Bealby (1885). In each pair of bilingual paragraphs, important words to retain or recognize are emphasized in bold or underlined. Finally, the bilingual version is followed by the original, German only text of Hoffmann’s novel – which readers are advised to go through, even if by now they know the narrative – since it is essential to retrieve and fully consolidate all learned German terms into their original context. Should you have any suggestions as to how this book can be improved, please email us at: [email protected], or visit us at www.hermeslanguagereference.wordpress.com And of course, as always when it comes to foreign language learning, remember to stay brave!