As is often the case with books of this kind, this volume has been written primarily with the needs of my own students in mind. For the past few years, I have been teaching German linguistics and sociolinguistics at Lancaster University. I have used many excellent textbooks but have failed to identify any one volume which fulfilled all our needs simultaneously. These included: (a) coverage of the diverse areas which I wanted to introduce to students; (b) a style which was accessible, in particular, to first years; and (c) the provision of exercises, which students could pursue in their own time. Now that the book is finished, I sincerely hope that students other than those at Lancaster will also be able to benefit from it in the future.

Recent developments in British university teaching of foreign languages remain something of an enigma. Students (we are told) are increasingly opting for ‘practical’ degree schemes with language as their primary focus. Yet despite this perceived demand, the kind of structured teaching which can be offered by specialist linguists seems sadly lacking. Too few courses, for example, dedicate sufficient time to formal training in pronunciation. We send students abroad, largely unprepared for the considerable linguistic variation they are certain to encounter (at least in German-speaking countries).