There has been a documentary on BBC4 over the last month called Berlin and it is about the history of the city and its dual identities. It’s surprisingly fascinating viewing and helped along by the usual BBC high production standards and a beautiful soundtrack scored specifically for the series. The show is part of the Open University and at the end of each episode prompts you to apply for a copy of the written accompanying guide. I wasn’t too bothered but curiously made me go back in my browser and click the link and it just gave me a simple page to put my name and address. I didn’t have to create an account or verify anything, and less than a week later I got my free guide through the post.

It seems obviously targeted at people learning German as the whole book is in dual languages but the way they’ve done it is quite cool. Text will be written on the page in one language, and then there are semi-opaque overlays with the corresponding translation on top, so you can test yourself on it. For a freebie, its really nicely made, and I can’t believe that dual layer process is that cheap to do. It’s definitely something I’ll hang on to.