GK> I must admit that I'm not very familiar with those terms.
 GK> "community college" means that the community (city, county,
 GK> whatever) pays for it?

The taxpayers that live there do, yes.  These are two-year colleges that
provide the first two years of a college education, and also provide
instruction for those seeking careers in various professions.  They also
offer courses of general interest, such as photography and canoeing.

Basically, the philosophy here is to provide every American, regardless of
his background and preparation, the opportunity to get an education and
raise his station in life.  For good or bad, that's it!

 HT>> What's a textbook in non-English speaking countries?!

 GK> I don't know, since I'm still unsure about the exact meaning.
 GK> ;) To me, a textbook sounds like a book with text in it, so
 GK> the name is quite redundant. Is my guess about the audience
 GK> correct? If that's the case, I don't know good German words
 GK> to distinguish book for "basic" and for
"advanced" studies.
 GK> Well, a "basic" book is sometimes called
"Lehrbuch" (which
 GK> translates to something like "teach book"), but that's all I
 GK> can come up with.

Textbooks can be written at the introductory or the advanced level, or
anything in between.  A textbook is a book used in conjunction with the
taking of a course.  It's arranged in chapters, sequenced to keep pace with
the course.

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