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The theory behind this basic vocabulary as stated in the introduction, is that 2000 words make up 80% of daily language in German. An additional 2000 words cover another 5-10%. This vocabulary list is split thematically (e.g. Trinken und Rauchen / Drinking and Smoking), with the most common word set in that category (1-2000): Alkohol, Bier, Getränk, Milch, etc. followed by the 2nd most common set of words in that category (2000-4000).
The idea is that you learn the first 2000, and then the next 2000.
Each entry has the German word, English word, IPA pronunciation, gender, (or verb type: e.g. transitive, intransitive, reflexive), imperfect and perfect past tenses, plural form, and a sample usage sentence.
This is not a dictionary, you still need that, especially since words are organized by theme, and then by spelling of the German word. There is an index of all the German words, but not for the English words. The introduction is in English but otherwise everything is listed in both German and English, e.g. sections: Menge und Maß = Quantity and Measure.
My copy was printed in Germany and I only found it at a small European bookstore in San Francisco. It seems not easily found in the states. That's too bad, because this is a perfect starter tool for people who are beginning to learn German. (like people who don't live in Germany!)
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
I wanted to know, how rich my German vocabulary was. This book allowed me to gauge the extend of my vocabulary. I would not recommend it to a total beginner. One has to absorb around 500-600 very basic words (not to mention, basics of the German grammar) prior to studying from this book. There is one aspect worth remembering. This book is a companion to another, very important aid (buy a German edition) by Langenscheidt entitled "Grundwortschatz Deutsch - Übungsbuch" (a key to all exercises is provided). Both books are by the same pair of authors who designed them as complementing each other(along the same word groupings and typographical conventions). I study regularly from both, first absorbing (or reviewing) a number of words (grouped by a subject area) with simple sentence examples from the Basic German Vocabulary and then, study more advanced exercises dealing essentially with the same word-groups in the Exercise Book (Übungsbuch). There are two general divisions of words, the basic 1-2000 words and more advanced 2001-4000 most useful or, most commonly used words. Note that this is not the same as dividing words by frequency of appearance of words in a language of choice. What is most important in this approach is that it complements any course or self-study program one might undertake. In addition, it re-enforces a habit of working with one's vocabulary in an imaginative way by subject areas (body parts, health, travel etc). This has been proven the most effective way to extend vocabulary in any language, avoiding hammering words into one's head by rote.Read more ›
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First off, there is some confusion here regarding ISBN numbers. There is a hard cover copy, a soft cover copy and a soft-cover workbook. The soft cover Bacic German Vocabulary is ISBN is 978-3-468-49400-0. The soft cover work book ISBN is 978-3-468-49419-2. I live in Germany and both soft covers are readily available here and on Amazon.de. I've studied this book cover to cover as it really is the best listing that I've found for the basic words needed for studying the German language - and there are a lot of bad basic vocabulary books out there. It gives you the most common 4000+ words. It gives them in sentences. It also provides a pronunciation guide to each word along with singular and plural of nouns (and genitive where needed) and the principal parts of the verb. Sweet! I guarantee if you really learn all these 4000 words and how to manipulate them grammatically, you'll have no problem in expressing yourself and getting the gist of what you read and what you hear. But it's not perfect. First off it was written in the early 1990s and though it has been updated to reflect the German spelling reform, evidently nothing else has been touched. So some of the vocabulary is a little dated and some important modern words are left out - using the word "typewriter" frequently is one that come to mind. Secondly, there really are quite a few typo errors ( I estimate I found about 30) that have evidently been in there for 20 years now. So the editors really new to put out a new edition. Other things that I wish had been done differently were - not giving verb vowel changes in the present tense, too much use of the simple past with verbs and English translations that frequently were way too (and unnecessarily) loose and occasionally downright wrong.Read more ›
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Very practical vocabulary builder: gives pronunciation guide (didn't know that "der Auftrag" is pronounced with a "k")next to each word along with a sample sentence to aid with proper usage.
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