Customer Reviews

Complete German: The Basics

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I used this course before visiting Germany after I graduated from High School. Prior to my trip I studied French in high school (the boring grammar, drills, verb conjugations, teacher saying, " Ecoute tout le monde, repite... "). At first I worried that I had picked up a phrase book that would not be helpful in forming sentances. I was also wary of the idea that only German was spoken on the cassette tapes. The German-only tapes turned out to be more helpful than a burden. It turns out that the proper way to study the course is to review the book prior to and then along with the audio a few times. Then you must use only the audio. When you hear and repeat the audio try thinking of the meaning of the sentance in terms of imagages and feelings instead the English translation.

The results that I experienced were that my listening comprehension in German was better than that of the French that I studied for 3 years in high school. I was able to form sentances more intuitively than by trying remember verb congugations. Latter in college I studied German and I was well ahead of my classmates. In Germany I was able communicate even though I could not have a full conversation.

This course will not get you to fluency but if you learn that way I learn (intuitvlely with little emphasis on rules)then it is a great beginning. There is very little in the way of grammar, but hey, do you really diagram your sentances in the middle of speaking English?

The only drawback is that there are numerous helpful drills in the text that are not included with the audio.

I had purchased this set primarily to learn conversational german for a two-week stay in Germany, although I did have some interest in learning the language for a long time. While this set does provide a good method for learning a large amount of the language, it is not easily approachable for casual learners. For instance, it will take a while to get to lessons involving important phrases for travelling.
However, if you are looking for a rather in-depth introduction to the language, this may be just your ticket.
Considering the sheer number of lessons, the coursebook will likely take a few months to get through (at least if you intend to retain the knowledge). The requirement to use both the CD's and the book make it quite difficult to set time for learning. Also, the CD's are filled with German phrases or words without any actual dividers, making for a very muddled and confused rambling of german words - you really need to follow along with the book!
I feel that I am learning little bits, but this program is not as easy to use as others have been.

I'm enjoying this conversational German text. It builds on words taught in lists, recycling them into coversations at the end of each unit. It seems relatively fast moving to me, but I am a first time German learner and it keeps me intersted. Commendably it uses words and phrases in rich, multi-layered social situations which make the language more memorable. I would recommend this course.

This course is great for someone who is best at learning a language by hearing it, and having a little book to refer to when hearing the conversation that's being spoken. One thing I have to note -- like another reviewer -- the booklet doesn't cover every single thing that is said in the audio, it only translates what's said in the main conversation in the beginning of each lesson and the new words that are introduced. It's not a major problem, not something that should have you looking elsewhere for another course, but it would be nice. Oh yeah, at the end of the booklet is little but helpful grammer guide.

This course won't make you fluent in german -- as if any course does btw -- but it will give you a good foundation to begin your road to fluency. How do you get fluent? Simple, by speaking german with german speakers and constantly hearing german through any means necessary, be it TV, radio, people...That way you get practice so that you reach the point where you can begin to speak without thinking about how your gonna say something, and also so that you get quicker at understanding what someone says.

Also, it won't make your grammer perfect. That matter should be left to other resources like books that teach grammer, or excellent german speakers who can help.

In all, despite its shortcomings, i give it a 5/5 because its effective. The shortcomings that i've mentioned in this review are not a problem because I don't see how it would help you anymore than the text thats already given in the booklet.

This German course is cheaply put together, but not altogether awful. The audio on CD is worthless without the course book. The audio goes along extremely fast. The coursebook is a 460 page paperback novel-sized. I am on page 56 and have spotted around 4-5 errors already (duplicate sentences, sentences that don't match up with the audio) which indicated the cheap editing. The small dictionary that comes with it is good for beginners. All-in-all, you get what you pay for. I would recommend buying a PC based course available for the same amount of money.

I followed the Chapter sequence. At first I thought this was a tough course. But, I said to myself: "let me take 1 week for each chapter, following the audio of the CDs". Let me tell you that I learned very much German in those 10 weeks. I advise that you learn the numbers in German with other learning easy programs. There are a lot sold here on Amazon. Leave everything else to this book. Every night that I repeated a chapter I learned something new, or a new light was lit in my learning. German is no easy language. Don't expect to learn in 10 days or one month. Don't desperate, after all, you will be advancing because you are in good hands with this book and CDs. Remember that you are at your own pace. The proof that this book is a very nice tool for learning German is that I am now taking the Deutsche Welle online free course, a course that is not easy to follow. I also can read simple writings. This book was helpful in all its aspects. Try it but study, study and study, that is the best task to learn. My next step is to see German language movies and hear music. I recommend this book as a great tool for learning German.

I ordered a specific version of a German language program and Amazon switched the order to a similar but different version, which was not useful for my class. Neither the seller nor Amazon took any responsibility. Beware.

John Bliss

I am taking a german class, and hearing the words is helpful. I also like the tests in the text. I wish the text was a larger scale of the font. There are some errors in the text.

I received the CDs and book very promptly, faster than the estimated time. Everyrhing was in good shape as represented. I am very pleased.