Customer Reviews

German in 32 Lessons (Gimmick Series)

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This is the third Gimmick Book that I have used. My experiences with the two Italian Gimmick books were stellar... in less than four months, I was reading through newspaper articles, and I now live in Italy with a job that is greatly augumented by my fluency in this language. No, it's not a traditional format, and Adrienne's method is not like traditional language books, which is why it works so well. She requires you to (gasp!) think for yourself while you learn the language. She doesn't treat the student like an idiot, which is why idiot students should check out one of the thousands of glorified phrase books in order to say and understand a couple hundred stock phrases, and get upset whenever a native has the gall to answer differently than what the phrase book told the student the answer was. This is possibly the best book series available, and coupled with a good independent tape system that has the same philosophy (such as Pimsleur) the student will be well ahead of his or her fellow students, and also able to communicate beyond memorised textbook answers.

I used "German in 32 Lessons" when learning German, and found it superior in many ways to other introductory books (and I looked at a lot of them).

However, there are a number of shortcomings which make it less useful than it could be--shortcomings that could be easily remedied. First, there needs to be a section in the front of the book on pronunciation. Second, there needs to be an alphabetical list of vocabulary words in the back of the book. Third, it needs to be updated, some of the slang is a little outdated. Fourth, it would be great if it had an accompanying cassette or CD.

If these four things were done, I think it would be BY FAR the best introductory language book on the market. It has great strengths--logical, bite-sized lessons, useful vocabulary, clear explanations of important grammar. But it needs a bit of tweaking. Adrienne, are you listening? W.W. Norton & Company, are you listening? Please update the whole series.

After a few semesters of college German and a few months at the Goethe Institut, when I finally found myself living in Germany I found this book invaluable. It is not comprehensive but it is a great start in helping one to begin to communicate in modern Germany.
Recommended