Customer Reviews

German, Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand German with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Instant Conversation)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've been trying to learn the German language for 1 1/2 years because my parent company is based in Germany and I speak/correspond with them almost daily. I've tried Hueber, Langenscheidt, PONS and Rosetta Stone courses, but even though I was averaging 2 to 4 hours a day studying the language, I found these courses tedious and never came to the point where I could actually say anything beyond "Guten Tag" on the telephone. After a week using the Pimsleur method, I was able to hold simple conversations with my German co-workers. The best thing about this course is I am able to listen to it on the way to work, while getting dressed for work, sunning at the pool, etc. I am spending far less time studying but I'm learning at a much, much faster pace.

I liked this course so much that I gave away my Rosetta Stone course, which cost a great deal of money, and I purchased the complete Pimsleur method (levels 1, 2, 3 and plus). A couple of my co-workers have borrowed my Pimsleur courses. I am currently mid-way through level 2 and I'm amazed at how quickly my vocabulary and understanding of the German language has increased. I now consider the hundreds (possibly thousands) of dollars I've spent on other language courses a complete waste of money and effort.

If I could give this course 100 stars, I would! In all fairness to the other courses, I have to say I did learn many words, but I could not form sentences correctly. It would take hours to compose a simple e-mail before and I could only do so if I had one of my German dictionaries beside me. Trying to speak to someone in German was impossible for me to do. I would never have believed I could learn so quickly. I am amazed. If you want to learn a foreign language - skip the other courses until after you've tried Pimsleur. I think some of the others are okay, but do the Pimsleur first. You'll understand the others much better. Other methods try to teach grammar first. But when you first learned to talk, you learned to speak it first - then you went to school to learn grammar. Summary: Get this course!

I took German in high school (30ish years ago) and was taught the way many of us have been taught...the ball, the bed, I am hungry,etc. but this course was a pleasant surprise. Basic conversational words and phrases are repeated and gradually built upon.
If you are sincere about brushing up on or learning German then this is the course for you! However, after doing the Conversational German, which is lessons 1 thru 15, I was hungry for more and bought the German 1 course. German 1 is lessons 1 thru 30+. So if you plan on getting serious, save your money and jump into German 1.
I was actually pleased with the fact that with the purchase of a German verb book, the Pimsleur courses really teach you basic conjugation without boring drills...ich bin, du bist and so forth.
With Pimsleur, you are getting what you pay for. An incrdible product!!

My last German language experience was the three years I took in high school back in 1969. The German language has always fascinated me and lately my wife and I have discussed taking a trip to Germany and I looked around until I found this course to help me brush up on the language.

The technique works. I was amazed at how fast what I had learned 38 years ago came back to me. Even had I not remembered any German, the lessons would still have been easy to learn. However, some lessons you will probably have to listen to a couple of times to be sure you master at least 80% of the lesson.

This particular short course is good for one reason and that is to see if you want to learn the German language, never having studied it before. Its an inexpensive way to "get your feet wet". However, if you already know you that want to learn enough to get you past ordering food, asking directions or dealing with vendors, get Level I of the Pimsleur oomprehensive course.

This Conversational German course is the same as the first 16 lessons of the 30-lesson Level I course. I wish I had discovered that before I ordered this shorter course but that's my fault.

I was looking for audio course that would refresh what I had learned in high school years ago and provide additional vocabulary. This was not it. No new words. Just some basic reinforcement of word order in sentences towrads the end. Useful if you know No German whatsoever but not if you are looking to brush up

I found the Pimsleur Conversational German set to be helpful learning the pronunciation of the German language. The program carefully takes you through how to annunciate many words and/or phrases. However, I did not find this program helpful with the overall structure of the language, or how to understand and build sentences, etc.

Also, I found it difficult to understand some of the words/phrases it went over without any visual assistance. The disks are audio only, and I found the lack of actually seeing what the program was trying to teach me very bothersome.

I ended up purchasing the Rosetta Stone program 1 for German and it was much better. And also very much more expensive!!!

I have taken 'The short course', which is audio CDs only. I am a tainted reviewer of the Plimseur method because I have taken a community college course on Conversational German.

The weaknesses of this method are these:
- acquisition of grammar and vocabulary is slow.
- there's no reading or writing of German.
- there's no advice about how to form the German sounds. (The CD has a barrage of examples, but you are left on your own to figure out how to make the sounds. This is harder than you might think.)
- so much concentration is required during the lesson that I don't think it would be safe to drive or operate machinery while listening to these CDs. If you're looking for a CD for the car, this isn't the course for you.

The stengths of this method are:
- it's good listening practice.
- there's more speaking practice than I got in a classroom setting.
- there's more pronunciation practice than I got in a classroom setting.
- the little material that is covered is constantly reinforced.
- it's a good method if you get flustered by grammar terms such as 'nominative pronoun', 'genitive case', 'declension', and 'indirect object'. The Plimseur method is mercifully free of all that.
- there's no effort outside the half hour daily lesson!
- all you need is an audio CD player.

Some reviewers claim that you don't acquire any grammar, but that's not true. The course introduces German grammar concepts by example. The idea is that you acquired English grammar by example, not by grammar rules; therefore, you should acquire German grammar the same way. It is certainly more natural than memorizing rules, but is also a very slow way to acquire German grammar.

The cast of each lesson are a male German speaker, a female German speaker, and 'the tutor'. The tutor tells you when to listen to the speakers, when to repeat what they say, and sometimes quizzes you! It's uncanny how the CD anticipates stumbling points and tutors the student through them. It's a lot like having a live tutor, except a live tutor could tell you whether you were making the sounds correctly. One nit of the CDs is that I was never sure whether I was making the sounds correctly, and it's a little hard to speak German consonants in the time alloted.

These CDs would be pretty good if you were planning travel to Germany and wanted to learn enough German to get by. These CDs are good for the casual student who has a quiet half hour a day for a lesson (but not while driving). For the serious student of German, the CDs are good practice of speaking skills, and are good for improving your German accent.

I rate the short course 3/5 stars. What's there is very, very good. For full marks it would need more pronunciation coaching, and some reading material.

This has been and is great. It is taking me several reviews of each lesson to feel comfortable in speaking and not having to "think" of my response, but it just comes - which is amazing. The only drawback, is that sometimes the pronounciations seem to change, especially between the female speaker and the male speaker, and I'm not talking about the way you are to say a word, but when they break it down and then say it whole, the next time they say it is sounds different.

But, I would recommend this to anyone. I haven't listened to any other languages, but if I need to, I would go to the Pimsleur programs first.

I was looking for something to get me started speaking German quickly, and this was the perfect choice! I come from a generation that expects instant gratification, so these CD's were the way to go. I drive about 45 minutes to work each way, which is a little more than one lesson. They reccommend only covering one lesson a day, to which I agree. After the very first lesson I was really excited and was amazed at how much I took away from it. I was walking around the office reciting to myself like an idiot. Just this week I finally got done with the 16th (and final) lesson of this series, and my opinion of this series is still the same.It rocks! Complaints? There are some things that are drilled over and over that seem fairly trivial, but when it comes to putting it all together in a complete sentence, it seems a little rushed. I also wished they would have drilled more on the different ways to put some words together and better explained the multiple usages for certain words. I like the fact that they offer a male and female speaker that mostly recite the same word or sentence so you can hear different pronunciation differences to confirm you're getting it right. One other thing I appreciated is that most of what is taught on the CD's was just enough to be able to just barely survive in a German speaking environment. You can greet people, ask for food, get directions, and even order a drink for someone. It should be noted that I also purchased the Berlitz Method German book, and it did NOTHING for me. I have been told, and I now agree, that you should hear and speak the language before ever trying to read it. I am currently waiting for my order of Pimsleur's German Level 2 & 3. based on my experience with this CD set. I highly recommend it!

I was stationed in Germany 15 years ago. I am going back this Dec so I wanted to brush up / learn German so I'm not lost when I get there. The CD's proved to me that I actually remembered much more than I expected. I didnt think my vocabulary was that good until I listened to all 16 lessons. These CDs were not very helpful to me. If you spent anytime in Germany and got off the base on a regular basis, these cd's probably wont help you much.

The product is a wonderful value and saved our vacation. Please note that this is an introductory course and is not comprehensive by any means. We were told that most everyone in Germany spoke English but found many uncomfortable to do so. This product gave me enough German to convey my wants and desires. The lessons are easy to follow and teach by hearing and speaking. I was able to review all the material in two weeks and got many compliments on how well I sopke the language. This product would be helped greatly by some written material for back up. Overall, I am very satisfied with my purchase and heartily recommend it to any beginner.