Customer Reviews

German I (Pimsleur Language Program)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have now completed all 3 levels of Pimsleur German, plus their additional 10 lessons called "German Plus." These 100 lessons (50 hours) will give you a wonderful foundation in German. The focus is all on speaking and understanding, using an all-audio method like none you've ever tried. Pimsleur lessons are simply the best out there. If you want to learn a foreign language on your own, this is the best way. It's been like having my own personal tutor. My only caveat: buy a simple (I mean very simple) German grammar book. You may want to look things up as you go, just to fully understand why Germans say something the way they do. Not required, but it may make your learning that much more complete. Bottom line, Pimsleur lessons are great. I'm thinking about Arabic or Japanese next.

I took German in high school and college, but wanted to brush up on it.

I just completed German I, and I was pleasantly surprised. To achieve spoken competence requires a hugh amount of repetition and drilling to internalize the patterns. But different people have different learning styles; some respond well to reading and practicing grammatical principles and paradigms, others are more ear-oriented. At first, the endless repetition was frustrating; I must have heard "Would you like to drink something with me?" about 40 times. And "Where is Goethe street?" about 30 times. For someone who remembered some of his school German, it was a little much.

The pace picks up in later lessons, and it began to get a little more interesting and challenging as new vocabulary and grammatical structures are added.

All in all, it was an enjoyable experience, and I think a pure beginner would do very well with these tapes.

If only they weren't so hideously expensive. Fortunately, my library system carries all 3 levels of the German series, so I'm all set. Before paying for the full set, you might want to pick up the smaller 4-cassette version to see if it suits your learning style.

I found this to be a great program and I would recommend it to anyone who desires to begin learning a new language. I have the abridged Intermediate course also and when I get through that I'll be getting the Pimsleur Comprehensive German II series. I also purchased an abridged Spanish course for a friend to try out and I am confident he will get the entire set.

This is the best language program I have ever used...it really deserves a 10 star rating. If you want to learn German thoroughly and quickly, you've got to use this program. It's so good, I have even caught myself thinking in German after only a few weeks of study.

This is really a great course. I compared it with the Living Language set -- and there's no comparison. You won't learn a lot of words, but you will definitely learn to use the language. I find myself thinking of a German response to everday events, and I'm confident that I am learning not just to parrot phrases, but to use the language. I am very happy with the set and look forward to Pimsleur's German II.

This is truly the very best course of German I have ever learned. Studying is easy, short in time, can be held in car. No books. Just repeat after speaker. Phrases are fixing in memory. The result is amazing. I plan to buy 2nd and 3rd parts.

These tapes are tremendous for learning to speak the language. They train you to actually think in German -- you are not just regurgitating set phrases, but learning to use the language in many different ways. I am saving my money for the second set -- if the first set is this good, I can only imagine how much I could learn from all three sets!

It is no miracle, kein Wunder, but it really works if you want to get the most of a foreign language, especially if it is eine Fremdsprache. The method is very well accomplished, leting us feel at complete ease. The pauses are perfect, the only thing is that for those who have scratchig skins I would suggest an improvement of the pauses, so that you can have time to repeat and/or scratch the top of your head or else. As a matter of fact, here goes a good sugestion: re-record the tapes so that the pause can be longer and... ...enjoy yourself! Making them longer and longer will give you a chance not only to scratch your body as a whole, but also do it for your mate, your pet, even your neighbour, if he/she happens to ask for a cup of sugar... Enjoy IT!!! It is worth the money!!!