German III, Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand German with Pimsleur Language Programs [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Pimsleur (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 21, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0743528778 | ISBN-13: 978-0743528771 | Edition: 30 Lessons + Reading

German is the official language of Germany and Austria and is one of the official languages of Switzerland, Belgium, Lichtenstein, and Luxembourg. Nearly 100 million people speak German as their first language: about 77 million in Germany, 8 million in Austria, and 4.5 million in Switzerland.

The Pimsleur® Method is scientifically proven to be your fastest route to nearnative fluency. German III, Comprehensive includes another 15 hours of spoken language practice and one additional hour of reading instruction, and is designed to be used after completion of  Levels I & II.

• The beginning 10 lessons offer you the chance to expand your vocabulary and increase your fluency to an even higher level. You’ll gain experience participating in many informal and some formal discussions on practical, social, and semiprofessional topics. You’ll skillfully form longer, more complex sentences, and most importantly, you’ll find yourself being understood, even by native speakers unused to dealing with foreigners. You’ll be able to join in conversations effortlessly, confident of being understood.
• In the next 10 lessons your skills will show everincreasing mastery of the language. Speaking with grace and complete naturalness, you’ll enjoy fluid conversations on many new subjects. Delving deeper into cultural norms and situations, you’ll find yourself responding effortlessly, and able to choose from a wide accumulation of vocabulary and structures.
• In the final 10 lessons, you’re nearing fluency with agile responses, and a naturalsounding, nearnative accent. You’re able to utilize the language in subtle ways, and speak using past, present, and future tenses. Selfconfidence soars as you experience the language and culture; no longer as a foreigner, but with a deepening insight into an expanding new world. Reading Lessons are included at the end of Unit 30. These lessons, which total about one hour, are designed to give you practice reading German and to provide vocabulary. Before you know it, you’ll be reading German with the ease and flexibility of a native speaker. A Reading Booklet to be used with the audio lessons is also included in PDF format.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world’s leading experts in applied linguistics. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed The Pimsleur Method based on two key principles:  the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called “Graduated Interval Recall.”  This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the Pimsleur Programs.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Pimsleur; 30 Lessons + Reading edition (February 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743528778
• ISBN-13: 978-0743528771
• Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 10.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #12 in Books > Books on CD > Languages > Language Instruction > German

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Tool, October 19, 2007

By 

Thomas J. Brown (Carlsbad, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: German III, Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand German with Pimsleur Language Programs (Audio CD)

I will probably repeat a lot of what others have said, but here goes. I think the real strength of these courses is that they get you to converse. You practice conversation. You talk, you listen. Will you learn lots of vocabulary? No. Will you learn all the grammar rules? No. Can you learn a language with only these courses? Of course not. You will need other materials, courses, books, whatever. But they are another tool in your toolbox to help you achieve your goal. What they give you is practice at speaking real conversations. And you will pick up some vocabulary and grammar along the way, what you need to succeed in these lessons.

I've been through all 4 levels and found them all great. Including level 4 (German Plus). This one has a bad rap, I think mostly because it's shorter than the rest. And certainly some of the new vocabulary is quite focused on one topic. But I found it added a lot of new conversational situations, and a lot of new grammar. Do you learn words that the average tourist doesn't need? Sure, but if you were just the average tourist, would you be buying these? We are only talking about a dozen or so words, it's not like your being forced to learn hundreds of words you'll never use.

Are they perfect? No, there are inconsistencies, there are silly little things here and there that I would call "editing" mistakes. And I really wish they'd give up the pretension that you only need to do each lesson once. I had to do each one at least 3 times before I could move on. But they are great for what they are. If you want to practice conversations, this is for you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's the best I've found for speaking skills, August 25, 2007

By 

B. Juul (New Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: German III, Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand German with Pimsleur Language Programs (Audio CD)

I studied German as an undergrad quite a few years ago. I've spent quite a bit of money over the years on less expensive programs trying to work on my verbal communication skills and reclaim the skills I had all those years ago (without going to Germany :). This one is fantastic. My profession is teaching others to speak English, so I am aware of some of the techniques they use in this program. Repetition is key, as is 'scaffolding' - or using and then building on prior knowledge. They also use 'backwards buildup' - which has you repeat the end part of the sentence first. The end part is generally the hardest part of a phrase to remember. I have only been using this for one day and am absolutely thrilled with the progress thus far. Most language programs require either sitting at a computer or with a book - or with a finger poised on the rewind button. This is great for just having in the car. I was a little worried about using level 3 - but it's perfect for getting back into speaking German. I haven't used levels 1 or 2, so I can't give an opinion of them. A final note: it is expensive. Check your local library. Mine has a few copies of each level. Viel spass!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Updated and one of the best resources available!, June 8, 2009

By 

Eric Andrew - See all my reviews

This review is from: German III, Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand German with Pimsleur Language Programs (Audio CD)

UPDATE May 2011: Recently, Simon and Schuster has updated their Pimsleur German III course, so much of my constructive criticism found below is no longer valid. I will leave that original review intact for those who may stumble upon the older edition of this course, which is what you may find if you obtain a used copy or check out Pimsleur German III from your local library.

As for the new edition, I am seriously impressed. This goes much further than the previous edition. Even after years of speaking German, I obtained this new edition and went through all the lessons, and the differences were astounding. The older edition was honestly not challenging enough, but this new one is quite challenging, and the language learned is extremely beneficial. About 75% of the content of the older course is present here, and the other 25% is brand new. Another nice "upgrade" to this course is its variation and nuance in its use of interval recall. You could almost sense the exact outline of the lessons in the older edition, whereas this edition keeps you on your proverbial toes.

I would like to suggest to anyone that wishes to learn German to use the Pimsleur method. If you know no German and use the Pimsleur courses exactly as suggested, i.e. master 80% of one lesson every single day, the amount of German you can learn in 100 short days is truly remarkable.

I am therefore changing my rating from 4 stars to 5 stars.

Below is my review of the older edition.
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I've raved for years about how much I love Pimsleur language courses. I truly believe they are the best way for a new learner of a foreign language to speak and understand the spoken word, traditionally the weakest abilities among American language students. The method used in Pimsleur allows a learner to be able to achieve a more "fluent" feeling when conversing, at least for the vocabulary covered in the courses, because one's recall is trained to work much faster than if one had to think out a translation. Those who sell Rosetta Stone like to point out that Pimsleur is an all-audio course and therefore does not teach you how to read and write. This is true, but in my humble opinion, the level of speaking and listening one can attain through Pimsleur makes it worth the money, even alongside whatever other resources a learner wishes to use.

As far as weaknesses go, Pimsleur German III is the weakest of the German offerings, and therefore I give it 4 stars instead of 5. The German I, II, and Plus courses were all produced during this decade with the intent of being distributed on CD or other digital means. Conversely, German III was recorded in the 1990s, and very obviously there was some sort of tape-to-digital transfer in order to make the CDs, and the audio quality is therefore quite medicore in comparison. Some of the speakers (specifically the female German speaker and the German-speaking "teacher") do not speak nearly as clearly as their counterparts on the other courses. And because these lessons are from an older edition than the other courses, there are some continuity issues with phrases that hadn't been learned yet in German II being presented as if they had, as well as phrases that were already taught in German II but are presented here as if they are new. I think German II and German Plus contain the largest amounts of vocabulary, and the use of interval recall isn't as nuanced and mature in German III.

Obviously, all of those problems would be resolved with the production of an updated edition of German III, and I truly hope one is currently in the works, if one isn't already available. However, even with this older edition, learning still happens rapidly and easily.