German Made Simple: Learn to speak and understand German quickly and easily [Paperback]

Arnold Leitner Ph.D. (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Learning German Has Never Been Easier! Whether you are studying the language in school, planning a trip to Germany or Austria, or trying to learn the basics of the language closest to English, German Made Simple is the perfect book for any self-learner. Void of all nonessentials and refreshingly easy to understand, German Made Simple includes:

• Basics of German grammar
• Modern German vocabulary
• German pronunciation guide
• German reading exercises
• German economic information
• Common German expressions
• Review exercises
• Complete answer key
• German-English dictionary

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; Revised edition (May 16, 2006)
• Language: English, German
• ISBN-10: 0767918606
• ISBN-13: 978-0767918602
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #5,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

  #52 in	Books > Reference > Education > Study Guides
  #3 in	Books > Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > German
  #5 in	Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > German > Instruction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best for self-study, February 15, 2009

By	Richard Almasi "TheHunn" (Europa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: German Made Simple: Learn to speak and understand German quickly and easily (Paperback)

These Made Simple language series really are the best for self-studying, I have done their Spanish, German, French and Italian ones.
Expect 6-9 months to complete this book.

After having completed books like Colloquial, I still felt that I did not really know much; not how to carry a conversation, just make simple one-liners. My knowledge of grammar was a real mess as my training of it was based on memorizing grammar-summary-boxes rather than effective hands-on training.

There are only two books on Beginner's German I recommend, this Made Simple-book and German Demystified: A Self Teaching Guide.

If you want to learn at a slower pace and not so intensively then Demystified is a better choice, this Made Simple-book is more intense, which makes it more difficult for some people.
They are equally good in my opinion and I enjoyed working with both: Demystified feels more laid-back and not so stressful, but Made Simple has more reading passages and a larger variety of exercises.

I am telling you, don't waste alot of money on expensive packages like Colloquial when you have inexpensive material like Made Simple ( and Demystified ) available, you just can't compare the two: Made Simple is in a different league than Colloquial, it is my definition of quality.
This book is more demanding to use than Colloquial and TY, meaning you have to think more - as the exercises are more challenging.

Anyhow, this is an updated version of the older book [...] and there has been a few changes:

1. the phonetics system has changed to a simpler system based on (American) english, for example the word 'lieben' is pronounced 'lee-ben' according to the book
2. more excercises; reading, comprehension, grammar, translations etc.
3. more detailed cover of the grammar itself
4. larger print; the book itself is standard textbook-size and not pocket anymore

The first two chapters give a thorough coverage of pronunciation, with excercises.

The dialogues in the book build around two people: an American businessman who wants to learn German, and his German German teacher, the "story" takes place in New York.

As you might expect you get to learn a few business-related words like: 'office, monetary system, commercial, business-partner' etc.
But the majority of words are everyday-words about: food, drink, travel, weather, culture etc.
It also includes more modern words like: 'cartoon, subtitle...'

I like that they have kept the Revision chapters in this update, there's one every 5 chapter or so, they make revision much more convenient - instead of revising each chapter it is enough to just revise the Revision chapters.

Another thing I really liked is that the chapters are kept quite short, you can go though one in 15-20 minutes - excercises included.
This gives you alot of flexibility in terms of time, as you can easily do 15 minutes before work, during lunch-break, or after dinner.
A simple thing like having shorter chapters reduces the stress of learning a language.

If you are contemplating whether it's worth it spend a bit more to get this updated book rather the old editions, I definitely think it is worth it - I have both myself but this is the one I actually used - it is so much more fun to use.

So it is definitely an improvement and is alot more user-friendly than the old one, so it should appeal to more people.
I think the only thing to improve upon with this edition is to include some audio Cd's.

The only thing I can complain about is that there are a few editing errors, for example in chapter 6 page 33, the examples of the accusative expressions of 'was' are put above the actual heading for it. Not a critical mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.

For the quality you are getting this is a ridiculously inexpensive book.

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet relief, December 8, 2007

By	Mel (BKLYN, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: German Made Simple: Learn to speak and understand German quickly and easily (Paperback)

I've been learning German this semester and it has been sooo hard. This book is far more organized than my college textbooks and so much cheaper. I've had so much anxiety watching my peers fly through the course effortlessly. From the very first chapter of German Made Simple, my German comprehension sky rocketed. I am having a much easier time understanding words and how they're strung together to make sentences.
Definitely add this book to your study material. I bought the Living Language CDs and it was a nightmare. Buy this instead.

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource, accomplishes a lot in a short space, October 20, 2006

By	Patrick D. Goonan "www.meaningful-life.us" (Pleasanton, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: German Made Simple: Learn to speak and understand German quickly and easily (Paperback)

When I was in graduate school I had to pass a reading competence test in German. Since then, I have not done much studying in this area. However, recently I decided I wanted to review and practice what I learned and I have been searching for good resources.

After looking at many books and bringing along someone who is fluent in German, I settled on this as one of my primary resources. This book is well-organized, comprehensive and to the point. It also has very good exercises, stories and tips for learning the language. You can buy this book with confidence.

The pace of this book is quick and if you haven't studied German before, you may want to get supplementary resources. However, this text provides an excellent roadmap and you can use other books, tapes and software to support its basic approach.