Customer Reviews

German, Plus: Learn to Speak and Understand German with Pimsleur Language Programs

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I used the complete Pimsleur course: I - III and German Plus. It gave me exactly what I needed--practice and confidence in conversation. It was all review for me, as I'd studied German before, a considerable amount of study on my own. I found that the cassettes were perfect for my long daily commute. I would listen to two lessons in the morning and listen to the same two in the evening. Although the course didn't really add a lot to my vocabulary and very little to my knowledge of grammar, the conversation practice was great. Especially for those like me, who have studied a lot on their own, conversation can be difficult. Practice is invaluable in breaking down what I call the brain-tongue barrier. (So many times listening to the tapes, I had the answer in my head but just couldn't get it out of my mouth in time!)

Having said that, I would hate for this course to be my introduction to German. I would hate to do this course without knowing some grammar and the principles of German pronunciation. In addition, I find that the words and phrases chosen for special help with pronunciation were not consistent. In effect, some of the simpler words were emphasized like this, but more complex words like "Dolmetscher" were breezed over in conversations. And some of the basics in vocabulary were not covered--for instance, I don't think the complete list of months was covered, and learning all seven days took quite a few lessons!

This was my only encounter with the Pimsleur method, and on the whole I found it easy to use. The introduction of new vocabulary was, as promised, skillful and repetitions were well timed. The main minus for me was I had hoped it would be more advanced.
Still, there are always subtleties to even the simpler phrases in learning a language, and the tapes helped me to consolidate and clarify my understanding. I was a bit annoyed, though, to find long pauses (for your answers) even at points where the material was quite elementary, since these lessons were described as being at least at an intermediate level.

Pimsleur is absolutely effective, it will help you on German learning, and probably for sure on any other language they teach.