Customer Reviews

Kontakte: A Communicative Approach Student Prepack with Bind-In card

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

 

 

For those on a budget, this is the same content as the sixth edition, only with different graphics. It is much, much cheaper however.

Put together very well. The book is meant to be used in a classroom instruction setting, not for personal study and is the best class German book I have used yet. Covers basic-intermediate grammar and extensive vocabulary and listening exercises meant for a two-semester undergraduate course. Due to the course-oriented format, I would not recommend this book for individual study or as a reference.

The book is definitely lacking in some introduction material and mechanics, but it can provide a great base for vocab. Jumped into it a little too soon though. Some structure would definitely help it to improve. This version is almost exactly like the next, the colors are just different for the fonts and borders. My teacher is always surprised to see I have the correct lesson in it. Save some money.

If you're buying this book just to learn the German language on your own then you're nuts. Borrow a set of Rosetta Stone disks from your local library. There are a dozen self study guides that are good for that. This isn't a self study book.

Now, I went to a local college and took German. Personally, I liked this book. But this book was required for class. I had no choice in the book. However, I think that the only good way a person will learn a language is in a class room setting. This book gives you all the tools. Also, if you get the workbook and CD set you'll be pretty set for learning basic German. I studied this book, did all the exercises, and can still speak basic German. It also helps to join the college (university) German club and hang around the coffee shops sprecken deutsch. Also, invest $6 and get one of those verb study guide sheets. It's worth it at exam time.

This book was a requirement for my German class. Fact, I was able to get the book from Amazon at a fraction of the cost that those thiefs at the college book stores charge. Also, if you want to sell your book back you can do it here at Amazon.com . You pay less up front and get more back at the end. That's called being smart. You are a college student. Act smart and get your textbooks from Amazon.com. It saves money.

Tschuess!

I love to learn foreign languages and I enjoy the German language and culture very much. Some foreign language textbooks that I've come across, including the German ones, have been helpful and easy to understand. However, Kontakte is very, very poorly structured. Unfortunately, it's the only German textbook that's currently being used at my college. All the grammar pages, culture sections and classroom and communication activities appear to be misplaced in the book. The vocabulary list is also placed in an awkward position in each chapter. Unlike better language textbooks that are used out there, Kontakte does not list the conjugations of most irregular verbs that it introduces. There are some irregular verbs that are introduced in every chapter. They are usually found in the vocabulary section. This weird textbook is already overly priced and you have to spend even more money on buying books that provide conjugations of irregular German verbs. Additionally, the first few chapters of Kontakte goes way into depth in the German language too soon, confusing my classmates, peers and myself even more. Some of the activities in the book, which we've done so far, are time-consuming and somewhat advanced for our introductory German course. And, even the grammatical structure of some vocabulary words are too advanced for us to learn in our class because of how kontakte expects and pushes students to learn more than what they can handle and comprehend. Our tutors are not even happy with Kontakte because they get forced into explaining things that we haven't learned in our class yet. Our professor, who is a native speaker, is thinking about switching to another German textbook next year because of the difficulties in Kontakte that has caused her to give us a couple of take-home exams. We all believe that if we were using a different German textbook (that was more well-structured), we could have been speaking and writing much better German by now. It seems apparent that Kontakte's purpose is too make the learner struggle and not too make him or her speak German any quicker as it claims it can. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who's critical of Kontakte and that there could be even more students from different schools out there who are not satisfied with Kontakte. I just can't wait to sell back this awkward and worthless textbook. I am glad that I'm even finding some people here on amazon who are critical of the Kontakte textbook. There seems to be more complaints about Kontakte than positive comments about it. The grammar pages in each chapter don't provide sufficient details on the proper usage of the language. I'll take German at another college that doesn't use Kontakte because this book isn't beginner-friendly. On one side, two thumbs up for German! But on another side, two thumbs down for Kontakte! Shame on Kontakte for making a great and interesting language difficult to learn!

I got this book for my first German book in college. This is currently my third year and I am still referring to it sometimes. Everyone in my class still uses their copy. I certainly recommend this book as a great way to help with a beginner learning German.

I was very pleased with the purchase of this textbook. It was delivered promptly, and was in good condition.