Speak German with Michel Thomas (Speak... with Michel Thomas) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Michel Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0071380647 | ISBN-13: 978-0071380645 | Edition: 1

Anyone can learn a language with Michel Thomas--The World's Greatest Language Teacher.

No books. No writing. No drills. And nothing to memorize--ever! With his unique program, Michel Thomas has taught celebrities, corporate leaders, and schoolchildren--with immediate and amazing results. Now the Language Teacher to the Stars invites everyone to join his class!

Using Speak German with Michel Thomas, listeners learn in real time--fully understanding as they go along, turning words into short sentences, and then building them into longer, more complex sentences, until they are conversing in German.

Michel will have listeners formulating their own thoughts and sentences from the very beginning, even if they have never succeeded in learning a language before. Michel has used this very method to teach celebrities such as Mel Gibson, Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand, Warren Beatty, and Princess Grace of Monaco.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michel Thomas (New York, NY) is head of the Michel Thomas Language Centers and has been teaching languages for more than 50 years. He has taught his revolutionary language program all over the world.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (March 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071380647
• ISBN-13: 978-0071380645
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,063,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Virtually pain free introduction to German, June 12, 2003

By 

Kevin Grierson (Norfolk, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Speak German with Michel Thomas (Speak... with Michel Thomas) (Audio CD)

I purchased the 2 CD set (Speak German with Michel Thomas) to play in my car on the way to work, and found it easy to follow. Although I have little prior experience with German, I have many German clients, and Thomas' pronunciation and inflection seem very close to theirs. I found myself mastering the vocabulary he presented quickly (more quickly, in fact, than the two students on the CD). Thomas introduces sentence structure as an exercise in getting your point across rather than a grammar lesson. One caveat: The 2 CD course is a bit short on vocabulary, and introduces only about 60 German words or so. Go for the 8 CD set (German with Michel Thomas).

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wunderbar!, November 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Speak German with Michel Thomas (Speak... with Michel Thomas) (Audio CD)

I finished the 8 cd set and really liked it. One thing that was different from other language programs is hearing how the American and English students pronounced the german words with Michel correcting them. I actually found this more helpful with my pronounciation than hearing only native speakers, I don't know why that is, maybe allowed me to notice similar problems with my pronounciation and I sure miss it now that I've moved on to a different program. I learned more in the first 3 cds than 2 half semesters at community college.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great way to begin learning German, April 27, 2005

By 

S. Holt (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Speak German with Michel Thomas (Speak... with Michel Thomas) (Audio CD)

I must say that I have never tried to learn German, but I took four years of Spanish in high school and learned less functional Spanish than I did in about 12 hours with these CD's. I only have the 2 CD set not the 8 CD set, but I wish I had purchased the full set and will do so as soon as I can find the money. I don't think you can learn it straight through, how I did it was listening to the CD's repeatedly so that I could absorb more.

He does not focus on nouns instead he focuses more on functional vocabulary, pronunciation and basic grammar. He begins with a simple sentence: Was wollen Sie? What do you want? and continuously builds on this adding new words and removing old words so you never learn a word without a sentence or a way to use it.

He does have a slight saliva problem, but after about 45 minutes you no longer notice it. Somebody said that the CD's were worthless and "Mann kann hier kein gut Deutsch lernen!" Well maybe I can't MASTER german using these CD's, aber ich erlernte viel, um Sie zu verstehen (I learned enough to understand you).