Customer Reviews

Treffpunkt Deutsch, Grundstufe (4th Edition)

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

 

 

I've been taking three classes of German compressed into a single, 12-week, Summer semester at my school. The class requires the following text books:

Text book: Treffpunkt Deutsch (4th ed.),
Work book: Treffpunkt Deutsch Arbeitsbuch Hoerverstaendnis (4th ed.),
Work book answer key: Treffpunkt Deutsch Arbeitsbuch Answer Key (4th ed.), and
17-CD set of exercises of the Treffpunkt Deutsch 4th ed.

Additionally, my class was also recommended a German-English translation dictionary, the book English Grammar for Students of German, and another book 501 German Verbs.

The Treffpunkt Deutsch books or CDs is confusing. I'll say why:

First, the exercises throughout the text book are very strange. The way they work is that all the classmates will pair into two-person groups. For each exercise, each person in every two-person group is either labeled "S1" or "S2." The "S1" person will read the first German script question, then the "S2" person has to answer it in German according to the script. Then, the "S2" person asks a question in which the "S1" will answer. These two scripts often become confusing because of the swapping. Additionally, exercise instructions are often incoherent or incomplete. Another problem is I don't know enough German to comprehend many of the exercises. The book never tells me the definition of the words its exercises use except for the glossary translation which means I have to keep thumbing around looking for even simple things. When I add this to the confusion arising from the rules of Grammar, like sentence structure and regular and irregular gender complications, I end up looking for FIVE THINGS just to complete a simple excercise.

These four books are supposed to be coordinated together, but they aren't. The chapters in the work book should reflect the chapters in the text, so that, when the students learn something, they can go home and practice using the work book. But, the work book is only relating to the chapter content rather than the exercise headings, despite their having names like "E-1" and "2-5" in both books when there's no correlation between them, despite the implication.

Then, the CDs are supposedly usable in conjunction to the text, and this is true; although, of how it is true, I'm still unsure. For instance, when I read the text and listen to the disc, the narrator is saying stuff that isn't in the text book. When I first heard the disc, I thought I was listening to the wrong CD track; but, I wasn't, as both the CDs and books are clearly labeled by the chapter and the exercise number. The narrator never reads the exercises I'm reading!

Also, the Treffpunkt CDs aren't designed like, for example, the Fodor's Living Language set, where the narrator says something in English and then immediately translates it into German, twice. The Treffpunkt CD narrators only speak in German, and there is no translation. I guess I'm supposed to learn the words through a process of osmosis.

The text exercises are the same way: I don't get the translation unless I'm perusing around the chapters or the glossary looking for information I need.

I recommend getting one of those quick-reference folders with German-language grammar rules, the ones covered in plastic.

I have a very minimal knowledge of German. This is the first German class I have taken in college and I feel like the examples used are irrelevant to words/phrases that I will ever use. Even my instructor (who is from Germany) says that the words used are very awkward examples. The CD and website is a must have, and the workbook has not been updated for the newest edition.

I have been studying German for the past 5 years, some years in high school and the rest self study along with the help of various textbooks. Since German is my main area of study along with Philosophy I have purchased many books on German even if ones that are elementary to my level just to see which ones work the best so I can use them as references in future when I help teach the language.

Since the college I am attending did not offer any intermediate or advanced level courses in German I just took Elementary German 101 in order to refresh any lost data and to help out the students in the class. We are using this textbook and it has been causing a lot of confusion to all the students, including the couple who have studied German prior-to the course.

My first problem is the ordering of the articles. I was used to learning in the order "Der, Die, Das" and this textbook turns it to "Der, Das, Die", which in itself is quite confusing and does not flow as well, thus making it harder for getting used to the new way, and even if a new student to the language it is confusing and harder to deal with. I assume they ordered it this way so that they can compare it side by side with the plurals in which endings are closely related. However, this can cause much confusion in my opinion.

The more we go through this book, the more problems I see. Just the other day we were doing an exercise and out of nowhere they throw in the use of "sondern", without giving any reason or explanation as to what to use it as and what it itself even means. My professor has been quite frustrated with it as well, they took out all the good exercises from the last book, and replaced them with even worse exercises according to her, and judging by this book I don't think it gets much worse than this.

We have to fly through this course thanks to the glorious education program we have in this country that puts NO emphasis on foreign language what-so-ever, and this text book is making it very hard for the students to undertsand. They will just want to turn away from German and once again more programs for German will be removed from the area I live in, despite the fact of the large German history and population here. They will turn to spanish or french since they are more emphasized and more well heard of, but it all is very sad.

As someone who Loves German Language, History, and Heritage, I urge any professor thinking about these books to consider another choice. I honestly think anyone is better off just using books that cost 90% less than this and are much more useful, not to mention economical.

I don't even think it deserves 2 stars, but since I have not yet read the whole thing I will give it the benefit of the doubt, but I have a feeling it will not get any better.

This book is very good as far as teaching and examples are concerned. The only area I find it weak in is the exercises. They are not always clear what they want you to do, and there usually are not answers in the back of the book. If you want to really learn the material, you need the accompanying workbook (Arbeitsbuch). Overall, I think it is one of the better German textbooks available.

do not buy this book new if you need the key for the online work. Amazon does not sell it making this purchase completly useless

I'm using this book in course and have been pretty happy overall. It covers good useful material in a moderately quick pace. One down side is that it can be hard to look up specific information. You would do well to get a second book, a dictionary + verb list for easier reference.

Also, the book is freakishly expensive. The price rarely seems to come down, and you'll do best getting a used copy from a reputable dealer, but if you are lucky you may catch a new dealer offering the book at a really good price.

The exercises are bizarre, and the conversations are too... Such as "Why does Jorg have a car if he doesn't have friends?" The cd's confuse me. I don't know where they correspond too. I am sure they must to something, but it should be more clear. It is very discouraging when you barely want to even hear the cd's and you put them on and they don't make any sense. The S2 S1 scripts are confusing too. I guess for some of them you have to go to the back of the book to answer the questions (not the index but the other part of the script). I don't think it explains grammar all that well. I have read the grammar explanations elsewhere so it wasn't so bad, but I could see how it could be if yo uhad no prior knowledge. The workbook is very confusing. Literally half of the time I was unsure what it was even asking me to do.

This textbook was ok. I felt that it was disorganized and I found that I had to flip back to the dictionary more than I usually did in foreign language texts. You definitely need an instructor for this book, otherwise you'll feel lost. Some of the examples and exercises they used were weird, too.
Fun piece of information: The college students in the story arcs of this text bear a huge resemblance to the kids in the Magic School Bus.

German is a tough language to learn. And I mean really TOUGH language to learn. As if that weren't enough, I had to use this book and the workbook that came along with it. Just like someone else said, there is no way to reference anything.

I managed to get through many assignments just fine, that is, with the help of fluent German speakers. Where I was going to school at the time, there was a large population of Germans in the area, so I managed to know lots of people who spoke the language, who pointed out many mistakes throughout the book (for example "violette" as purple is apparently not a German word). Most of them were small mistakes, but you would think that for such a widely-used German textbook, those mistakes would have been corrected by now. My friends who speak German attested to them, and I even asked my new German 2 professor at my transient college and she also attested to the mistakes. I was only taking this course because I had to fulfill the language requirement for school and it was the only thing available at the time (aside from Chinese, no thank you), but if you want to learn German and speak properly then you don't want to use a textbook like this that has mistakes.

If you're like me and just want to barely pass the class and get your language requirement over with so you can graduate and get on with your life, then the book is passable.

This is the single worst textbook I have ever used, for any subject, ever. The most frustrating thing about it is the fact that there is no way to reference anything. When you are trying to use it in conjunction with the workbook it becomes very apparent. You end up paging through each chapter individually to try to find the information that you need, and the chapters themselves are arranged chaotically. When you do find the information you need, expect to find it sprinkled with words you haven't learned yet and, again, have no way to reference. I am not excited to hold on to this book for future levels of German, but unfortunately, at my school, the curriculum and textbook is set by the department so it's not changing. Unless of course between now and next semester they come out with a new edition, rendering mine useless and void of any resale value. Yay.