Customer Reviews

Die Verschwundene Katze / The Missing Cat (Berlitz Kids Love to Learn) (German Edition)

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

 

 

I recently purchased this book for use in my elementary school German program, a K-5 program. I was thrilled to find it, along with "A Visit to Grandma" and "The Five Crayons" (all put out by Berlitz language company). The story is in simple-language, yet interesting, which makes it understandable for children. My students learn in a German-only classroom and this book reinforces so much of their vocabulary: numbers, rooms of the house, family members, some colors, some fruits, days of the week and seasons of the year, telling time, and more. The accompanying cassette allows children to listen to native speakers, which is important in second-language acquisition. There are 8 songs at the end of the book, one for each chapter. They are cute, although not as cultural as the songs in "The Five Crayons". A definite must-have for anyone wanting to introduce German to young learners!

On receiving the book I was initially skeptical: its a very simple story (all in German) with a short dictionary and some songs. However my 4-year-old has wanted to listen to nothing else for the past 2 weeks and seems to be really familiarizing with at least the sound, and likely the meaning of the German language. He now roams around the house saying "Prinzessin, wo bist du?" and regularly calls us (his parents) Vati and Mutti. The tape works well and the songs are catchy enough for kids to pick-up and memorize. Not sure how it would work for kids over, say, age 6 or 7.

I bought all three books in the series: A Visit to Grandma, The Missing Cat, and Five Crayons, all in one order. I didn't use them for a couple of weeks, and kept them in their boxes. Finally getting around to the books, TWO of the three audio cassettes broke within the first week of use. It has been more than a month and a half, and I've been emailing and calling Berlitz (multiple numbers; I feel like i'm getting the run around) to see about replacements, but to no avail. After all the emails and calls, Berlitz says that the best the can do is sell me the items again for half price. All I desire are the tapes. I have the books, of course. It's disheartening that this large, multi-national corporation 1) does not stand by its products, and 2) can't afford to send a customer two tapes.

With that out of the way, I do think the series is pretty good, though I've (obviously) really turned sour on the company. I've read the other reviews of these prodcts, and by and large agree. The illustrations are nice, and the narrations on the audio are professional enough. Some issues I do have:

They advertise that the tapes are 60 minutes long. They are, but they're playing with the language. While the cassettes are actually 60 minutes long, there is about 20 minutes of silence on the second side. So if you buy all three, you're purchasing 60 minutes of quiet time.

Speaking of the second side, it is interesting because that is the side containing songs--songs go along with the story. Apparently all the songs are the same (i.e., same music, lyrics, etc. just translated into different language) regardless of the language you are learning (French, German, Italian, etc.). This makes for some contorted lyrics at times. The writers really had to make it stretch in some parts to get all the syllables in, or to spread them out. So for example, in the back of the book, where the lyrics to the songs are, they give you the German on the left, and the English on the right. The English goes along quite well the song (it must have been written or drafted in English). It has even numbers of syllables per line, rhymes when it should, etc. The German, on the other hand, is almost unwieldy. Don't get me wrong. If you listen to it enough, you will learn, but it's clear that the song was not written in German. If the lines rhyme in German, it's probably a random event.

Also, this is the first time I have ever seen a cassette no labeled with "SIDE A" or "SIDE B."--so you don't know what side you're puttin in your cassette player. In the great scheme of things, I guess this is no big deal, but it shows the attention to detail that was *not* paid to this project.

Given the paucity of German language materials on the market, purchasing these books, for children, unfortunately, is a must.

My 2 year old loves this book. The pictures are great as are the voices of the characters on the tape. The dictionary in the back of the book is repeated for you on the tape. My son repeats every word of it. I haven't got the other books by the same author but you can bet I'm going to get them!

We have both the German and Italian. Even my 4-year-old is learning. The story in each language is the same, it's nice to compare the different languages. After the story there are many useful words are said on the cassette (of course you can follow in the book too) followed by songs.

The story is cute. My kids like it. I am not fond of the songs in the back. They made up new lyrics to old tunes and I would have preferred to just have traditional German songs, like in the first book of this series (The Five Crayons).

This book is very helpful for my needs. I wanted this book to read with my little nephew who speaks only German. I found this book useful to understand English and German and will help me interact with my nephew. I think this book would be helpful if you want to teach your little one another language also. I wish more of these books were offered.

This book is great for beginners. Although, even those with some basic German language skills can still benefit. Good everyday language to learn.