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168 of 171 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Understand what you're buying before you buy it!, May 26, 2004
This review is from: Pimsleur German I Comprehensive CDs, Second Edition (Audio CD)
Before you buy a Pimsleur package, understand what you're getting. There are a LOT of language-learning tools out there, but none are quite like Pimsleur. If you're trying to learn the maximum amount of a language for the smallest amount of money, your money would probably be better spent elsewhere. Instead, Pimsleur caters to those who have a very rough time getting anything to "stick" through other methods. You pay a considerable amount more, but you WILL learn, and that may catapult you in your studies with other methods.
You will NOT be fluent after finishing Pimsleur German I. However, you will definitely have ultimate command of what you do learn. It will literally be a part of you the way English is. You will not be able to discuss politics or music, but you will be able to get directions, go to a restaurant, talk about what you've done, what you're doing, and what you want to do. If you do the lessons as suggested, you'll be able to do these things without having to translate in your head. In fact, if your experience is anything like mine, you might say what you want to say in German and then have to think about what you just said in English. It is both fascinating and exhilarating. This is the essence of what separates Pimsleur from buying a six dollar phrasebook with all of the same phrases.
If you want to know if spending this amount of money for this package is really for you, go buy one of the cheaper "teaser" Pimsleur German courses that only provide a few lessons. Better yet, see if your local library has it. If you like it, come back and buy this one.
Whether or not you stay with Pimsleur, use this as an adjunct to other materials. One of my biggest criticisms is that it is mostly a speaking-only program and has very little reading and no writing whatsoever. Also, an outline in booklet form of the vocabulary, grammar and techniques studied in each lesson would be nice for reviewing later.
Keep in mind, however, that when you begin Pimsleur, try not to look the words you hear up in a dictionary. Try to master the sound the way they sound to you first, or you will end up with an American accent.
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87 of 89 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yeah, it's expensive, but you get what you pay for., April 6, 2004
This review is from: Pimsleur German I Comprehensive CDs, Second Edition (Audio CD)
I don't know about you, but I don't want to learn a language so I can read a newspaper or understand a radio broadcast. I want to communicate with real live people in their own language.How many people take language courses all through high school and even college only to find when it comes time to actually USE the language, they've "learned" it without the ability to SPEAK it? This doesn't happen with the Pimsleur method. It forces you to respond, continuously moving forward, teaching you new things while reinforcing concepts learned earlier. The Pimsleur program is far superior to other audio methods in that it's not just repeating incredibly dull phrases over and over again. You interact with the dialogue. You have to THINK and it reinforces things learned earlier at just the right time intervals. A concept is reinforced more often right after learning, but these reminders become less and less frequent as time goes on and you learn new things. But then what you've learned previously becomes part of new concepts and vocabulary that keep getting put before you, reinforcing those concepts even more. The Key is that you RETAIN the concepts and vocabulary and hence the ability to use the language. You learn correct pronunciation, as the program uses native speakers. You won't be tongue-tied, since you're asked questions in the program and you have to THINK about the answer. You THINK because the question might reference something from three or four tapes ago. You use proper grammar despite yourself because you're not thinking about grammar, you're learning the language the same way you learned as a baby - you're USING it. Is there a down side? Of course. They're ridiculously expensive (HINT: check out the auctions), but have you priced an evening course at your local university lately? The books and materials cost alone would probably pay for these tapes. The other down side is that as good as they are, you'll need to use other resources if you want to go past basic usage. The Pimsleur method will teach you the basics, but using it with other materials is easy and those other materials will be much less expensive. The other bonus is that you'll get much more out of them if you use them in conjunction with the Pimsleur program. I have all four German sets (do yourself a favor and skip the fourth, BTW) and to be honest, I found the Pimsleur series to be the best for teaching you how to pronounce the language correctly. But it was much more useful with Russian than German, as German isn't that difficult for English speakers to pronounce. I'd guess that the Pimsleur discs for Chinese and other really difficult languages would be a lifesaver.
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48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Language Course of Its Kind, June 17, 2006
This review is from: Pimsleur German I Comprehensive CDs, Second Edition (Audio CD)
The following comments come from a rank beginner. I have had no prior study of German at school or otherwise.
Ignore the many complaints of price of this course. When you hear the quality of the recording, the professional speakers on this CD (4 different speakers, three native Germans and one American narrator), and realize the research that went into its design, you would expect it to cost much more. It is difficult to compare, but I would guess this course to be equivalent to about one semester of college German. The difference is in the focus. It is about getting as much useful language as quickly as possible, and the focus on travel vocabulary: How far to Berlin? How much does a beer cost (it's German, you have to have a beer!)? How do you get to Goethe Street, etc.
But where the course really shines, is how they've hidden the complex grammar of German in simple questions and answers. You learn the way a child learns his first language, by "feeling" what sounds right in a sentence. Each lesson is a strong challenge. Not hard enough to make you quit, and not easy enough to get boring, but keeps you reaching and concentrating. I believe many studies have found this delicate balance to be the most effective in language learning. I did most lessons two or more times with good results. They suggest moving on when you get about 80% of the lesson.
The course is read by native speakers, a man and a woman. Each has a slightly different accent. At first I found this disconcerting, which one is right? But just like in English, different people speak differently. So you kind of find an average and just keep trying to copy both of them. Keep a bottle of water next to your CD player, German works your throat!
After lesson 10, they start having reading exercises. They seem overly simple, only about 15 to 20 words lasting 3 to 5 minutes. But I found these exercises extremely helpful for troublesome words. I am a visual person, and so I "see" the words when they are spoken. This helped when I couldn't follow the pronunciation.
I am on lesson 24 of 30 and am starting to look into volume II. I hope it is as good.
Stick with this CD daily (30 minutes) and you will have the ability to have very simple conversations in German, order at a restaurant, buy gas, and ask for directions. Not bad for 2 to 3 months of minimal effort.
One last personal comment. I am not a natural at foreign languages, my mind works too hard translating and trying to get it perfect. This program forces me to move faster, to work within the blank space (which is carefully timed), just do my best and move on. This has been very helpful to make my brain "feel" the language. I am learning German, and I am having fun at it. I hope you will to.
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