Description:
What kind of a language learner are you? Do you esteem the umlaut? Have you studied a little German before? Does it bug you when people say "Porsch" instead of "Porsche"? Yes? Well, congratulations! You are an anal-retentive, intermediate German student--and Learn German Now! will be a satisfying, helpful software option for you. (If you're not quite this informed or persnickety, then click here for an applicable beginner's title). In highfalutin' teacher lingo, the software uses "authentic language" and has you practice using "communication gap" exercises--and you'll be happy to know this is a widely used university approach. In lay speak, this means you will: - Watch videos of native German speakers interacting naturally with each other (the acting's not half bad, either)
- Read printed versions of their dialogues
- Listen to the dialogues word by word or segment by segment
- Practice pronouncing dialogues word by word or segment by segment using the enclosed microphone
- Apply vocabulary by filling in new words from the dialogues, or in other game-style activities like crossword puzzles
Appealing to an anal-retentive nature and true to the Transparent Language brand, each sentence is given with a full translation, and each word has its complete grammatical information (such as tense and case) glossed. You can also slow down videos and recorded speech to hear more clearly, and you can play back your own pronunciation to compare it with the native speakers'. It's painful, we know, but helpful. Note that to achieve true success with this program you should know at least a bit of German first and be somewhat comfortable with terms like "accusative case" or "second person." Also, the software gives pronunciation feedback with gimmicky graphs that will make sense to you only if you've studied acoustic phonetics--nonetheless, the interactive pronunciation and the videos are the most useful features. Overall, the use of multimedia and the practice modules are well designed, making this an excellent intermediate-level program for people who want to maintain or expand their German skills. Caveats: The software works with both Mac OS and Windows, but some extra stuff on the bonus CD works only with Windows. (This should not at all dissuade Mac users, however.) Also remember that it's rather antisocial to practice conversation only on the computer, so take what you learn out and interact with real-life German speakers! --Erik Macki
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