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Rating: 
Summary: A very impressive effort that fills a much needed gap
Review: In recent years, I've purchased over 20 German study texts, and the Living Language "Ultimate German" series is the best I've come across. The textbook offers tried-and-true, nuts-and-bolts grammar and vocabulary review, along with interesting, useful dialogs and cultural and business essays. The two sets of CDs -- one to accompany the text and another, parallel set for "on the go" review -- are equally well-produced and relevant (although two of my CDs were mislabeled).As a businessman focusing on international marketing, I greatly appreciate the "real world" content and social settings of each chapter. German is the third foreign language I've studied, and I'm most impressed by how well the Living Language "Advanced" series fills the gap for those of us who are well-beyond the basics, but not yet ready for Goethe. The content, organization and graded structure are far superior to the advanced German text books I used for classes last year at a major California university. Other advanced texts tend to forego the graded approach, where each lesson builds on vocabulary and grammar learned in the preceeding lesson, offering instead an amalgam of short stories or essays accompanied by vocabulary lists that too often feature less-than-relevant terms and expessions. Despite being a first cousin to English, German is a complex langauge with an excessively rich and nuanced vocabulary, and a graded structure is still necessary, in my opinion, even at an advanced level. For those who are visually inclined, however, please note that the textbook contains no images or pictures, just text and vocabulary and grammar drills. All in all, "Ultimate German Advanced" is a well-thought, well-structured, well-executed product. It's not the prettiest, most colorful textbook to put found, but it will put real-world German fluency well within your grasp.
Rating:
Summary: From a 2-year highschool, 1-year college German study
Review: When I originally bought the book, I didn't know that you could buy it with CD's. That would have helped tremendously, had I known. As it was, I sat down every lunch hour and did a lesson. Usually I only made it through the story (and looking up vocabulary). Then do the lesson on a future lunch hour. I thought the book was extremely helpful in explaining how things fit together. It also has pretty helpful cultural hints. I would also suggest All-Audio German (listen to it as much as you can, to perfect your pronunciation, you'll be glad you did). I also bought the English-German dictionary...for my Palm - this is an ABSOLUTE MUST if you are going to be going to Germany and you are serious about getting more fluent.
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