Barron's Mastering German

Rating:
Summary: My car is my classroom
Review: i am progressing through the 15 CD set and find it a wonderful way to make good use of my time in my car. i'm finally remembering my "die-das-und ders" in large part due to the repetition and substitution drills in this course. having the CDs in my car allows me to practice a little every day..something i had trouble with when i tried to learn german from books at the kitchen table. highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A very good program
Review: I found the Barren's Mastering German a good first level course in German. The compact disc's ability to pause, repeat, loop through a series of tracks and jump straight to a given track/lesson makes it far superior to the cassette. Barron's did an excellent job of breaking the course up into lots of small tracks on the CDs. This allows you to set-up the CD player to constantly repeat a track until you successfully complete the unit. My only two complaints are 1. The CD's do not include the words/phrase in both English and German. This requires you to read the book while listening to the CD. 2. The drills are spoken very fast. While this may be normal speed for a conversation, it makes it difficult to understand for the beginner.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource, best complemented by a written course
Review: I have being studying on this course since 7-8 months for an average of an hour per day EVERY day + simply re-listening for another hour a day. At home, in the public transportation, in the fitness studio, before sleeping... Results start to show up, and my german friends tell me that I am making a lot of progress. After all, how do kids learn a language? Hear and repeat. That's it. Yes, it could be a bit boring especially in the beginning when you can't actually apply the little you have learned. If you resist enough to obtain the critical mass of knowledge, the fun will begin. Grammar is important to have fast access to a language, as you don't have 5-6 years to learn as a kid, you want to do it in 2-3 years. But remember: grammar is a model of the language, not the language. This book contains anyway all of the necessary grammar. Finally you will speak correctly because "it sounds well", not because you used the grammar rule. At the end of this course you can start to integrate with reading and TV, that is also important. A few errors in the text...but take finding them as a further exercise. I already bought the second level, and I am trying even the Vocabulearn series, to accumulate words.

Rating:
Summary: The only way in my opinion
Review: I have being studying on this course since 7-8 months for an average of an hour per day EVERY day + simply re-listening for another hour a day. At home, in the public transportation, in the fitness studio, before sleeping... Results start to show up, and my german friends tell me that I am making a lot of progress. After all, how do kids learn a language? Hear and repeat. That's it. Yes, it could be a bit boring especially in the beginning when you can't actually apply the little you have learned. If you resist enough to obtain the critical mass of knowledge, the fun will begin. Grammar is important to have fast access to a language, as you don't have 5-6 years to learn as a kid, you want to do it in 2-3 years. But remember: grammar is a model of the language, not the language. This book contains anyway all of the necessary grammar. Finally you will speak correctly because "it sounds well", not because you used the grammar rule. At the end of this course you can start to integrate with reading and TV, that is also important. A few errors in the text...but take finding them as a further exercise. I already bought the second level, and I am trying even the Vocabulearn series, to accumulate words.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely The Best
Review: I never made it through the whole course. All I know is that I went through about half the tapes and I could speak faster, clearer and with fewer errors than any of the non natives in my 3rd year college german class (with the exception of one return missionary who put me to shame, but too bad it was such a big class). The teacher asked what experience I had, suprised at the clarity of my accent. I also speak french and spanish, if that affects it at all

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely The Best
Review: I never made it through the whole course. All I know is that I went through about half the tapes and I could speak faster, clearer and with fewer errors than any of the non natives in my 3rd year college german class (with the exception of one return missionary who put me to shame, but too bad it was such a big class). The teacher asked what experience I had, suprised at the clarity of my accent. I also speak french and spanish, if that affects it at all

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource, best complemented by a written course
Review: I've been using this set for over a year now and am just finishing. It has been extremely useful for pronunciation etc. I agree with the other reviews. Some extra points: it is quite old-fashioned in places, so a more modern textbook is an excellent accompaniment. This would also help with spelling, grammar etc. Some of the sound quality is not great. Overall though an excellent course. Drills may be an old-fashioned way of learning a language but there is no doubting they are effective! Saying something because it "sounds right" is an awful lot easier than trying to apply complicated grammar rules on the fly as you talk!

Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: I've heard a lot of good things about this series from Barron's. I already speak a good deal of German but had lost my fluency so I gave the program a shot. I agree with other reviews in that the book is very good but the overall program is weak. Moreover, one of the male speakers on the CD is either a native of one of the many dialects spoken in Germany, or he is simply not a good speaker. Either way, I don't think his sentences are clear, especially if the listener was a German first-timer. I've tried the Italian course, and it's much better. For language courses though, nothing beats Pimsleur's comprehensive programs, but they cost three times as much.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: I've heard a lot of good things about this series from Barron's. I already speak a good deal of German but had lost my fluency so I gave the program a shot. I agree with other reviews in that the book is very good but the overall program is weak. Moreover, one of the male speakers on the CD is either a native of one of the many dialects spoken in Germany, or he is simply not a good speaker. Either way, I don't think his sentences are clear, especially if the listener was a German first-timer. I've tried the Italian course, and it's much better. For language courses though, nothing beats Pimsleur's comprehensive programs, but they cost three times as much.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Let me preface this by saying I am first generation German/American who is familiar with the language. My major gripe is the fact that the audio drills do not include the words in English, this is a major disadvantage compared to other courses such as Berlitz (who have the insight to include them). Secondly, the audio drills are spoken too fast, I found myself going beck 2-3 times to absorb what was said. Thirdly, because the drills were spoken so quickly the word were poorly enunciated, and that hinders comprehension. I was hoping to use this course in my car, which would be impossible, due to my previously mentioned reasons. This course would be best for someone who has the time to sit at home and listen while reading the book.