German With Ease (Assimil Language Learning Programs, English Base)

Rating:
Summary: A very good language learning system
Review: I highly recommend all the Assimil products for aids in learning a new language. I have used Assimil to learn both Hungarian and German, with very good results. The key to this system is assimilation, so be sure to practice a little bit every day for best results. This system will teach you a foreign language, but I have a suggestion to help you along with the process. There is a very good website with radio streams from all over the world, at http://www.live-radio.net/info.shtml where you can find radio broadcasts from the country of your target language. Spend some time every day listening to native speakers speaking the language you are trying to learn, the news stations are best. This way, as you progress in your studies, you will be surprised at to how fast you will be able to follow along to broadcasts and start to understand the native speakers. This is truly assimilation, and the more time you spend studying the Assimil tapes and listening to the foreign radio, the faster you will learn, the more fun you will have, and the more motivated you will become to stick with it. Don't give up! Leaning a foreign language can be a very rewarding and stimulating undertaking.

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining way to learn German
Review: Initially I got this kit out of my local library but liked it so much I decided to purchase it. This study kit is made up of 100 individual lessons, with the aim of doing one lesson each day. Despite good intentions, this has not happened for me - I usually manage about 3 or 4 lessons per week. Vocab and grammatical concepts are introduced gradually, with the intitial focus being on understanding the dialogues and later moving onto a more active phase of study. Every 7th lesson is a review of the previous six, which draws together the grammatical points introduced. The texts are entertaining, and are supplemented by cartoons that are amusing. Using this course I have found my German has made very good progress in a short time. The key thing with this course is persistence - keeping the momentum going and trying to do a little each day. There are a few errors in the texts, but these are fairly obvious and not misleading to the learner. I find it useful to have a dictionary handy to check individual words and a book of verb conjugations (I find the "501 German Verbs" book most useful) as sometimes a new verb is introduced in the past tense. I find the CD format useful for shutteling from track to track. This course may move too quickly for some peoples liking but for me the pace is ideal.

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining way to learn German
Review: Initially I got this kit out of my local library but liked it so much I decided to purchase it. This study kit is made up of 100 individual lessons, with the aim of doing one lesson each day. Despite good intentions, this has not happened for me - I usually manage about 3 or 4 lessons per week. Vocab and grammatical concepts are introduced gradually, with the intitial focus being on understanding the dialogues and later moving onto a more active phase of study. Every 7th lesson is a review of the previous six, which draws together the grammatical points introduced. The texts are entertaining, and are supplemented by cartoons that are amusing. Using this course I have found my German has made very good progress in a short time. The key thing with this course is persistence - keeping the momentum going and trying to do a little each day. There are a few errors in the texts, but these are fairly obvious and not misleading to the learner. I find it useful to have a dictionary handy to check individual words and a book of verb conjugations (I find the "501 German Verbs" book most useful) as sometimes a new verb is introduced in the past tense. I find the CD format useful for shutteling from track to track. This course may move too quickly for some peoples liking but for me the pace is ideal.