Teach Yourself German Complete Course (book + CD pack) (Teach Yourself Language Complete Courses)

Rating:
Summary: Useful beginners book
Review: A great book to supplement your beginning german class as it builds your confidence and gets you using the languague.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!!!!!!!!
Review: I think it was a wonderful book to read as it teaches you everyday words and sentences through the whole book and it is easy to understand.

Rating:
Summary: Best value for the money
Review: I've just finished Paul Coggle's Teach Yourself German and am generally impressed. However, I'm going to start by reviewing just the last two chapters, particularly the very last. I know he has a lot of ground to cover, so is it too much to ask that the material be spread out a bit more? Prior to the last two chapters, there were three or four light ones that were pretty quick and easy. Then, suddenly, Coggle remembered how much grammar he still had left, so he just crammed it all in there. Words are used without introduction even more than usual, especially in the audio where it is hardest to look them up. Some extra care was definitely needed and lacking.

Now that I've vented, I'll write the review I've been planning in my head for some time. I've found that for the money, you won't do better than the Teach Yourself series. This is the first one I've actually finished, since as my byline indicates, I'm currently living in Germany, but I've viewed others in part. Anything else at this cost with tapes included will probably be a glorified phrase book. And even without the tapes, anything at this price will probably not do much better at grammar and vocabulary. For this reason, I've awarded four stars to this work.

Now, this does not mean it is perfect. For what it's worth, I'm still rather helpless at communicating verbally. Reading is somewhat better, though Kafka is still in the distant future. Obviously, this is not a substitute for advanced university study or training at the Goethe Institute. I would also highly suggest the purchase of a translation dictionary as a necessary supplement, since the limited glossary does not even contain all the words used in the text. Even so, if you're starting out with little or no German experience, or if, like me, you had it years ago and forgot, Teach Yourself German is an excellent investment.