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German Grammar Book | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7106 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 1 of 12 27 July 2006 at 4:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm in the process of gathering together resources for revisiting German and I wonder whether anyone on the forum has the following book:
Hammer's German Grammar and Usage I already have Hodder Arnold's Butt and Benjamin for Spanish and the following for French: French Grammar and Usage Both of these are excellent descriptive grammars (especially B&B) and I'm hoping that the German book is of equal quality. Andy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 7147 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 2 of 12 27 July 2006 at 6:36am | IP Logged | ||
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I have the Hammer grammar for German (actually there are about four different editions now, but any one should work fine; the newer ones are a bit more user-friendly than the original, but also a lot larger physically and thus not so easy to carry around...)
I think it's excellent for explaining the fine points of grammar, although the level of detail is such that a beginner would probably find it pretty hard slogging. It's really for very serious intermediate to advanced students, I would say. There are also separate workbooks with exercises available for the past couple of editions; I haven't used them, but suspect they'd be quite useful. In general, though, I swear by the Hammer grammar, whichever edition one uses. Just be aware that it's a very detailed reference grammar for looking things up in, rather than a textbook. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 7095 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 12 27 July 2006 at 6:39am | IP Logged | ||
Andy, I have the second edition of the book, and I would agree with one of the Amazon reviewers that it is arguably the best German grammar book on the market. Martin Durrell, one of he authors, also has another book called Essential German Grammar that is worth having. As the title implies the book covers the basics and also makes effective use of fonts and colors. If I had to pick my favorite book it would be Cassell's Contemporary German or the reprint Langenscheidt's Pocket German Grammar . This book is aimed more for communication. It doubles as my phrase book during trips to Germany, plus I credit this book, more than any other, for my passing the grammar section of the ZD exam. John 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7106 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 4 of 12 27 July 2006 at 9:10am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks guys.
I'm deliberately not looking for a beginner's grammar book. I've got a few of those for French & Spanish and the problem is that you soon outgrow them - all of those are now packed away in the loft. No a detailed reference grammar is what I had in mind. Although my German is very rusty, at one time it was better than my French and I'm hoping to make rapid progress in bringing it up to scratch. This time around, I'm attempting to focus on a *few* first-class materials rather than buying any old dross that's available (which is what I usaully do!). Andy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 7095 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 12 27 July 2006 at 9:31am | IP Logged | ||
Just to chip in my two cent worth again, that is a very fitting description of the book. I’d recommend Hammer’s grammar and one (or both) of the other two I listed above. You do better reviewing these books in detail than you will mulling over that “one extra book you just bought at the bookstore because you didn’t have it”, (though it seems I can never seem to stop doing that :). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| AML Senior Member United States Joined 6828 days ago 323 posts - 426 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, German, Spanish | Message 6 of 12 27 July 2006 at 11:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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Andy E,
It's funny you bring this up, because I just bought Hammer's a few days ago. I did so because I heard it's the best. Good choice. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6871 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 7 of 12 28 July 2006 at 2:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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I started out teaching myself German using the book and tape set of "Hugo's German in Three Months". After going through that a couple of times (three months, incidentally, as it turned out), I got the fourth edtions of Hammer's and read it straight through in about nine months.
Not a good idea. My plan was to get a very broad knowledge of the language, and then go and fill in the holes later, but there is simply too much info for that. It is a good investment for what you seem to be looking for, but I can say from experience that beginners beware. (Before I even realized this, I recommened another beginning German solo learner buy this book...I hope it has not scared her away. :-S) However, I will come back to this book and try again, but just not read it like I did before. It is brilliant in its detail, and it includes some dialect points that can cause sticking points, like the genders for some words are different, depending on the German, Austrian, or Swiss dialect. I also have the French edition (and the Spanish one for that matter). I have not really looked into either of them yet, but I think they both have excellent information from what I can gather. The Spanish one I've seen a little bit more of than the French, was got more out of it because I already speak some Spanish, but I haven't read it closely enough to say much about it. By the way, I will say this. Even though there was way too much info for me to learn using the method I did, something must have clicked because I tested into a high level of German once coming to college. But there's still so much I haven't learned yet. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 7147 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 8 of 12 28 July 2006 at 3:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Journeyman, your experience with, and comments on, the Hammer grammar serve to drive home my own remarks above that the Hammer book, while excellent, may be too much for someone in the first stages of German studies. It's a marvelous reference, though, for people with a serious, lifelong interest in studying German to the highest level.
The only grammar in English of which I'm aware that's even remotely comparable is the old book by George O. Curme, "A Grammar of the German Language", first published in 1922 but reprinted since then, which is, if anything, more detailed but even less user-friendly than Hammer, at least for today's readers. For learners of German who aren't yet ready for Hammer, but who want a clear and reliable reference grammar of German, I very much like the Berlitz German Grammar Handbook, which is relatively small and quite inexpensive, but still provides a wealth of information in a clear form, with lots of very helpful examples. It's available on Amazon, with favorable comments, at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9812466908/sr=8-1/qid=11541 16199/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4990624-4934204?ie=UTF8 Edited by daristani on 28 July 2006 at 4:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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