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Whats a good German study textbook?

  Tags: Textbooks | German
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
9 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
shadowzoid
Groupie
United States
Joined 5682 days ago

76 posts - 85 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 1 of 9
17 October 2012 at 12:55am | IP Logged 
I'm looking for one that is good for self-study and introduces a lot of vocab. I am in
college now, but by the time I decided I wanted to take German, class registrations were
closed. In the next term, I can take a accelerated German class (which is German 1 and 2
packed into one class), but the prerequisite is "some knowledge of German." I don't
really understand what that means, but I assume if I work hard to study as much as I can,
I'll meet that vague prereq. Anyway, any good reqs?

My uni used Kontakte, but I looked at it and it seems more suited for classroom
instruction, since there is like no English in it and I find it hard to do excercises
without knowing what the excercise is.

Thanks!
1 person has voted this message useful



segueorio
Newbie
United States
docecomoacanela.tumb
Joined 4470 days ago

1 posts - 1 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 2 of 9
18 October 2012 at 5:50pm | IP Logged 
I went to Germany a few years ago on holiday and prepared
with Teach Yourself Beginners German. If you finish that,
you'll know the basics of the grammar and have a
vocabulary of a few hundred words, which should be
sufficient.
1 person has voted this message useful



Elexi
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5564 days ago

938 posts - 1840 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French, German, Latin

 
 Message 3 of 9
18 October 2012 at 8:32pm | IP Logged 
My recommendation would be Living Language Ultimate German - Beginner to Intermediate -
with the audio CDS - if you can still get it. Do that course fully and you will be in
good stead in any academic class you may join.

Apart from that - if you have never done German before and you can get it in the
library, Paul Noble's newish audio only course is a nice easy, if slow, introduction to
German that introduces word order, the basics of the present, perfekt and futur tenses
and how to use three of the cases (he doesn't go into the genitive, instead focusing on
the common von + dative construction) in a pain free fashion. It has a tiny amount of
vocabulary, but you can pick up words elsewhere.


2 persons have voted this message useful



Laurae
Diglot
Groupie
Germany
Joined 5037 days ago

51 posts - 67 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Dutch

 
 Message 4 of 9
19 October 2012 at 12:15pm | IP Logged 
I recommend 'Routledge Intensive German Course' with the accompanying audio. A little expensive perhaps, but worth it I think.
If you want a simpler grammar book with a lot of vocabularly and exercises, try Hodder's German 'Grammar Made Easy'; will take you to A2/B1; I found it very effective.
The course book, work book and audio I started with in classes were Hueber's Themen Neu Aktuell 1 ; I found them excellent; they are intended for class use, but the workbook in particular is great.
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taqseem
Newbie
Switzerland
Joined 5693 days ago

34 posts - 47 votes
Studies: English

 
 Message 5 of 9
19 October 2012 at 10:10pm | IP Logged 
German Quickly by April Wilson
1 person has voted this message useful



koba
Heptaglot
Senior Member
AustriaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5867 days ago

118 posts - 201 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, French

 
 Message 6 of 9
03 November 2012 at 1:49pm | IP Logged 
segueorio wrote:
I went to Germany a few years ago on holiday and prepared
with Teach Yourself Beginners German. If you finish that,
you'll know the basics of the grammar and have a
vocabulary of a few hundred words, which should be
sufficient.

I have also started with Teach Yourself Beginners German and then continued with the Teach Yourself Advanced German. Personally, I like the approach they use in the books and think they're great to start with. You would get enough vocabulary and grammar so that later you can continue studying on your own.
2 persons have voted this message useful



patuco
Diglot
Moderator
Gibraltar
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 Message 7 of 9
04 November 2012 at 11:28pm | IP Logged 
I'm sure that it can't hurt to give Assimil a go.
3 persons have voted this message useful



limey75
Senior Member
United Kingdom
germanic.eu/
Joined 4398 days ago

119 posts - 182 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English

 
 Message 8 of 9
10 November 2012 at 5:47am | IP Logged 
taqseem wrote:
German Quickly by April Wilson


This is excellent for *reading* academic German, but it won't get you far speaking, listening and writing...

Edited by limey75 on 10 November 2012 at 6:36am



1 person has voted this message useful



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