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Learning German - which course? | ||
Tags: Study Plan | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Greendog Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5298 days ago 47 posts - 52 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 1 of 9 15 August 2010 at 8:19pm | IP Logged |
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Hey everyone!
So I've decided I'd like to finally learn German because I've always wanted to be able to speak my grandmother's native tongue before it was too late and now that she's 91 going on 92 I think it's about time I started on German. I have a few books on German, but I don't know if any can really stand alone by themselves, at least for my learning style. For me, I like to have a basic outline of grammar, conjugations, sentence structure, etc before starting the language. I recently bought Assimil German (which looks great) and I have German Made Simple and The Everything German book (my grandmother bought me these when I was about 5 years old to try and teach me German), but I feel that none of these are comprehensive enough (except Assimil, but that doesn't give me my basic grammar outline). I was thinking that I would buy Living Language Ultimate: German. Does anyone have any other recommendations? Oh, and I'm hoping that by May I can be relatively proficient, enough so that I can take this test: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_germanlan g.html (the course description has sample questions). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zekecoma Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5372 days ago 561 posts - 655 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 2 of 9 15 August 2010 at 10:24pm | IP Logged |
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I love the Living Language Ultimate German. I have both the Beginner-Intermediate and the Advanced (when that time comes to use it). I would definitely recommend it. As the vocabulary it gives you, it will give you the plurals, irregularity words with it also. So you don't have to go searching for the plural everywhere like other books do. The only grip I have against the book itself is some of the chapters are really short while some are long. Also, there are some words in there that they do not explain, especially when they give you like 3 words meaning the same thing. But, other than that I love it. I'm waiting on Assimil German with Ease for me to use on the side. I'm only on Chapter 13 of 40 Chapters in the LL book and I'm happy with it. Edited by zekecoma on 15 August 2010 at 10:25pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5613 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 3 of 9 17 August 2010 at 2:56am | IP Logged |
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I love FSI, so much. It's all free, and if (it's pretty boring and repetitive) you will have a basic and solid foundation of German grammar, vocabulary, and speech; enough to encounter and handle almost any situation in my opinion.
I started with Assimil German Without Toil, but I felt that I would make more progress doing FSI first, then Assimil. FSI really drills everything into your head. You'll find yourself saying "Wo ist der Bahnhof" way too often. :/ 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7043 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 9 17 August 2010 at 11:24am | IP Logged |
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As always, Linguaphone gets my vote.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6474 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 5 of 9 17 August 2010 at 1:40pm | IP Logged |
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I would use Assimil, your supplemental stuff, and a decent dictionary. While I don't argue with its thoroughness, I would rather watch paint dry than use an FSI course. If materials are too boring to stick with for the long haul, it doesn't matter how thorough they might be. Edited by josht on 17 August 2010 at 1:40pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Greendog Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5298 days ago 47 posts - 52 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 6 of 9 19 August 2010 at 9:16pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks everyone.
I think I'll start with the FSI course and see if I get bored with it. I've done one or two lessons so far and I'm ok, so maybe that one will work out well. I would try Linguaphone, but it's too expensive for me :(. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| hobbitofny Senior Member United States Joined 6261 days ago 280 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 9 19 August 2010 at 9:55pm | IP Logged |
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You can sometimes get a good price on ebay for Linguaphone German.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| troglodyte Diglot Groupie BrazilRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5308 days ago 53 posts - 69 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishC2 Studies: Italian | Message 8 of 9 19 August 2010 at 10:55pm | IP Logged |
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I'm planning to start studying German on October. I'm thinking of doing Assimil first,
and then FSI. If I get the Linguaphone for a good price I might add it between Assimil and FSI. And I will definitely take a look at the Deutsche Welle's courses. Edited by troglodyte on 20 August 2010 at 5:06am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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