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Improving My German Resources | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| brian91 Senior Member Ireland Joined 5472 days ago 335 posts - 437 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 12 09 July 2010 at 10:02am | IP Logged | ||
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It all started in Dublin, 2003; I got a Lonely Planet German phrasebook and have been learning German ever
since. But now it's 2010, and because I had to study so many other subjects in school, my German didn't get the attention it deserved. So I need your advice on getting new materials for taking my intermediate to the next level. First, what I'm using already: 
That's it at the moment, apart from my school textbooks which are now stored away somewhere by my mom. Anyway, I'll be getting German newspapers like Die Zeit etc, and will be listening to Bayern 5 Aktuell everyday too. So can you recommend anything else? Something that really helped you excel in German. I only got one book in German in Berlin, and I'm still kicking myself, so I must get some novels etc too. Thanks in advance! brian91 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5593 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 2 of 12 09 July 2010 at 10:46am | IP Logged | ||
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I would recommend (like many here) a second hand Linguaphone cassette course from ebay or the two Living Languages Ultimate German series but above all Assimil's German with Ease.
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| brian91 Senior Member Ireland Joined 5472 days ago 335 posts - 437 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 3 of 12 09 July 2010 at 10:56am | IP Logged | ||
Danke! Will check those out. I think there is a Linguaphone course at my library. I remember really old Linguaphone ads in the 90s, but I don't hear about their courses much here. Assimil gets great reviews here, and I've ordered Spanish With Ease (waiting patiently for it to arrive). :D 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| brian91 Senior Member Ireland Joined 5472 days ago 335 posts - 437 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 4 of 12 09 July 2010 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | ||
Has anyone tried this book before?
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| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6498 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 5 of 12 09 July 2010 at 10:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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Depending on how good your German already is, the basic Assimil course may not help you
much, you'd need "Perfectionnement de l'allemand", which is not available in English afaik. GermanPod101 is also producing programs for lower intermediate and upper intermediate students, though if you know all the grammar and are at a level that you can enjoy using native materials then there's little reason to use a course. For your colloquial German, I can recommend watching a lot of the German series "Türkisch für Anfänger". It can be found at http://www.myvideo.de/Community/Mitglieder/Videos? lpage=16&searchMember=6442029&searchWord=&searchOrder=1&sear chFilter=16 but you should probably get the DVD so you can watch it with German subtitles. Edited by Sprachprofi on 09 July 2010 at 10:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6498 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 6 of 12 10 July 2010 at 1:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just realized the first episode is available with an English fansub:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax8OuPrYmyk 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5380 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 7 of 12 12 July 2010 at 2:48am | IP Logged | ||
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I am at an intermediate level of German, and have purchased many books over the years in an attempt to boost myself to level C1, though given my location and lack of native German speakers, I will probably only be able to accomplish this when I move back to Europe. Anyway, here are some of the books and programmes that I have purchased in an attempt to improve my skills. I will list the books in the following manner, so that anyone can search and find them easily:
Title Author ISBN Using German Vocabulary Sarah M. B. Fagan 0521797004 This book is very detailed and has lists of words broken into thematic topics. Unlike other thematic books though, this book is very detailed and also has chapter exercises which help the student. For example, in the "Genre" section there are English/German vocabulary for such words as "courtly romance" and "didactic poem". This sort of vocabulary is usually not included in smaller thematic books. Hammer's German Grammar and Usage Martin Durrell 0071396543 Great grammar book, filled with grammar constructions, explainations and examples. There is also a second book which goes with this one, that includes larger explainations and exercises I believe. Kenntnisse: An Advanced German Course Claire Burke, Edmund Burke, and Susanne Parker 9780415163941 The above ISBN is for the student book, but there is also a teacher's guide and cassette tapes (maybe also CDs?) available for this set. I am really not sure how to describe this one, but I'll try my best. There are 10 chapters, that are all thematically based. The book provides authentic texts, and helps with persuasive writing, Internet, translation styles, statistics, etc. Nice text which provides one with very useful skills, if he or she wants to take his or her German to the next level. Schau ins Land (Audio Magazine) This bad boy is available in many countries, I do believe. It is a magazine/booklet that also contains an audio CD of the texts, which are in the booklet. This magazine is filled with interesting themes concerning Germany and Austria, and the vocabulary explainations and audio are very useful for the learner. Unfortunately, in my experience, the magazine arrives at funky intervals, atleast when I had subscribed. Deutsch Perfekt (Magazine + CD) Awesome magazine printed in Germany. The magazine contains articles ranging from beginner to advanced levels, and many words are glossed, so that one can read without a dictionary. There is also a CD that can be purchased to go with the magazine. Once again, subscriptions are available world-wide, but they are not cheap. My mother was going to subscribe me to this one year for Christmas, but since the website is in German, she never did, and told me to sign up and she would pay for it. Hehe, I should get back on that perhaps. I personally own all of the above items, and find them to be very useful. Some are more interesting than others, and most are pretty pricey, but on the other hand, I think that they are good sources for the serious student. I have also seen the following book, and have been thinking about purchasing it off and on: Developing Writing Skills in German Annette Duensing and Uwe Baumann 0415397464 The book is a bit pricey and there is not any reviews about it, however, so I cannot comment on how good it actually is, though as a writer I have been tempted to grab it from time to time. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5380 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 8 of 12 12 July 2010 at 3:06am | IP Logged | ||
I am not familiar with this one. What is the ISBN for it? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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