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Langenscheidt buys Berlitz Publishing | ||
Tags: Grammar books | Dictionaries | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| multilingual Bilingual Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 5846 days ago 28 posts - 29 votes Speaks: French*, English* Studies: German Studies: Russian, Portuguese | Message 1 of 8 18 December 2008 at 12:01am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hello everyone, I discovered something while surfing the internet today. I was looking into resources for learning
German, Langenscheidt's Pocket Grammar and Vocabulary book among others. I noticed that searches on Amazon brought up new products from Berlitz. Upon visiting Langenscheidt's website I noticed that the aforementioned Pocket Grammar and Vocabulary books were not shown. Instead, the grammar book, vocabulary book and workbook offered were all "Berlitz" products. After some research I learned that Berlitz Publishing was purchased by Langenscheidt in in February 2002. I am wondering what kind of effect this had on the products. Are these new Berlitz products new editions (the same product even) of the well loved Langenscheidt (once apon a time Cassell's) products under a better known name or are they wholly new products? The new Berlitz products are cheaper, newer and easier to get, so I'd prefer to buy them if the products are the same and I'd rather not if they are just average watered down products you can easily come across these days. If any of you have other thoughts or opinions on this this purchase or these products, feel free to use this thread. And by the way, only Berlitz publishing was purchased, not Berlitz itself. Sorry if such a topic has come up in the past, I have searched the forums and have found no reference to the purchase of Berlitz Publishing by Langenscheidt. For those who may require some proof, feel free to compare the Langenscheidt and Berlitz Publishing websites, they are clearly made by the same people, they even sell the same products. Furthermore, on the bottom of the Berlitz Publishing page, one can read "© 2008 Langenscheidt Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved". Finally, Wikipedia states such a purchase took place on it's Berlitz page. I have included all the links. http://www.langenscheidt.com/catalog/index.php http://www.berlitzbooks.com/catalog/index.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlitz_Language_Schools#Owners hip P.S. Yes this is my first (and rather long-winded) post. I have been lurking around the past couple of months though. I'll try to keep it shorter next time. DB 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6017 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes  Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 2 of 8 18 December 2008 at 8:57am | IP Logged | |||||
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I've had a flick through the books on the bookshelf, and the Berlitz material seems to be straight reprints of the Langenscheidt stuff.
However, there is a very important difference: those indestructible yellow rubber covers? They're gone. The Berlitz books have a horrible plasticky one that's less flexible and more brittle. I've picked up the pocket-sized "Universal" dictionary in 9 languages. 3 that I speak to some extent, 3 I started learning but dropped, and 3 because I'll probably give them a try at some point.... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6452 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 3 of 8 18 December 2008 at 9:01am | IP Logged | |||||
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It seems that Langenscheidt is still publishing their works with the wonderful rubber-like covers; their German pocket dictionary published in 2006 (I believe) has it. Hopefully they don't get rid of them.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| multilingual Bilingual Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 5846 days ago 28 posts - 29 votes Speaks: French*, English* Studies: German Studies: Russian, Portuguese | Message 4 of 8 18 December 2008 at 2:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Is the German Vocabulary Handbook by Berlitz the same product as Basic German Vocabulary by Langenscheidt? I've
read good things about the product (some words are organized in order of frequency of use). I'd be using these products before moving on to the Hammer grammar and the "Using German" series. Also, what's this "universal" dictionary in 9 different languages? I've been looking for one of those since forever. Langenscheidt makes them? I didn't see such a product on their website. Where did you get it? DB 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6017 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 5 of 8 19 December 2008 at 11:00am | IP Logged | |||||
Hmmm... I noticed a sudden flare of bright yellow in the bookshops that is rapidly vanishing, and in its place is the rebranded Berlitz blue, so it looks like (in the UK at least) they're phasing them out by sending them in mixed stock to the shops. I could be wrong.
"Universal Dictionary" is their name for their tiny pocket-sized bilingual dictionaries. Confusingly enough, they also do a "Pocket Dictionary" that's bigger than the pockets on any of my coats. I just happen to have 9 of them. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6452 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 6 of 8 19 December 2008 at 12:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
Perhaps that's where the discrepancy comes from: I do 99% of my book shopping online, as there aren't any decent bookshops near me. So, I look for the Langenscheidt stuff specifically on amazon.com, which leads me to their bright yellow offerings. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 7150 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 7 of 8 19 December 2008 at 2:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
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multilingual, I've got both German vocabulary books and, based on the copies I have, they're not the same at all.
The Langenscheidt "Basic German Vocabulary" book has the tough old yellow plastic binding, and is 420 pages. It's arranged by topic, and divided up into two categories of the first 1-2000 words and the next 2001-4000 words. There are about 10 words per page, with the German word, including grammatical info (gender, plural, et al), IPA pronunciation, and a short illustrative sentence on the left side, and the English equivalent and a translation of the sentence on the right. So it's quite helpful in terms of learning the vocabulary in a context, rather than as just an isolated lexical unit. The Berlitz "German Vocabulary Handbook", by Joy Saunders, is a paperback of 248 pages, and is largely a listing of words/expressions with their English equivalents, arranged by topic. It includes some sentence-type expressions, but has more of a "dictionary-type" feel than the Langenscheidt book. It probably has substantially more words/expressions, but you'd have to learn them as listed items, rather than in the context of sentences, unless you make up your own sentences. There's also "Mastering German Vocabulary" by Barrons, a (thicker) paperback with 447 pages. It's a lot like the Langenscheidt book in conception, providing German plus illustrative sentence on the left and English plus sentence on the right, but although it shows the IPA pronunciation and the gender for nouns, it doesn't provide the plural. It was originally published in Germany by Klett under the title "Thematischer Grund- und Aufbauwortschatz Deutsch-English", and per the introduction contains 5,675 words and expressions. The words are grouped in subject areas but, as far as I can tell, don't show any indication of relative frequency. My personal preference is for Langenscheidt first and then Barrons, as I like the idea of saying the entire sentence to myself as a means to get the word, and the associated context, to sink in better. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| multilingual Bilingual Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 5846 days ago 28 posts - 29 votes Speaks: French*, English* Studies: German Studies: Russian, Portuguese | Message 8 of 8 03 January 2009 at 8:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Something recently happened and I must fill you guys in. I recently purchased the Langenscheidt Pocket Grammar
off Amazon.ca, however before the order was sent, Amazon sent me an e-mail stating that they would not be able to get me the product. This doesn't mean that they stopped making them, but it is fishy. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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