Most helpful customer reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pimsleur German I, II, III, IV Good but over-hyped, Oct 25 2003
I followed all 4 levels of Pimsleur German over a period of about a year, whilst living in Switzerland, the German speaking part. Whilst these course enable one to quickly grasp the rudiments of the language, they do not teach enough for one to have anything above a very basic conversation. Simple transactions can be carried out (ordering food, being polite etc). To term the courses higher-intermediate is misleading - one does not have anything like enough vocabulary to hold a proper conversation. The technique for learning is excellent, and is ideally suited to commuters. One just does not learn enough, there would need to be levels up to 10 to learn the core vocabulary of around 2000 word, that most experts agree is required. THe biggest downfall is that no advice is given as to how one advances after completing the courses !!! I'd would not recommend buying Level IV, as it adds next to nothing to one's vocabulary or grammar - I thought it was a waste of money, and would recommend buying a dictionary instead !! In summary, the courses are good not great, offer the BEGINNER painless introduction to the SPOKEN language only, and they are way over-priced for the knowledge gained.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
One of, if not the best german learning program, Jul 6 2004
This program works the same way kids learn language - by listening and repeating. I've tried multiple methods and this was by far the best - Remember however, if you are a "bottoms-up" kind of person who likes to learn the grammar and vocabulary first, this is not for you. However, if you are looking to converse in German very quickly, this works very well.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Understand what you're buying before you buy it!, May 26 2004
Before you buy a Pimsleur package, understand what you're getting. There are a LOT of language-learning tools out there, but none are quite like Pimsleur. If you're trying to learn the maximum amount of a language for the smallest amount of money, your money would probably be better spent elsewhere. Instead, Pimsleur caters to those who have a very rough time getting anything to "stick" through other methods. You pay a considerable amount more, but you WILL learn, and that may catapult you in your studies with other methods.You will NOT be fluent after finishing Pimsleur German I. However, you will definitely have ultimate command of what you do learn. It will literally be a part of you the way English is. You will not be able to discuss politics or music, but you will be able to get directions, go to a restaurant, talk about what you've done, what you're doing, and what you want to do. If you do the lessons as suggested, you'll be able to do these things without having to translate in your head. In fact, if your experience is anything like mine, you might say what you want to say in German and then have to think about what you just said in English. It is both fascinating and exhilarating. This is the essence of what separates Pimsleur from buying a six dollar phrasebook with all of the same phrases. If you want to know if spending this amount of money for this package is really for you, go buy one of the cheaper "teaser" Pimsleur German courses that only provide a few lessons. If you like it, come back and buy this one. Whether or not you stay with Pimsleur, use this as an adjunct to other materials. One of my biggest criticisms is that it is mostly a speaking-only program and has very little reading and no writing whatsoever. Also, an outline in booklet form of the vocabulary, grammar and techniques studied in each lesson would be nice for reviewing later.
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