Great Content & a good boost for autodidacts

I am teaching myself german as a 4th language with aims of being able to study in germany by the end of 2020. After a couple of months of studying I found myself stuck until I got this book. It helped me break through a plateau and helped me verify what I had learned and correct some things I had learned incorrectly. Learning the translated meaning of a word and seeing how they really work over and over are two completely different things. This is a great resource for autodidacts that could also serve as a great add-on for a group class. Would recommend to everyone that wants to improve their german.

13 people found this helpful

Highly inacurate and misleading

It was a struggle to finnish listening. Not suitable for beginners as the narrator is hard to understand. Often I struggled to understand which word he was saying even for words I already knew. The translations are not explained just translated, often with one translation, even though the same word has more,they translated the one suitable fo the context of the following sentanse. ex. Rock is translated as rock (music) and skirt is not mentioned. the english word song is translated with the slang Song, in stead of the german word Lied. The book is not for advanced learners, as the word fund is very basic, often including names (that are pronounced the same as english), sounds like, oh,ah etc.

10 people found this helpful

Great Structure

I really enjoyed this book and think it is great for anyone new to German. However, I think it would be even better for those who are slightly more knowledgeable with just basics. I liked the PDF attachment so I could see and listen. I liked that the words were said in German and English as well as used in a sentence to help you learn it in a different way. This is also said in German and English.

I received a copy of this audiobook at my request, and I have voluntarily left this review.

3 people found this helpful

Ages 3+

I do agree with the other reviews, this audiobook is definitely not for brand new beginners. I am more of an intermediate beginner and have had three years of German in school learned previously. For me this book is perfect and just what I needed.

The speaker for the lesson is a native German and talks a bit fast with a slight Berlin accent, which is great for me because I struggle with the speed of native German speakers, and trust me- the narration of this audio book is how they speak in real life. The speed and lengthy sentences challenge me to train my ears and brain to keep up, which will push me to increase my ready comprehension. I realize alot of these common vocabulary words in this book had been said by my teacher in school but were never went over in class, so I am glad that I have this book to help me fill those gaps.

The audible app is user friendly, you can do a 30 second rewind, so if you miss something you can easily repeat if needed. The pdf that comes with it is blurry in the audible app like the other reviews say, but you don't have to read it in the audible app, I opened it in a different e-reader app on my phone and the quality improved drastically to practically HD.

Overall a great purchase! I am so happy with this that in the future after learning the basics of a new language, this brand will be my go to in order to take me to the next level of fluency. Experts say if you learn something seven times you can commit it to memory, so I will be listening to each book seven times to help me master German as well as other languages.

2 people found this helpful

Actual audio book recorded not well.

The initial sample audio sounds good and other reviews sound promising. The idea and structure seems rushed. Felt like the reader knew he has 2000 words to get through. The audio quality is even worse, as if it was recorded using a headphone mic from a mobile phone. Listening in my car. I have to turn it up so loud to make the words comprehensible. Which does not help with the quality, piercing my ears. I really tried to keep it.

2 people found this helpful

This is more a grammar book than phrase book.

I got this thinking it would help me learn vocab, ie a word at a time. Here's an example of their vocab: they give the word "to/too", and the phrase to teach "to/too" is "This evening I will come TO your office at 5pm. I promise I won't arrive TOO late. In order TO get there on time, I will take the train". Well if I knew all those words, then why would I need to learn "to", surely I'd know all that. and they give the German first (which confuses you), then the English, then as you're struggling to recall the German and learn a word, they've moved on. This model didn't work for me at all, sorry. I could maybe recommend this if you are simply looking to reinforce a solid foundation of vocab + grammar.

1 person found this helpful

Great way to learn German

The Lingo Mastery audiobooks have been a great way for me to pick up new languages. My German is very, very basic, and this book is a great way of letting me pick up a fundamental vocabulary and apply it in natural language.

German has a lot of similarities to English that you don't really realize until you hear the words in context. Learning German was a great way to pass my commute.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

3 people found this helpful

Awesome book.

I love German! I have always been fascinated by the language, from watching various Hollywood shows with German villains, to the humorless stereotypes. This book has significantly improved my pace in mastering german, and I intend to keep the progress. Another excellent language learning resource from Lingo Mastery.

1 person found this helpful

Awfully read and aged content - do not buy!

I am fairly new with learning German, but have used a few audio courses and I thought this would be a good way to expand my vocabulary. However... I constantly have to talk myself into not quitting this course - it is so terrible. Sure, you pick up a word or phrase here and there, but the reader is so terrible (please don’t take offence, but this is not the job for you); the material is read in a very pompous way; imagine like somebody from the middle age pretending to be a cartoon character. It’s like an old grandpa pretending to be a cow or an elephant. It is NOT part of the sample - pretty misleading. Also to learn “words” like “hmm”, feels a bit like a joke. Also the audio quality is not the best, but that seems to be a general problem with many audiobooks, so I guess this is tolerable regarding this book. The reader will drive you crazy though, I wouldn’t spend a minute talking to someone like this IRL. It feels like a punishment to do this course.

2 people found this helpful

Practice, Practice, Practice

Nicely done. I thought I knew more than I did. Especially helpful for pronunciation.