BREAKTHROUGH GERMAN: THE COMPLETE INTRODUCTORY COURSE FOR SPEAKING, READING AND UNDERSTANDING GERMAN.

by Ruth Rach

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0333567285
• ISBN13: 9780333567289
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 0.6" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Great self-taught course for those who have spend time in the UK

For me, Breakthrough German has been the best self-taught German course I have tried. HOWEVER, it was produced in the U.K. and is not suitable for anyone who has not spent time there. UNLESS British phraseology is second nature to you, DO NOT BUY THIS ("on holiday" for "vacation," "flat" for "apartment," "naught" instead of "zero," "WC" for "bathroom," etc. And, of course, "cheerio" as an informal goodbye even though it is actually a very apt translation for "tschus"). Unlike the above reviewer, I didn't think the narrator sounded condescending. But he does have a standard British-announcer accent which can strike some American ears as snobbish. What I especially like is that the audio and text work extremely well together. Each chapter is comprised of a number of short sections. Some are to be read standalone, some sections you listen to the audio as you read along, and some sections are audio only. As a consequence, you will also need to be nimble with your pause button. The individuals pronouncing the words in German seem to all be native speakers. In addition to the conventional practice followed by all audio courses where professional speakers clearly pronounce each word and phrase, the tapes include recordings of real-life informal conversations. There is a big difference between practicing dialogue in a classroom environment and participating in (or listening to) an actual conversation. I found these to have been very helpful the first time I went to Germany and tried to hold an real conversation.