ISBN: 0743523490
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Avg Cusomer Rating: 4
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Summary: Every bit as good as Pimsleur German I
Pimsleur Language Programs products are among the best-selling audio language courses available. `Organic learning' seeks to approximate the conditions in which ordinary language-learning takes place. The process is almost entirely aural, supplemented only minimally-or at the student's discretion, not at all-by reference to reading lessons after each half-hour lesson.
Clearly, Dr. Pimsleur and his disciples-I use the word advisedly, as a glance at promotional and instructional materials will demonstrate-have done their pedagogical homework. Utilizing the spectacular power of the brain for on-the-hoof language analysis and replication, the Pimsleur Language Programs lure their listeners into meaning-rich dialogues, providing only the information required for one to respond. The closest thing to a grammatical concept that a student hears is a brief warning that `this is the form used with feminine words'. Yet with a little effort, the student intuits her way to the correct and timely use of all that grammar describes.
This is an extremely productive approach at the level of basic conversational skills that is the bread and butter of Pimsleur's products. The course writers have found just the level at which to challenge the student without counterproductive frustration. One is encouraged to achieve 80% control of a unit before moving on. Many students will accomplish this in most units on the first try. Yet the approach in these three volumes is never simplistic, reducing the urge to be somewhere else or engaged in a more advanced section to the vanishing point.
Pimsleur Language Programs has populated websites with two highly sellable language-learning concepts: the `principle of anticipation' and `graduated interval recall'. The former refers to the interval during which the student is challenged to retrieve information to which he has been exposed, occasionally take some small step in the processing of it, and then utilize that information in a response. PLP has refined just the right intervals to facilitate prompt but unhurried responses.
`Graduated interval recall' refers to the time lag between the initial learning of a language component and its subsequent reintroduction in a new conversation. Here, too, the Pimsleur method shows its debt to years of practice and research. By my lights, they do this perfectly.
Regionally and socially, PLP's German course(s) aim at an `educated' dialect that will prepare the student to be conversant throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
German I, II, and III are available in cassette tape and CD versions, packaged attractively and with sufficient ruggedness to survive both winter and summer Midwestern temperatures in my car.
Summary: Sehr Gut
I took two years of German in high school, which was some decades ago, and after a ski trip to Austria I decided to brush up on my German. I've bought numerous books, dvds, tapes, etc. and for learning conversational German this has been far and away the best. It's pricey, no doubt, but it's very, very well done and very user friendly. I had a professor in college who said we learn the most in an area of "just manageable difficulty". In other words, stretched and challenged but not made to despair. This is the arena the Pimsleur cd/tapes work in.
I liked this one (German II) so well, I also bought 3 and 4. Two is the most well done, the guy on three sounds a bit like he's being held against his will, but the folks on this one are engaging and pleasant. They combine techniques of having you repeat German phrases with having you answer questions in German (can be a bit challenging) and a couple of other techniques. There is a bit of the unavoidable "canned" feel to the conversations, but nowhere near as much as in other tapes I've tried. I felt like I learned a lot and on a trip to Switzerland this year I was able to understand a lot and be conversational.
As I said III and IV, especially IV are not quite so well done, but II is excellent, and a lot cheaper than the average German course at a college would be. The only thing it lacks is much help with syntax, you probably need to plow through a German grammar book on your own for that.
Summary: The best of the Pimsleur German series.
If you thought Pimsleur German I helped you to learn German, you really must move onto Pimsleur German II. It is, without a doubt, one of the best tools you could possibly use to progress from barely being able to get your message across to being able to express not only what you want, but what you think about things.
Both Pimsleur German I and II were updated in 2002, so they represent the best of decades of trying to perfect the language learning experience. What you will find in Pimsleur German II can't easily be found anywhere else, because it teaches you to speak the way Germans speak, complete with the little inflections that you would use without even thinking in your native language. I've never seen such things in any other program.
If you have the means, move onto Pimsleur German II as soon as possible after finishing Pimsleur German I. It will put you light years ahead in only a few short weeks.
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