The Everything Learning German Book: Speak, Write and Understand Basic German in No Time (Everything Series) Reviews

• Very good!

  
  By ACBCN4JC3XR24 on 2004-02-08
  This book is superb! I am married to a native German speaker and need all the help I can get. I am writing as a self taught German student that is trying to learn all as fast as possible. This book starts off slow with very useful vocabulary. There is an excellent pronunciation section which is very necessary with German. I very much like how new vocabulary and workbook pages are mixed together. Everything is index so perfectly so it is easy to find help within the book. All new vocabulary have translation so there is no need for an extra dictionary with this book. The presentation is very well done. It is a basic level book (as the title mentions) so it is great for new students or self taught students. The book can be used again and again for practice. There are so many words to learn and exercises to do making this book well worth the money. I am very sorry this book was not available when I began my studies! The author is very talented. Thanks to him for such a useful book and hopefully there will be more advanced books with audio programs in the future.
  
  

• This book was exactly what I was looking for!

  
  By A2CF0H26UIS67G on 2003-09-17
  I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning the German Language. It is full of all the little questions and answers that other books lack.

  Last year I decided to start teaching myself German and for someone who has language based learning disabilities this was going to be a challenge. Since I started teaching myself German I have mostly used audio CD's, some of which come with books to aid you. I found all of these CD books to be unhelpful since they all usually moved to fast and did not explain or answer the small questions that someone would naturally develop as they started learning. Because of the lack of information in these CD books I ended up only focused on the CD's themselves. After nine months I was feeling confident enough and had enough questions to start learning the rules of the German language so I began hunting for a good book to help me. When I found this book I immediately knew this was the one. It starts off with the very basics by explaining the origins of the German/English languages and how they broke apart and differ from each other. As the book moves forward the author adds notes and explanations to many of the questions that one might ask. I am still reading this book and will probably re-read it many times using it as my German language text book but I am confident that between this book, a vocabulary book and some audio CD's I will eventually teach myself this language. I give this book a big thumbs up!
  
  

• Best single-source German starter!

  
  By A2NN2MUAM0TDC on 2006-11-04
  This book is phenomenal. It is written with concise common sense and humor. I am a student who just began learning German professionally 20 hours/week. I use this book as my self-selected textbook; I refer to it every day. Edward Swick wrote it for Americans and it has all the grammar rules and the short cuts to remember them. The best feature is the pronunciation guides after German words: particularly helpful with sounds we don't have in American English, such as the guttural "ch" and the three umlaut letters.
  
  This book also includes cultural information, the new spelling rules, common German usage, and appendices with basic German-English and English-German dictionaries. Combine this book with some CD's such as Learn in Your Car German and you will be learning German in no time!
  
  

• good, but buy audio lessons as well

  
  By A3OGUN3N2LOIY5 on 2006-04-17
  I decided to learn German as a third language, and this is an excellent starter book. However, I do have a problem with The Everything Learning German Book: the lack of guidance with pronunciation. After the first few chapters, the book stops providing the way to pronounce words and phrases. I recommend buying CDs in conjunction with this book. Otherwise, the exercises are helpful and the book is interesting.
  
  

• Good way to get a start on your German

  
  By A2SUJN3DKN16M on 2007-03-20
  I recently got started learning German. I purchased this book, the Berlitz book (horrible IMO), and Pimsleur's Conversation German CD's all at the same time. I got this book as a companion to the CD's to help clarify things not covered in the CD's. The book is presented in a style that gives background on the language, informative charts and uses for different words to be used different ways, and provides a small dictionary for both English and German in the back. While it's not the definitive book on German, it's been very handy to have when referencing things I pick up on the CD's. I was pretty surprised at the amount of depth that the book goes into concerning sentence structure. In fact, there are parts that are just too deep for me at this point. If you are trying to get started learning German, I would highly reccommend getting CD's, or learning off of someone that already speaks the language. While this book is a good reference, I'm learning that actually HEARING and SPEAKING the language is a whole lot different than reading about it. Good luck!
  
  
• Excellent start to learing German
  By ADTNMYP95ZG5 on 2006-08-09
  This book was chosen from a recommendation of a German-speaking friend. It turned out to be a good recommendation as the book eases you into the language. It is simple to understand and follow. I like the exercises at the end of the chapter, it reinforces what was covered in the chapter. An excellent start to learning German.
  
  
• MUST BUY!
  By A23660A83G4NLC on 2006-11-06
  This helps out so much with basid German grammar and vocabulary. It answered a lot of questions I had that other books assumed I knew. I have 6 or 7 books on German and this is probably the best one I own.
  
  
• German Made Interesting & Easy
  By A1U4SS1967B5HU on 2007-05-26
  I would highly recommend this book for the beginner, who is looking for a great book that explains German, it's pronunciation, culture, etc. It really has made it fun. Also, it has taught me little things about its realtionship to English, historically and liguistically that makes it interesting. Great book for learning German, and enjoy it at the same time!
  
  
• Worth getting as a starter
  By A2KE86B7N41EIM on 2007-05-13
  If you wish to learn basic German, this is a good book to help you. There are clear explanations of pronunciation, some good examples of simple phrases and appropriate grammar. It is more up to date than many others.
  
  However, it is purely for basic level; those that already do speak some German may not find it that useful. It would also be slightly more helpful if it had an associated CD. It would be better with some more examples of simple every day phrases and perhap some conversational items. I would not suggest using this book on its own, but certainly as part of a structured learning plan and a good starting point.
  
  None the less, worth the price.
  
  
  
  
• A Valuable Tool
  By A3P0SPPFX879XM on 2007-11-19
  As someone who just recently started taking German classes, this book has been proven to be an invaluable resource. The author writes in a friendly, easy-to-understand manner, and the book is well-organized. I especially found the pronunciation guide to be one of the better ones I've come across.
  
  
• its ok
  By AXE3VC7PRINO0 on 2007-10-11
  its an ok book for telling you things about the german language, but its phonetic listings are vague because they dont tell you how to pronouce some special charactors. you're probably better off getting a english-german dictionary and some audio cd's
  
  
• Great place to start
  By A2WZYD36VO12NV on 2007-10-17
  I'm coming back to German language learning after a long hiatus - about thirty years since High School German. This book is a great place to start; it provides interesting history of the German language, discussion of various parts of speech, and always ties it back to analogous words and phrases in English. There may be more advanced texts available, but this is an excellent starting point.
  
  
• Not well Organized
  By A1XR4G9Q4POGZS on 2008-06-10
  This book has good information, but is not well organized. Other books will build you up to a basic understanding of the language and its structure prior to the nuts and bolts of the language. This book does a little of both in a disorganized way!
  
  German Beginners,
  Skip this book and go for something else.
  
  
• common sense approach
  By A1X9QJMKXJKK6W on 2007-08-27
  Ive sampled many books and cd,s and this book takes the most direct and logical approach Ive found
  
  
• Living in Germany
  By A3PRM777CNN107 on 2007-05-15
  This book breaks down the basics of the German Languague.
  It's easy to read; combine this book with Audio German lessons and you will learn enough German to get you through shopping trips.
  
  

• Essential German Grammar
• German: How to Speak and Write It (Beginners' Guides)
• German, Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand German with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur)
• Teach Yourself German Complete Course Package (Book + 2CD's) (TY: Complete Courses)
• Webster's New World German Dictionary: German/English English/German