German Course and Dictionary Reviews

 – Books, Tapes, & CD’s for Learning German

Rationale:

I have been learning German on-and-off for a few years. This page contains reviews of the German courses that I own or have read. These reviews will help you in choosing courses to self-study German.

How I’ve Rated the Courses and Dictionaries:

I’ve given each a rating from 1 to 5 stars. The more stars the better. I value audio (cassettes, CDs, etc.) very highly, after all how can someone learn to speak properly if they never hear the language?! I like a sensible lesson ordering – starting with simple commonly-used speech in the first few lessons, then increasing in complexity as the lessons progress. I like course books which perfectly match the audio. I like books without typing mistakes.

Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing German

COURSES:

Title - Author(s), Original publish date (Version date), ISBN (Comments).

Ultimate German: Basic-Intermediate - Living Language, 2000 (2nd edition), ISBN 0609607332, (8 CDs).

Teach Yourself Beginner’s German - Rosi McNab, 2001 (2005), ISBN 0340790857, (2 CDs).

Take off in German - Oxford - Shaw, Lee, & Ollerenshaw, 2000, ISBN 0198602944.

DICTIONARIES:

Title - Author(s), Original publish date (Version date), ISBN (Comments).

The Oxford-Duden German Dictionary - M. Clark & O. Thyen (Editors), 1999 (2nd edition, with thumb-index), ISBN 0198602480, Oxford University Press.

German Phrasebook - Lonely Planet, 1997, ISBN 0864424515.