[.ca] Learn In Your Car German Level One: 3 CDs with Listening ... (ISBN 1591257220)

Amazon.com Audiobook Review:
Look ma, no textbooks! The Learn in Your Car series treats you like a child--in the best possible way--starting with one-word phrases ("please," "good-by"), counting exercises, and simple nouns ("bus," "train") designed to imitate a child's learning process. First you hear the words in English, then they are repeated slowly in clear, unaccented pronunciations. The method is extremely effective for those who don't know a thing, or for those who want to brush up by testing themselves when the English words are spoken. The tapes emphasize the building blocks of communicating in a foreign country rather than rote phrases that only apply on the tape and not in real-life exchanges. Level 1 painlessly covers basic verb forms, essential prepositions, near future and past tenses, as well as shopping, hotel reservations, and other travel-related situations. The series includes French, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, and Spanish in three levels that can be purchased individually or in boxed sets. Each level contains two 90-minute cassettes (or CDs) and an accompanying booklet (not for use behind the wheel) with helpful explanations and scripts for the lessons.

Learn German in your Car with Cds:
I bought the excellent audiocassette version of this course some time ago, but now I want to get a CD-based course for greater convenience in rewinding and better durability than marginal-quality normal bias cassettes can provide. I was very disappointed in the publisher's attitude toward conversion to a CD format for a number of reasons. 1.) The cassette class has 3 levels of material, but the CD only comes in Level I. 2.) The 3-level cassette class actually costs less than just the single level available on CD. What a rip-off! 3.) They use 3 CDs to cover the information on 2 cassettes even though CDs can hold much more information than cassettes. Other companies put 60 minutes of language lessons on one CD typically. But this course also arbitrarily divides the lessons in a way that makes it much less convenient for someone wanting to use a CD player in their car (many CD's are loaded in the trunk, so the driver would have to pull over to skip to the next lesson, which should have fit on 1 CD in the first place.) I am very disgusted in the way an excellent language program has been marketed to inconvenience users unnecessarily while charging them triple the amount at the same time. I am now looking for another German language program I can learn in my car that is available on CD. The cassette version of this program is excellent (at least for those who have no choice but to use 30-year-old audio technology in their cars or prefer to study the language while walking with a portable cassette player), so that would be a better place to spend your money. Shame on the publisher!

Ja Vol!:
An excellent overview of introductory german concepts. Covers basic phrases as well as important verbs and vocabulary in an excellent format (The amount of "fluff" between sections is kept to a minimum. Those familiar with other audio learning tapes will greatly appreciate this.). Great for the beginner, I've found it to serve as an excellent supplement to my German course.

A nice set to ease into German with...:
I really enjoyed this set. The tape presentation was clear, giving opportunity to hear and practice pronunciation. The booklet was a handy reference and explained some of the basics. This is a useful set for either just dabbling in German...or used as "extra practice" in conjunction with a beginner's book such as "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning German." It's a nice way to ease into German before spending mega-bucks for an in-depth course. Great as a refresher, or for drill and practice while driving, exercising or working around the house.