Self-taught German courses

A friend of mine will shortly be moving to good 'ol Tschermany. She can only speak a bit of school German and wants to get started on the language before getting here...(and then she's going to start on the beer)

As a linguist, I've never really valued these DIY German courses where you get the book and CD etc etc, but that's just my personal opinion.
However, for "non-linguistical" people I was wondering whether they aren't such a bad idea. Has anyone here taught themselves German using these books, CDs etc.

Did you get any value out of it, or did you confine it straight to the dustbin?

Does anyone know of a DIY course they would recommend. Also, looking further ahead, which is a good language school in Frankfurt for learning German?

Thanks
NL

I can't give it a personal recommendation but the Strokes learning method is supposed to be (a bit pricey but...) good:

The STROKES learning method

I think a great deal of the success of such systems is basically down to self-discipline. There's certainly a lot to be gained from most of them, but if you're not strict with yourself, then you're essentially wasting your time. At university I studied German (post-A level) and Spanish (from scratch), and before the course started, I spent most of the summer teaching myself the basics of Spanish using a book and cassette course and it gave me a great basis to work on.

before we moved out here , all those years ago , my wife used a book and cassette course to learn the basics and at least get an idea of what was coming her way ... you are obviously not going to get a degree in modern languages based on it but I don't think it can hurt ... if you stick with it ...

der Charltonfan

Here's a link to some useful language sites:

http://www.rcmillar.netfirms.com/subpages/Links.htm#German

I have a idea they help me with English and i help them to do the German.

Hi,

I have never tried a DIY German course but when I came out here in '86 I only had a Berlitz phase book which was ok for doing the shopping but not much else, after a few weeks I went to VHS (VolksHochSchule) and did 3 courses of "Deutsch für Ausländer" which I found very good, although I know this depends a lot on the teacher -some of them are dire !
I certainly think it's worth a try, and it's not that expensive

I met an English lady last week who was speaking what sounded (to the untrained ear!) like fluent Farsi to her parents-in-law. I asked her where she'd learnt it, and with a chuckle she said "6 months at the Volkshochschule". Somewhat surprised I suggested it had probably been a pretty intensive course, to which she simply shrugged her shoulders and said, "No, twice a week for 6 months". Blimey!

I have used an old tape and book called Station Deutsch and a Software course called Tell me More. Both were good and helped with the reading and writing. But at the end of the day there is no substitute for practice. Talking to family and friends, reading German papers and watching German TV. You may not be able to understand everything but it will improve your comprehension. IMHO

When I moved here, I went on a special scheme where you go on an "orientation" course type thing and then at the end you get special vouchers, which you can use towards the cost of German classes at VHS, Internationaler Bund etc. With these vouchers, each course is €50, and I think you get enough vouchers for 6 courses.

I wouldn't claim to be a linguist, maybe it's just that being an engineer I like to know how and why things work, so when it comes to learning a language I like to start with the grammar and take it from there (or in the case of Arabic, start with learning to read and write their script).

Having said that, before going off on holiday to Italy for the first time a few years back, I got one of these casette based courses and spent a couple of weeks on it and it was certainly enough to enable me to ask directions order meals and so on. (I have heard that Italian and Spanish are relatively easy to learn, but I don't know if that's really the case or not.)

If you've already done Higher or A-level at school (within say, the last 5 - 10 years) I doubt whether you'ld get much value out of it. In that case a VHS course is probably a better bet.

If your friend can find some tapes without spending a small fortune then there's nothing to lose. Above all they help with listening skills because when you learn your first German sentences you have to be prepared to understand the reply in a real conversation. Listen to them in the car or while you are ironing. There's probably not much to choose between them.

Thanks everyone for your tips, I really appreciate it! My friend has read your posts and is looking into it all. She's found a cheesy link to the Deutsche Welle website and has been doing some of the courses on there online and is looking into some of the VHS courses on offer, trouble with them is that they will already have started before she gets here

Nevertheless, by the time she arrives, and after her DIY stuff, she should be able to single-handedly organise her Aufenthaltsgenehmigung completely in German, wangle her way out of a parking fine and queue jump with the professionalism of a native German...no hassle!

Before I came to Germany my dad told me the best place to learn a foreign language was "on t'pilla" ("on the pillow"), so to speak. I have a feeling he may be right

Totally agree with you there, mus04. Get yourself a pillow dictionary and you're half way there...

I got one but the pages are stuck together

Although I am very much for on-the-job training, I do think pillow-talk alone would leave you with quite a restricted vocabulary...

The fastest way to learn any language is to get into an environment, where you can't fall-back on your own language. I have many coleagues, who have been here a long time, but don't really speak the language, because they don't need to at work, and they spend their free-time with english speakers in Irish pubs if possible.

Personally, I didn't visit any language courses, I know enough who did, and could have saved themselves the time and money. When I was in Ingolstadt, some of the Brits were visiting a course, where the tutor was using primary school material to teach non-german speakers the basics, rather than launching into secondary school grammar, as most courses do. That seemed to be very successful.

Watching German TV can be useful, if it is available. SKY in the UK has Deutsche Welle on channel 801. I found watching the news to be helpful when starting out as the newscasters tend to speak clearly and without regional accents or slang. Many international news stories are similar on German and English language channels, so it is relatively easy to understand the context, even when you don't have all the vocabulary.

Like Mike_a says, being immersed in a German speaking environment really helps. I have found Germans are usuallly surprised and full of encouragement for any Brit who is trying to learn German as they know that many do not bother. The tricky bit is that many Germans are keen to practise their English with a native speaker, particularly when communication in German is restricted to a limited vocabulary.

The Beeb has a good online site for beginners...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/

Lots of MP3 files, and also a section on 'Cool German' with one page on 'Pulling'