The best Learn German Program – which one is it?

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Maybe you have been in this situation in the past? – You are looking for the best learn German program on the internet and can’t figure it out. Between the fake reviews and the marketing of the language learning companies you are getting lost and confused. Prices can range from free learn German websites to pricy software programs of $500 and more.

Is pricier really better, or should you start for free?

While doing my research, I noticed that there are actually not too many learn German programs.

Who are the learn German players in the market?

There is of course the market leader in marketing and assumable sales – Rosetta Stone. Starting at $249.00 for the beginner level, this one definitely runs on the high end and offers besides the beginner level also and advanced and expert level. From my personal experience as a tutor I know that the Rosetta Stone language immersion method is great for learning the German pronunciation and builds vocabulary really well. If you’d like to try out their method, Rosetta Stone offers a free demo. Be aware, however, it lacks the teaching of German grammar and sentence structure.

Then you have Tell Me More German. This learn German program also offers several learning levels and teaches vocabulary, phrases and pronunciation. TellMeMore also offers a 7 day free trial. It is very comprehensive and for some people it can be overwhelming with all its features and various routes you can take while learning. You definitely should familiarize yourself with their instructions menu before getting started. Again, grammar and sentence structure are on the back burner. Pricing ranges are starting at $199.00.

Transparent German Premium Edition is another well-known player and offers a really good beginner level with grammar resource guide, pronunciation and vocabulary training. Their vocabulary trainer is great, produces fast results and makes that part fun. Starting at $89.95, it is also reasonable. I noticed that their customers reviews overall are really positive. The Transparent customer support is fast and knowledgeable. Grammar, vocabulary, reading, listening, and conversation practice is emphasized through German texts, videos, and stories.

Rocket German is another one that’s been promoted all over the internet. It is one of those courses that puts you into a typical situation, e.g. at the airport, at the restaurant… You’re getting the story. The people speaking German in the audio, however, are not native speakers. It runs around $100 with specials at $80.00 on a promo basis. You can get a FREE trial. It is definitely not as sophisticated as the ones mentioned before and works more or less as an audio learning course with integrated games, quizzes and a vocabulary trainer. Whether it is worth it, tell me…

Pimsleur German is another German CD program. It has a great approach but slightly boring for my taste. If you go for it please be aware of where you are buying it. The Pimsleur Approach, a reseller of the Pimsleur program has received extremely negative customer reviews. This Learn German program is solely an audio course, starting at $24.95 for the basic level.

Linguashop’s TeachMe German is a German based vendor, which is a positive for me. You get the German taught right from the source. The overall customer ratings are very positive. It contains a complete multimedia course with CD and CDrom and is targeted to the absolute beginner. I personally appreciate the fact that the course also teaches basic grammar and even includes voice recognition technology for pronunciation training. Prices start at $48.00 and are very reasonable for this kind of program.

I also ran across some more programs such as Surefire German, eLanguage German Essentials, Learn to Speak German, Cosmi Learn To Speak German Deluxe, Speak & Learn Germanby SelectSoft which are all priced between $10.00 and $60.00. There might be a few more.

To get a decent idea about how a product really works for people I went to Amazon and checked reviews. Some of them were pretty surprising to the negative as well as positive side.

There is one commonality for most of these learn German programs I noticed while doing me research: Many of them focus on vocabulary learning and leave German grammar and sentence structure on the sidelines. Those programs give you the fish but don’t teach you how to fish. In other words, you’ll be able to learn vocabulary really well, memorize phrases and even sentences but you still won’t know why certain endings occur in words or why words are put in a certain place in a sentence.

How would I start learning German?

Now, if I was to start learning German correctly I’d do the following: If it is a pricier program I’d go for a free trial and a demo. The ones on the lower end, I’d take a chance after checking the reviews and get a used copy on Amazon. It doesn’t matter if you have tried with little progress before.

I haven’t mentioned the free ones this time and will include them in my next post. But try them out and see how far you can get.

What is your personal learn German experience?

It would be great to know what your experiences have been related to Learn German programs as software or online. I look at it from a tutoring perspective but not as an actual student of the German language. I’m quite interested in your experience and perspective. Please let me know which learn German software or online program helped you the most and why?

Appreciate your honest input…Bis bald!

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 5th, 2011 at 8:48 PM and is filed under Learn German Aspects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.