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Having taken spanish for a total of four years (three in high school and one year in college) I can tell you honestly that Michel Thomas' method is BY FAR, a faster and superior way to learning a language (I am actually enjoying learning German). That is FAR SUPERIOR to the 200 hours of time I spent in a class room over 4 years, to only finally barely become a little fluent. But the way Mr.
That is far better than taking 4 hours of college to finally learn the alphabet and a mere simple phrase like, "Hola, me llamo es Jeremiah".Many other reviewers have already written out, in detail, Mr. You will HONESTLY be able to make your way around in practical situations by the end of this 10 CD program (about 12 hours). It involves constant interaction where at the end of just one hour of listening, I could say (and understand what I was saying and why the sentence was constructed the way it was) complex sentences in German such as "I am sorry, I don't know where it is, I can't find it".
Thomas does his program makes language learning a natural process of listening, thinking about what you listened too, and then finally speaking. Thomas' exact format, so I won't bother here. What I will say is that you really do learn fast and, believe me when I say, languages don't come "naturally" to me.
Then take the advance to become fluent (a mere 5-6 hours more). FIVE STARS ALL THE WAY.
No memorization, no drills. As an American Diplomat stationed abroad I suddenly discovered unexpectedly that I had to learn German for my next assignment. After four months of intensive German language training I stumbled upon Michel Thomas' German CDs. This teaching technique sticks in your head. Buy them.R. As they were on sale I purchased them.
It works, too.I now buy these as gifts for friends and family going on vacation or before an assignment and language training. In preparation for my 6 hour per day German language instruction I purchased a couple highly recommended German CD courses available on this site. His philosophy is that it is the teacher's responsibility to teach so the student remembers. Wow. I should have had these CDs before I took the intensive language training. This sets you up to converse confidently in a language (hey, fluency comes with time and much practice).These CDs are great.
Curtis[.].
When I first moved to Germany, just the sight of German on a sign was enough to make my chest tighten, and even though I had this image of myself just being such a trooper and grabbing the thing by the horns, the reality was that it seemed intimidating and impenetrable. This might not be the fastest or most rigorous way to get it happening, but Michel Thomas' friendly encouraging manner, and the third-student thing, really makes it seem way more possible. So, but by bit I am working my way through, and hmmm, I am learning. As others have suggested, I will be reinforcing it with other programs as well, and i think the ease this series has given me will make dealing with them that much easier.
It was no different with this set, but whatever he taught is still, for the most part, with me to this day, despite not having had a need to use the lingo in the recent past.Ich mochte bleiben. (I would like to stay here), etc.Thomas is also enjoyable because he is very animated and stays on his students to pronunciate things clearly and correctly. Zee mech-ten bly-ben) --> We would like to stay. "Everything else is just vocabulary," says Thomas. Sit down with a man and a woman, neither of whom knows German, and teach them how to speak it in the span of 10 CDs.
The brilliant thing about the Thomas method is that he covers all the stuff you REALLY need to know, which is verb conjugation. This is actually a good thing. I learned it all in the car, where I was a captive audience who could speak freely without bothering anyone.Thomas' method is simple. (pron.
Then he adds to it:Ich mochte hier bleiben. I can't compare it to/contrast it with Rosetta Stone, because I haven't been willing (yet) to pony up the mad green for Rosetta.(Note: you'll get a serviceable amount of vocabulary (in the what-are-things-called sense) from this CD set, but don't expect to learn how to say every article of clothing. He goes through present, past and future tenses for various verb forms and for various personal pronouns.For me, learning a foreign language always involves listening to something several times, hitting the back button to review a CD track one more time. Ick meck-tuh bly-ben) --> I would like to stay.Er mochte bleiben. Memorizing words is generally tough enough, but learning the sex that goes with it only adds to the pain.
I used this--along with Berlitz Rush Hour German (Berlitz Rush Hour All-Audio)--to learn German for a trip my wife and I took a few years back (in 2002). (pron. Ick meck-tuh here bly-ben) --> I would like here to stay. Blows Berlitz language drills (not to be confused with the aforementioned Berlitz Rush Hour) and Living Language out of the water. Air meck-tuh bly-ben) --> He would like to stay.Sie mochten bleiben. German, unfortunately, has a third sex (neuter), which makes the learning of proper vocabulary even harder. At the beginning, he gives an overview of the German language and its relation to English and then proceeds to teach his two students.
But since Thomas is teach you how to speak German rather than drilling you with the names of things, the learning process is much easier. (pron. (pron. As you might already know, the classic non-English languages all have sexes applied to their nouns (e.g., French: le [male], la [female]; Spanish: el [male], la [female]). My unsolicited advice: Learn German with Michel Thomas first, THEN start working on learning nouns).
At times I would admonish one of the two students he speaks to on the recording, almost forgetting that I am not there with them.He spends a lot of time on verb forms and sentence structures. He is usually friendly and inviting and a charming teacher. Thomas may seem harsh at times, but he is shutting down bad habits before they can start. I was easily able to digest one a day, except for some later units where things got trickier as the complexity increased.Best feature: the last two discs are review discs that put you through a rigorous review of what you've learned.
He wants you to think, not react.I like his teaching methods. Thus says Michel Thomas to one of his two students who hurries an answer to a question in German. Word order in German, peculiar to many English speakers, gets particular care. FSI German (available for free as it was paid for by US Government dollars) has advantages since it has written material and is much more in depth. He gives grammar (unlike Pimsleur, which I do like, but for different reasons) but he also gives a lot of practice speaking and listening.
The lessons are concise and enjoyable. But if want an audio only course in German, Michel Thomas for Beginners is the way to go. In this case, he is making sure that students don't answer with just anything at hand. You'll find out very quickly if you've absorbed the material well or not. He is engaging and his students are eager to learn.
You will interact with Thomas as the third student in the class. I got hung up in a couple of spots and simply went back to the appropriate lessons to brush up.This course is as good as Pimsleur, if not better, and much cheaper. Five stars --- no question about it.
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