Although not everyone immediately thinks of German when they think about learning a second language, you would be surprised how useful it is, especially in Europe. It is spoken in Germany of course, which is one of the largest countries in Europe in terms of population. It is also spoken in Austria and a large part of Switzerland. You will also find that many people in the nations that surround Germany to the east, like the Czech Republic spreading to the Balkans, speak a bit of German.
It is a good language to have if you want to travel to any of these countries and not resort to speaking English when you get there. It is also a good language to have for business as Germany is an important trading partner with many countries throughout the world, especially in the automobile industry, IT and financial services. Speaking the language can open doors in terms of a career opportunity or potential business partner.
Of course if you want to learn the German language by using learning German software then it may not be a straightforward task to select the right course for your needs. There are many out there and you might find yourself going round in circles trying to get the right one.
It is often very hard to give a definitive answer when it comes to recommending a particular course because everybody learns in different ways and have different objectives.
I would say that you should want this software to be able to teach you the four key skills to learning a language. You want it to be able to teach you how to read, write, speak and understand German.
Of course, learning all these skills takes quite a commitment in effort and time so your objective might not be this all encompassing. You may have plans to visit Switzerland for a vacation and being able to speak and understand in the shortest possible time is the ultimate priority. In this case you want a course that concentrates on these skills at the expense of the others.
So understanding what you really want is the first question you have to ask yourself.
After that, you want to understand how the software teaches you the language. Some software chooses to simply tell you what to do without explaining how it is done. The idea behind this is that we pick up languages intuitively and by hearing a language enough it will start to sink in.
In effect this is like the immersion process of learning a language. Immersion is basically about living in a country that only speaks the language. You are motivated to learn it to get by and you are constantly exposed to it so it will eventually sink in.
This is good in theory and most people agree that immersion is the best way to learn. So the software that tries to replicate this process is a good idea but it falls down because the person learning has to be self motivated. They have to use the software often to be suitably immersed in the language. And even if they are fairly self motivated, it is impossible to cut off your 'real' life that entails speaking in English.
Other courses are more traditional in the sense that they tell you what to say and then explain why or how this works. So they will tell you what to say in a situation and then explain the rules or grammar of what was said or the meaning of the vocabulary. Grammar may seem completely arbitrary as is the vocabulary. In some cases you just have to learn it or get the basics of it and then you can start being more practical by speaking to people.
Get more details on how to evaluate a learn German software course at http://rocketgermanreview.com - The site has reviews on three popular German courses, including two that are audio based. It has a comprehensive Rocket German review and compares this course to Michel Thomas and Rosetta Stone German language courses. The site also has advice and ideas on how to learn German effectively. |
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