Holt's Komm Mit German

[Keniki]

Can anyone give me any feedback on this? I'm considering either just the textbook to go with Rosetta Stone German or as a stand alone package.

[In The Great White North]

I only have Komm Mit 3, and only the text, but I find the grammar explanations to be seriously lacking. It's definitely "whole to parts", as is Rosetta Stone, and would be difficult unless you know German yourself. Really, unless you know German well enough to teach it without the book.

 

Without knowing what all is in "the package", it would be hard to say but I doubt it would stand alone. At the very least, I would add a grammar book of some sort.

[AK_Mom4]

I have that same book here and I agree. It is meant to be used by a German-speaking teacher who is giving the instruction. Not really a self-teach course.

[Keniki]

Thanks, ladies. I appreciate your opinions. I keep hearing that Rosetta Stone is weak in grammar, but I sat down with the MFW lesson plans and I see that there are grammar lessons scheduled in through Rosetta Stone, not through another resource. I'm confused. Is the grammar on the CD's weak, or are people referring to a previous version? And if it is weak, can either of you recommend a grammar book to go with it? Maybe I should start that as a separate thread.

[In The Great White North]

I like this book to introduce the grammar:

 

http://www.amazon.co...t=relevancerank

 

and this one

 

http://www.amazon.co...67586189&sr=1-6

 

They are both older. The first one is very like Henle in format and explains the grammar well. The second one (which has a current edition for $250!) does have explanations but one would need a lot of vocab first, so it is better in the second or third year.

 

FWIW, I do have RS, a newer version, and the grammar was in a book (came on a CD that I took to Staples and had printed out and bound). The book does not track with the computer exercises at all and required a lot more hand-holding, so I dropped it. Dd does well using RS as a language lab,

[Sebastian (a lady)]

You should be able to pick up used copies of German in Review that are more inexpensive. Look for the 1999 edition or more recent so you don't get confused about the spelling reforms. I have no idea why the book lists with such an expensive price. Maybe just the old issue of college texts are expensive because there are few alternatives to buying the required books.

 

There is also a series of German workbooks in the Practice Makes Perfect series that I think is pretty well done.

Basic German

Complete German Grammar

German Verb Tenses

German Sentence Builder

 

These are paperback workbooks. Anytime you get a grammar book, you may find you have the issue that vocab in the grammar doesn't align perfectly with the sequence of grammar introduction in the text. So you may need to look up some vocabulary in order to get the most out of the grammar book.

 

Unfortunately there aren't many good teach yourself German programs (or really many for most spoken modern languages IMHO). Most books are going to assume that you have a German speaker teaching you.

 

You might check with your local community continuing education department (here it is called ACE - Adult Continuing Education). This would be the clearinghouse for all sorts of non-college (and thus lower cost) evening classes like languages, art, small business help and cooking. In my area there are some pretty good language offerings.

 

You might also try local churches with older congregations (specifically Lutheren and Catholic churches). I know that in the midwest there are often still pockets of German speakers who do things like Christmas services. The Ohio area still has some community groups that represent old German immigrant organizations from the 1800s. If your local college has a language department with German, call and see if they could recommend a student as a tutor. (When I was taking German at the local university, about a third of the students were native speakers.) So you might be able to find someone to tutor.