Berlitz Self-Teacher: German by Berlitz Editors

Some of the printing in the book is not clear, making it difficult to read the German words. The original hard covered book I had did not have this problem.

About 20 years ago, I was stationed with the Army at Redstone Arsenal, AL, and was issued orders to go to Germany. Not wanting to show up there a total ignoramus (like the man said, “When in Rome…”), so I bought this book and devoured it. When I showed up at my duty station in Heilbronn, I was able to get by pretty well, and after another couple weeks, I found my accent getting better. The German phonetic pronunciations are very good, and I was able to be understood by Schwabians and Ostfriesians alike.

After I was there a few weeks, I was required to enroll in the Army’s German Headstart program, a one-week class to learn common German phrases, such as asking traffic directions and how to order from a German menu. There was not one question I did not know the answer to, and when called upon, I was able to answer intuitively. The teacher asked me how I learned German so well, and I told her that I had been studying the Berlitz Self-Teacher for a couple months. She remarked that she had run across many soldiers who learned to speak conversational German by studying this excellent book.

What makes the Berlitz Self-Teacher the best primer for learning German I ever had is that it is methodical and deals with everyday conversation. It was never meant to be a fully comprehensive volume on the German language or a grammar guide, but it is the best springboard I know for launching one into the language, and I’ve used at least a dozen similar books.

It’s one alleged drawback is that it teaches many antiquated words and phrases, but that is also its charm: I had no problem being understood by older or educated people. (Do people make the complaint about Hemingway that its English is 50 years out of vogue, or is he recognized still as the great wordsmith and scribe that he was?)

Further, the Berlitz method gives you enough basic vocabulary to understand the language and once you get halfway through it, the rest will come to you by assimilating words and phrases you are now able to understand from being among the people, watching TV (or, “Telewision” or “Tee Wee” as some Germans call it) or reading the newspapers.

I also like that it teaches in the formal (“Sie”) rather than the familiar (“Du”) sense. It made a very nice impression on my girlfriend’s parents, that I had learned all the social niceties, and was more respectful than most German youth my own age. Some of today’s German phrase and “learn German in 15 minutes a day” type traveller’s books dispense too readily with the formal, which I think is a big mistake, particularly for American speakers. It is bad enough that too many misinformed Europeans think of us as “ugly Americans,” that is, informal and ill-mannered, but we don’t need our language instruction to aid in this disinformation campaign!

Starting with this book is both a good icebreaker for getting acquainted with the good-natured German and for staying out of hot water with the occasional more stuffy Germans, who haven’t any sense of humor.

From my experience, and from the experiences of friends and acquaintances, I’ve found that the best way to warm up to the Germans is to show respect for their language, by putting forth an honest attempt to communicate in it. This book is the best place to begin because it is well-mannered and polite.

Habe diese sehr gutes Buch für meine Enkelin gekauft. Sie ist sehr zufrieden damit.

El libro es de pasta blanda y solo se encontraba dentro de una caja de cartón, llegó mojado.

I used this book as a child to study German, and it was easy enough to follow then. Now, as an adult, I decided to revisit the language. It is easy to follow, and there is a lot of richness in the instruction that I appreciate more as an adult. It is a great book. I especially like the reviews at the end of each lesson that require you to think in German. The pronunciations are very well written so that an audio component is not so necessary.