My brain must have run out of anchors, 19 Mar 2008
Perhaps I just don't learn this way. The music did nothing for me, and I can't think of any phrases "anchored into my long term memory". Perhaps I don't play it enough.

The CD is fine if you want to learn stock phrases like "I would like to order...", "Have you got..." "Is there...." but what do you do when someone responds in German.

I want to learn German so I can ask, understand the answer and respond. It will help you "get by" but not to have a conversation - go for broke and get Michel Thomas instead.

Not worth the money at all., 10 Nov 2007
I bought both rapid French and rapid German based on the great reviews they seemed to have received but I am really disappointed. I do not feel that they have enough information at all to give the user a good basis of either language. You will come away having learnt a few phrases e.g. how to order a cup of tea or a bottle of wine, but if someone is going to ask you something back in French or German you are going to have no idea what they are talking to you about. These are basically CD's of a few phrases, i'm sure the method is a good one, but the amount of information on each CD is really limited. They will not even really give you enough of the language for tourist needs. I feel that if you spent 3 hours looking up phrases in a language dictionary or even on Alta Vista Babel Fish you would be able to put together more phrases than are contained on these CD's and be able to teach yourself more of the language than the CD's will. They are not worth the money in my opinion.

Really pleased, speaking German in no time!, 13 Aug 2007
I purchased this CD on a bit of a whim, not 100% what to expect but very pleasantly surprised! This product really works and I'd recommend to anyone!

The two presenters are easy to listen to and present the language in a structured and logical way making your introduction and first steps to learning German with EarWorms very quick and fun. Supported by some really quite good music I found myself talking to my girlfriend (who speaks German) in no time at all!

Well worth a purchase, money well spent and amazon have it at a great price.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Learn while doing other stuff..., 25 Jul 2007
I enjoyed learning from the Rapid Chinese CD a few months back and so knew what to expect when this arrived. This is a very similar presentation, with the same 10 track titles: I would like...; To order; Have you ...?; To the airport; Numbers; days & times; Is there ...?; Directions; Where, when & what time?; Problems, problems!; and Do you speak English? In fact they have mostly the same phrases. Ordering a bottle of wine somehow seems more natural for German that it did for Chinese!

The way it works is there is a native German-speaking woman and a native English-speaking man. The English comes first then the German. As the track titles above suggest the 10 lessons cover useful phrase book stuff, at the most basic level. All the time there is a music track playing - easy to listen to. I do not know if the music helps memorizing the sentences but it does make the CD easy to have on in the background while working or doing other things. There is a handy 20 page booklet with the CD, which shows all the phrases on the CD, as well as describing the theory behind the learning method.

I did 'O' level German at school, which seemed to be all about learning the 16 words for "the". Thankfully not a mention of that here: ein/eine/einen/zum/zu/der/das/die/etc. are all introduced in context without being pointed out. After my German exam (I passed by the way) all I could speak in German was gutentag and "der das die die, dem dem den den", which does not get you very far. Listening to this CD course, in every school lesson, would have made a lot more sense. And we could have played cards while doing it. (Sadly the only class we actually got away with playing cards in was sociology.)

If we are looking for downsides the CDs are maybe a bit pricey, and are quite passive: no quizzes or chances for active usage of the language. But that is fine, it would not be easy to have on in the background if it was like that. Just do not expect this can be your only tool to learn the language.

Overall I like these EarWorms CDs and they will be my first choice when I want to learn the basics of a new language.

The perfect start to learning a new language - , 07 Jun 2007
I love my earworms German CD. I listen to it when I am driving and it's brilliant!! I also play it on my MP3 player whilst in the gym - the perfect combination - getting fit and learning at the same time.
I have never learned well aurally, In one ear and out the other, but this seems to have stimulated a new learning style I never thought I would cope with, I think that it will in fact help in many other ways too. I have noticed a difference in my own job of training. I can remember peoples names so much better now. I definitely think it's triggered something in my brain.

It is quite amazing that when the phrases come up in every day English, the German equivalent pops into my head at the same time - like 'Warum nicht' 'Why not' and the pronunciation seems to come automatically. I can actually hear the voices on the tape. The Phrase book that comes with the CD is also very helpful. I carry it around in my handbag, it helps to see the words as well.

I thought I might get fed up with the music and the voices, but in fact you just become even more familiar with them as time goes by. Sort of as if you actually have got to know them personally.

I look foward to buying the Volume 2 - I will wait and continue to chirp along with my volume 1 - thinking I am better than I really am!!

My only concern is what I will do once I have mastered both CD's - what sort of learning should I go on to from there.

My brain must have run out of anchors, 19 Mar 2008
Perhaps I just don't learn this way. The music did nothing for me, and I can't think of any phrases "anchored into my long term memory". Perhaps I don't play it enough.

The CD is fine if you want to learn stock phrases like "I would like to order...", "Have you got..." "Is there...." but what do you do when someone responds in German.

I want to learn German so I can ask, understand the answer and respond. It will help you "get by" but not to have a conversation - go for broke and get Michel Thomas instead.

Not worth the money at all., 10 Nov 2007
I bought both rapid French and rapid German based on the great reviews they seemed to have received but I am really disappointed. I do not feel that they have enough information at all to give the user a good basis of either language. You will come away having learnt a few phrases e.g. how to order a cup of tea or a bottle of wine, but if someone is going to ask you something back in French or German you are going to have no idea what they are talking to you about. These are basically CD's of a few phrases, i'm sure the method is a good one, but the amount of information on each CD is really limited. They will not even really give you enough of the language for tourist needs. I feel that if you spent 3 hours looking up phrases in a language dictionary or even on Alta Vista Babel Fish you would be able to put together more phrases than are contained on these CD's and be able to teach yourself more of the language than the CD's will. They are not worth the money in my opinion.

Really pleased, speaking German in no time!, 13 Aug 2007
I purchased this CD on a bit of a whim, not 100% what to expect but very pleasantly surprised! This product really works and I'd recommend to anyone!

The two presenters are easy to listen to and present the language in a structured and logical way making your introduction and first steps to learning German with EarWorms very quick and fun. Supported by some really quite good music I found myself talking to my girlfriend (who speaks German) in no time at all!

Well worth a purchase, money well spent and amazon have it at a great price.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Learn while doing other stuff..., 25 Jul 2007
I enjoyed learning from the Rapid Chinese CD a few months back and so knew what to expect when this arrived. This is a very similar presentation, with the same 10 track titles: I would like...; To order; Have you ...?; To the airport; Numbers; days & times; Is there ...?; Directions; Where, when & what time?; Problems, problems!; and Do you speak English? In fact they have mostly the same phrases. Ordering a bottle of wine somehow seems more natural for German that it did for Chinese!

The way it works is there is a native German-speaking woman and a native English-speaking man. The English comes first then the German. As the track titles above suggest the 10 lessons cover useful phrase book stuff, at the most basic level. All the time there is a music track playing - easy to listen to. I do not know if the music helps memorizing the sentences but it does make the CD easy to have on in the background while working or doing other things. There is a handy 20 page booklet with the CD, which shows all the phrases on the CD, as well as describing the theory behind the learning method.

I did 'O' level German at school, which seemed to be all about learning the 16 words for "the". Thankfully not a mention of that here: ein/eine/einen/zum/zu/der/das/die/etc. are all introduced in context without being pointed out. After my German exam (I passed by the way) all I could speak in German was gutentag and "der das die die, dem dem den den", which does not get you very far. Listening to this CD course, in every school lesson, would have made a lot more sense. And we could have played cards while doing it. (Sadly the only class we actually got away with playing cards in was sociology.)

If we are looking for downsides the CDs are maybe a bit pricey, and are quite passive: no quizzes or chances for active usage of the language. But that is fine, it would not be easy to have on in the background if it was like that. Just do not expect this can be your only tool to learn the language.

Overall I like these EarWorms CDs and they will be my first choice when I want to learn the basics of a new language.

The perfect start to learning a new language - , 07 Jun 2007
I love my earworms German CD. I listen to it when I am driving and it's brilliant!! I also play it on my MP3 player whilst in the gym - the perfect combination - getting fit and learning at the same time.
I have never learned well aurally, In one ear and out the other, but this seems to have stimulated a new learning style I never thought I would cope with, I think that it will in fact help in many other ways too. I have noticed a difference in my own job of training. I can remember peoples names so much better now. I definitely think it's triggered something in my brain.

It is quite amazing that when the phrases come up in every day English, the German equivalent pops into my head at the same time - like 'Warum nicht' 'Why not' and the pronunciation seems to come automatically. I can actually hear the voices on the tape. The Phrase book that comes with the CD is also very helpful. I carry it around in my handbag, it helps to see the words as well.

I thought I might get fed up with the music and the voices, but in fact you just become even more familiar with them as time goes by. Sort of as if you actually have got to know them personally.

I look foward to buying the Volume 2 - I will wait and continue to chirp along with my volume 1 - thinking I am better than I really am!!

My only concern is what I will do once I have mastered both CD's - what sort of learning should I go on to from there.


Great!, 10 Aug 2008
I have a few of these CD's as I'm learning 3 languages (yes I'm obviously insane) and they are fantastic ways of learning. The guys voice is very sexy, which makes me want to listen more but the way it is set out makes it so easy to learn.
I have two children, 6 and 8 and even they are saying German phrases after listening to the cd a few times. The music is not as you'd imagine, it's not like hardcore pop tunes, but the tempo etc is enough to get your memory firing up.

Quality idea, I wish I'd though of it myself. Better than any book or other language course I have tried.

My brain must have run out of anchors, 19 Mar 2008
Perhaps I just don't learn this way. The music did nothing for me, and I can't think of any phrases "anchored into my long term memory". Perhaps I don't play it enough.

The CD is fine if you want to learn stock phrases like "I would like to order...", "Have you got..." "Is there...." but what do you do when someone responds in German.

I want to learn German so I can ask, understand the answer and respond. It will help you "get by" but not to have a conversation - go for broke and get Michel Thomas instead.

Not worth the money at all., 10 Nov 2007
I bought both rapid French and rapid German based on the great reviews they seemed to have received but I am really disappointed. I do not feel that they have enough information at all to give the user a good basis of either language. You will come away having learnt a few phrases e.g. how to order a cup of tea or a bottle of wine, but if someone is going to ask you something back in French or German you are going to have no idea what they are talking to you about. These are basically CD's of a few phrases, i'm sure the method is a good one, but the amount of information on each CD is really limited. They will not even really give you enough of the language for tourist needs. I feel that if you spent 3 hours looking up phrases in a language dictionary or even on Alta Vista Babel Fish you would be able to put together more phrases than are contained on these CD's and be able to teach yourself more of the language than the CD's will. They are not worth the money in my opinion.

Really pleased, speaking German in no time!, 13 Aug 2007
I purchased this CD on a bit of a whim, not 100% what to expect but very pleasantly surprised! This product really works and I'd recommend to anyone!

The two presenters are easy to listen to and present the language in a structured and logical way making your introduction and first steps to learning German with EarWorms very quick and fun. Supported by some really quite good music I found myself talking to my girlfriend (who speaks German) in no time at all!

Well worth a purchase, money well spent and amazon have it at a great price.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Learn while doing other stuff..., 25 Jul 2007
I enjoyed learning from the Rapid Chinese CD a few months back and so knew what to expect when this arrived. This is a very similar presentation, with the same 10 track titles: I would like...; To order; Have you ...?; To the airport; Numbers; days & times; Is there ...?; Directions; Where, when & what time?; Problems, problems!; and Do you speak English? In fact they have mostly the same phrases. Ordering a bottle of wine somehow seems more natural for German that it did for Chinese!

The way it works is there is a native German-speaking woman and a native English-speaking man. The English comes first then the German. As the track titles above suggest the 10 lessons cover useful phrase book stuff, at the most basic level. All the time there is a music track playing - easy to listen to. I do not know if the music helps memorizing the sentences but it does make the CD easy to have on in the background while working or doing other things. There is a handy 20 page booklet with the CD, which shows all the phrases on the CD, as well as describing the theory behind the learning method.

I did 'O' level German at school, which seemed to be all about learning the 16 words for "the". Thankfully not a mention of that here: ein/eine/einen/zum/zu/der/das/die/etc. are all introduced in context without being pointed out. After my German exam (I passed by the way) all I could speak in German was gutentag and "der das die die, dem dem den den", which does not get you very far. Listening to this CD course, in every school lesson, would have made a lot more sense. And we could have played cards while doing it. (Sadly the only class we actually got away with playing cards in was sociology.)

If we are looking for downsides the CDs are maybe a bit pricey, and are quite passive: no quizzes or chances for active usage of the language. But that is fine, it would not be easy to have on in the background if it was like that. Just do not expect this can be your only tool to learn the language.

Overall I like these EarWorms CDs and they will be my first choice when I want to learn the basics of a new language.

The perfect start to learning a new language - , 07 Jun 2007
I love my earworms German CD. I listen to it when I am driving and it's brilliant!! I also play it on my MP3 player whilst in the gym - the perfect combination - getting fit and learning at the same time.
I have never learned well aurally, In one ear and out the other, but this seems to have stimulated a new learning style I never thought I would cope with, I think that it will in fact help in many other ways too. I have noticed a difference in my own job of training. I can remember peoples names so much better now. I definitely think it's triggered something in my brain.

It is quite amazing that when the phrases come up in every day English, the German equivalent pops into my head at the same time - like 'Warum nicht' 'Why not' and the pronunciation seems to come automatically. I can actually hear the voices on the tape. The Phrase book that comes with the CD is also very helpful. I carry it around in my handbag, it helps to see the words as well.

I thought I might get fed up with the music and the voices, but in fact you just become even more familiar with them as time goes by. Sort of as if you actually have got to know them personally.

I look foward to buying the Volume 2 - I will wait and continue to chirp along with my volume 1 - thinking I am better than I really am!!

My only concern is what I will do once I have mastered both CD's - what sort of learning should I go on to from there.


Great!, 10 Aug 2008
I have a few of these CD's as I'm learning 3 languages (yes I'm obviously insane) and they are fantastic ways of learning. The guys voice is very sexy, which makes me want to listen more but the way it is set out makes it so easy to learn.
I have two children, 6 and 8 and even they are saying German phrases after listening to the cd a few times. The music is not as you'd imagine, it's not like hardcore pop tunes, but the tempo etc is enough to get your memory firing up.

Quality idea, I wish I'd though of it myself. Better than any book or other language course I have tried.

Poor and out of date., 13 May 2008
Having paid £29.99 for this course on the basis of the favourable reviews on Amazon, never have I been so disappointed.

The first disc was little more than an endless stream of vocabulary, with very little chance, guidance or practice on how to structure a sentence of day-to-day use. No special method of teaching is evident, nor is ones memory helped by such a high emphasis on vocabulary.

As for the selection of vocabulary offered in the first disc, much of it is irrelevant for day to day conversation; it is as though the author decided to list everything that could be seen on an international journey, on every form of transport, from a point of departure until arriving in a German hotel.

I don't know if I'll even bother with the remaining discs. Instead I'll look for a more useful course.

Add to this the fact that the currency used in the dialogs is Deutschmarks (which was replaced by the Euro in 1999) and you will see why I feel so mislead by the reviews of this product. I paid good money for old rope.


Learn German in your Car, 27 Sep 2005
The cds are good for learning basic words and phrases but it would be useful to have an explanation of why some words are spelt differently in certain phrases. eg. when to use 'einen' instead of 'ein' or 'eine'.

After listening to the first 2 cds, I had learned a lot of basic phrases and words but I still couldn't have a general conversation with a German colleague at work - unless it involved asking where the airport was, what time the next train leaves at, or where is the bank? etc etc.... which it didn't! The cds are very good but I think you also need to use a book that explains some of the rules a bit better.

Definitely useful to improve your German. Worth buying!, 03 Sep 2005
I bought several AudioBooks to practice my German and I must admit I found all of them quite useful. What I appreciated most of "Learn in Your Car: German (Complete Language Course)" was however the variety of the conversational subjects covered in each CD and the different levels of complexity available in them. Given the number of CDs provided in this package (Nine 60-minute CDs) it is also possible to listen to them a huge amount of times without getting too bored. I really recommend Audio-CDs as an additional way of learning a foreign language and this specific product both to beginners and to those having already a working knowledge of German.

Learn in Car: German 3 Lev Set, 04 Nov 2003
This is a very good introductory course which starts very simply and builds up over 9 discs to give you a good basic grasp of the language. After the first 2 discs you will have basic skills to make up sentences indeed after just two weeks of playing the discs in my car I was able to have a basic conversation with a German friend. It is easy to learn and pitched at the right pace for beginners I feel confident I will be able to use my new skills when I go to Germany shortly. I highly recommend this set indeed I was so impressed with it myself that I am thinking of trying another language from the same source.

An excellent guide for learning from scratch, 05 Jul 1999
I recently decided to learn German to help me in my business, I travel to Switzerland regularly. This course was the best I've tried to help me learn the language during my daily commute. The format is easy to follow, it leads up to more challenging information with each tape. The tapes must be listened to more than once though, to get the full benefit of the information being given (there is a lot to learn!). The workbooks are very good also, they give more information about verbforms and conjugation rules.

My brain must have run out of anchors, 19 Mar 2008
Perhaps I just don't learn this way. The music did nothing for me, and I can't think of any phrases "anchored into my long term memory". Perhaps I don't play it enough.

The CD is fine if you want to learn stock phrases like "I would like to order...", "Have you got..." "Is there...." but what do you do when someone responds in German.

I want to learn German so I can ask, understand the answer and respond. It will help you "get by" but not to have a conversation - go for broke and get Michel Thomas instead.

Not worth the money at all., 10 Nov 2007
I bought both rapid French and rapid German based on the great reviews they seemed to have received but I am really disappointed. I do not feel that they have enough information at all to give the user a good basis of either language. You will come away having learnt a few phrases e.g. how to order a cup of tea or a bottle of wine, but if someone is going to ask you something back in French or German you are going to have no idea what they are talking to you about. These are basically CD's of a few phrases, i'm sure the method is a good one, but the amount of information on each CD is really limited. They will not even really give you enough of the language for tourist needs. I feel that if you spent 3 hours looking up phrases in a language dictionary or even on Alta Vista Babel Fish you would be able to put together more phrases than are contained on these CD's and be able to teach yourself more of the language than the CD's will. They are not worth the money in my opinion.

Really pleased, speaking German in no time!, 13 Aug 2007
I purchased this CD on a bit of a whim, not 100% what to expect but very pleasantly surprised! This product really works and I'd recommend to anyone!

The two presenters are easy to listen to and present the language in a structured and logical way making your introduction and first steps to learning German with EarWorms very quick and fun. Supported by some really quite good music I found myself talking to my girlfriend (who speaks German) in no time at all!

Well worth a purchase, money well spent and amazon have it at a great price.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Learn while doing other stuff..., 25 Jul 2007
I enjoyed learning from the Rapid Chinese CD a few months back and so knew what to expect when this arrived. This is a very similar presentation, with the same 10 track titles: I would like...; To order; Have you ...?; To the airport; Numbers; days & times; Is there ...?; Directions; Where, when & what time?; Problems, problems!; and Do you speak English? In fact they have mostly the same phrases. Ordering a bottle of wine somehow seems more natural for German that it did for Chinese!

The way it works is there is a native German-speaking woman and a native English-speaking man. The English comes first then the German. As the track titles above suggest the 10 lessons cover useful phrase book stuff, at the most basic level. All the time there is a music track playing - easy to listen to. I do not know if the music helps memorizing the sentences but it does make the CD easy to have on in the background while working or doing other things. There is a handy 20 page booklet with the CD, which shows all the phrases on the CD, as well as describing the theory behind the learning method.

I did 'O' level German at school, which seemed to be all about learning the 16 words for "the". Thankfully not a mention of that here: ein/eine/einen/zum/zu/der/das/die/etc. are all introduced in context without being pointed out. After my German exam (I passed by the way) all I could speak in German was gutentag and "der das die die, dem dem den den", which does not get you very far. Listening to this CD course, in every school lesson, would have made a lot more sense. And we could have played cards while doing it. (Sadly the only class we actually got away with playing cards in was sociology.)

If we are looking for downsides the CDs are maybe a bit pricey, and are quite passive: no quizzes or chances for active usage of the language. But that is fine, it would not be easy to have on in the background if it was like that. Just do not expect this can be your only tool to learn the language.

Overall I like these EarWorms CDs and they will be my first choice when I want to learn the basics of a new language.

The perfect start to learning a new language - , 07 Jun 2007
I love my earworms German CD. I listen to it when I am driving and it's brilliant!! I also play it on my MP3 player whilst in the gym - the perfect combination - getting fit and learning at the same time.
I have never learned well aurally, In one ear and out the other, but this seems to have stimulated a new learning style I never thought I would cope with, I think that it will in fact help in many other ways too. I have noticed a difference in my own job of training. I can remember peoples names so much better now. I definitely think it's triggered something in my brain.

It is quite amazing that when the phrases come up in every day English, the German equivalent pops into my head at the same time - like 'Warum nicht' 'Why not' and the pronunciation seems to come automatically. I can actually hear the voices on the tape. The Phrase book that comes with the CD is also very helpful. I carry it around in my handbag, it helps to see the words as well.

I thought I might get fed up with the music and the voices, but in fact you just become even more familiar with them as time goes by. Sort of as if you actually have got to know them personally.

I look foward to buying the Volume 2 - I will wait and continue to chirp along with my volume 1 - thinking I am better than I really am!!

My only concern is what I will do once I have mastered both CD's - what sort of learning should I go on to from there.


Great!, 10 Aug 2008
I have a few of these CD's as I'm learning 3 languages (yes I'm obviously insane) and they are fantastic ways of learning. The guys voice is very sexy, which makes me want to listen more but the way it is set out makes it so easy to learn.
I have two children, 6 and 8 and even they are saying German phrases after listening to the cd a few times. The music is not as you'd imagine, it's not like hardcore pop tunes, but the tempo etc is enough to get your memory firing up.

Quality idea, I wish I'd though of it myself. Better than any book or other language course I have tried.

Poor and out of date., 13 May 2008
Having paid £29.99 for this course on the basis of the favourable reviews on Amazon, never have I been so disappointed.

The first disc was little more than an endless stream of vocabulary, with very little chance, guidance or practice on how to structure a sentence of day-to-day use. No special method of teaching is evident, nor is ones memory helped by such a high emphasis on vocabulary.

As for the selection of vocabulary offered in the first disc, much of it is irrelevant for day to day conversation; it is as though the author decided to list everything that could be seen on an international journey, on every form of transport, from a point of departure until arriving in a German hotel.

I don't know if I'll even bother with the remaining discs. Instead I'll look for a more useful course.

Add to this the fact that the currency used in the dialogs is Deutschmarks (which was replaced by the Euro in 1999) and you will see why I feel so mislead by the reviews of this product. I paid good money for old rope.


Learn German in your Car, 27 Sep 2005
The cds are good for learning basic words and phrases but it would be useful to have an explanation of why some words are spelt differently in certain phrases. eg. when to use 'einen' instead of 'ein' or 'eine'.

After listening to the first 2 cds, I had learned a lot of basic phrases and words but I still couldn't have a general conversation with a German colleague at work - unless it involved asking where the airport was, what time the next train leaves at, or where is the bank? etc etc.... which it didn't! The cds are very good but I think you also need to use a book that explains some of the rules a bit better.

Definitely useful to improve your German. Worth buying!, 03 Sep 2005
I bought several AudioBooks to practice my German and I must admit I found all of them quite useful. What I appreciated most of "Learn in Your Car: German (Complete Language Course)" was however the variety of the conversational subjects covered in each CD and the different levels of complexity available in them. Given the number of CDs provided in this package (Nine 60-minute CDs) it is also possible to listen to them a huge amount of times without getting too bored. I really recommend Audio-CDs as an additional way of learning a foreign language and this specific product both to beginners and to those having already a working knowledge of German.

Learn in Car: German 3 Lev Set, 04 Nov 2003
This is a very good introductory course which starts very simply and builds up over 9 discs to give you a good basic grasp of the language. After the first 2 discs you will have basic skills to make up sentences indeed after just two weeks of playing the discs in my car I was able to have a basic conversation with a German friend. It is easy to learn and pitched at the right pace for beginners I feel confident I will be able to use my new skills when I go to Germany shortly. I highly recommend this set indeed I was so impressed with it myself that I am thinking of trying another language from the same source.

An excellent guide for learning from scratch, 05 Jul 1999
I recently decided to learn German to help me in my business, I travel to Switzerland regularly. This course was the best I've tried to help me learn the language during my daily commute. The format is easy to follow, it leads up to more challenging information with each tape. The tapes must be listened to more than once though, to get the full benefit of the information being given (there is a lot to learn!). The workbooks are very good also, they give more information about verbforms and conjugation rules.

Moving to more complex conversation, 31 Oct 2008
The advanced course is a direct extension of the Foundation course using exactly the same question-and-answer format which focuses on grammatical building blocks and even uses the same two learners. Hard to say how it would work as stand-alone package. I've studied German off and on for years, and most of the grammar-based teaching was dreadful. This is to me a more natural way of dealing with more complex areas. The first of the four CDs is relatively undemanding and revises some of the first course. Midway through CD2, though the complexity goes up a notch with mind-bending phrases of the variety "You could have come with us". This is the sort of construction you do have to learn in natural conversation, but I suspect it will take quite a few listens before it clicks. After this challenge the course settles down and a whole range of helpful grammar snippets are covered, including quite a bit of sneaked in subjunctive. I'm not sure about Michael's bold claim that you know all the major structures of the language by the end - gender, adjectives, cases, prepositions and so on are not really covered. I believe MT works best as a supplement to traditional courses and doubt it fits with modern 'theory' but it is undoubtedly effective in what it tries to do.

How NOT to teach German , 10 Apr 2008
I would like to write something positive about this curious recording.
Based on old sociolinguistics circa: 1960ties theories of teaching language, long forgotten as ineffective, M.Thomas perseveries.

THE pronunciation of "students" is appalling, and not improved at all;
from CD1 to CD 4 ( for example: the course's favorite word: zurueck, pronounced with Z instead of correct pronunciation: ts) is just an example. Many mistakes are uncorrected by M.Thomas. The bizarre terms he uses "handle" "divingboard" do nothing-at all- to explain simple grammar points (auxiliary verbs, and past participle respectively).
Avoid, (or buy for your German friends have a good laugh).


The grass is greener on the other side., 01 Aug 2007
What immediately struck me about this course following on from the Foundation Course was the sound quality. It's not that it's bad in any way, but my initial reaction was that Michel Thomas and his two guests were sitting some distance back from the mike.
The format of the course remains the same: Michel Thomas provides a series of explanations and an example sentence, followed by prompts when he expects the two learners to ideally answer correctly - if not he'll provide further elaboration. He makes no secret that grammar is the fundamental essence of the audio tracks, and he hints at this again on the fourth (of the five) discs, when he states that "all the open doors into the language...and into reading" have now been opened for learners.
Although shorter than the Foundation Course, the Advanced version manages to cover more ground - primarily because his two present guests are considerably more knowledgeable than his earlier learners. However it's obvious that this is a grammar course when you realize that there are some things which haven't been mentioned before in either Foundation or Advanced courses - especially vocabulary and some verbs. Clearly you'll need access to a dictionary, at the very least for spelling.
Unlike the previous course Michel Thomas is a lot less indulgent with variable usage on the part of his two guests. For example there he tolerated the placement of the word 'bald' (rendered as 'soon' in English); now he's a lot more insistent that such "time elements" usually come earlier within a sentence. For me this got rid of most of my earlier frustration, which was also exacerbated by the distracting sighs of his male student.
Although using non-native speakers definitely makes this course accessible, listening to other courses such as those produced by Pimsler makes it evident that things are quite different in real time. However if you've also had a negative cultural experience with high-school German in this country - in my case in south London - you'll not be bothered, especially if you're seeking rapid acquisition of some basics of the spoken language and more confidence with the written form.

My brain must have run out of anchors, 19 Mar 2008
Perhaps I just don't learn this way. The music did nothing for me, and I can't think of any phrases "anchored into my long term memory". Perhaps I don't play it enough.

The CD is fine if you want to learn stock phrases like "I would like to order...", "Have you got..." "Is there...." but what do you do when someone responds in German.

I want to learn German so I can ask, understand the answer and respond. It will help you "get by" but not to have a conversation - go for broke and get Michel Thomas instead.

Not worth the money at all., 10 Nov 2007
I bought both rapid French and rapid German based on the great reviews they seemed to have received but I am really disappointed. I do not feel that they have enough information at all to give the user a good basis of either language. You will come away having learnt a few phrases e.g. how to order a cup of tea or a bottle of wine, but if someone is going to ask you something back in French or German you are going to have no idea what they are talking to you about. These are basically CD's of a few phrases, i'm sure the method is a good one, but the amount of information on each CD is really limited. They will not even really give you enough of the language for tourist needs. I feel that if you spent 3 hours looking up phrases in a language dictionary or even on Alta Vista Babel Fish you would be able to put together more phrases than are contained on these CD's and be able to teach yourself more of the language than the CD's will. They are not worth the money in my opinion.

Really pleased, speaking German in no time!, 13 Aug 2007
I purchased this CD on a bit of a whim, not 100% what to expect but very pleasantly surprised! This product really works and I'd recommend to anyone!

The two presenters are easy to listen to and present the language in a structured and logical way making your introduction and first steps to learning German with EarWorms very quick and fun. Supported by some really quite good music I found myself talking to my girlfriend (who speaks German) in no time at all!

Well worth a purchase, money well spent and amazon have it at a great price.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Learn while doing other stuff..., 25 Jul 2007
I enjoyed learning from the Rapid Chinese CD a few months back and so knew what to expect when this arrived. This is a very similar presentation, with the same 10 track titles: I would like...; To order; Have you ...?; To the airport; Numbers; days & times; Is there ...?; Directions; Where, when & what time?; Problems, problems!; and Do you speak English? In fact they have mostly the same phrases. Ordering a bottle of wine somehow seems more natural for German that it did for Chinese!

The way it works is there is a native German-speaking woman and a native English-speaking man. The English comes first then the German. As the track titles above suggest the 10 lessons cover useful phrase book stuff, at the most basic level. All the time there is a music track playing - easy to listen to. I do not know if the music helps memorizing the sentences but it does make the CD easy to have on in the background while working or doing other things. There is a handy 20 page booklet with the CD, which shows all the phrases on the CD, as well as describing the theory behind the learning method.

I did 'O' level German at school, which seemed to be all about learning the 16 words for "the". Thankfully not a mention of that here: ein/eine/einen/zum/zu/der/das/die/etc. are all introduced in context without being pointed out. After my German exam (I passed by the way) all I could speak in German was gutentag and "der das die die, dem dem den den", which does not get you very far. Listening to this CD course, in every school lesson, would have made a lot more sense. And we could have played cards while doing it. (Sadly the only class we actually got away with playing cards in was sociology.)

If we are looking for downsides the CDs are maybe a bit pricey, and are quite passive: no quizzes or chances for active usage of the language. But that is fine, it would not be easy to have on in the background if it was like that. Just do not expect this can be your only tool to learn the language.

Overall I like these EarWorms CDs and they will be my first choice when I want to learn the basics of a new language.

The perfect start to learning a new language - , 07 Jun 2007
I love my earworms German CD. I listen to it when I am driving and it's brilliant!! I also play it on my MP3 player whilst in the gym - the perfect combination - getting fit and learning at the same time.
I have never learned well aurally, In one ear and out the other, but this seems to have stimulated a new learning style I never thought I would cope with, I think that it will in fact help in many other ways too. I have noticed a difference in my own job of training. I can remember peoples names so much better now. I definitely think it's triggered something in my brain.

It is quite amazing that when the phrases come up in every day English, the German equivalent pops into my head at the same time - like 'Warum nicht' 'Why not' and the pronunciation seems to come automatically. I can actually hear the voices on the tape. The Phrase book that comes with the CD is also very helpful. I carry it around in my handbag, it helps to see the words as well.

I thought I might get fed up with the music and the voices, but in fact you just become even more familiar with them as time goes by. Sort of as if you actually have got to know them personally.

I look foward to buying the Volume 2 - I will wait and continue to chirp along with my volume 1 - thinking I am better than I really am!!

My only concern is what I will do once I have mastered both CD's - what sort of learning should I go on to from there.


Great!, 10 Aug 2008
I have a few of these CD's as I'm learning 3 languages (yes I'm obviously insane) and they are fantastic ways of learning. The guys voice is very sexy, which makes me want to listen more but the way it is set out makes it so easy to learn.
I have two children, 6 and 8 and even they are saying German phrases after listening to the cd a few times. The music is not as you'd imagine, it's not like hardcore pop tunes, but the tempo etc is enough to get your memory firing up.

Quality idea, I wish I'd though of it myself. Better than any book or other language course I have tried.

Poor and out of date., 13 May 2008
Having paid £29.99 for this course on the basis of the favourable reviews on Amazon, never have I been so disappointed.

The first disc was little more than an endless stream of vocabulary, with very little chance, guidance or practice on how to structure a sentence of day-to-day use. No special method of teaching is evident, nor is ones memory helped by such a high emphasis on vocabulary.

As for the selection of vocabulary offered in the first disc, much of it is irrelevant for day to day conversation; it is as though the author decided to list everything that could be seen on an international journey, on every form of transport, from a point of departure until arriving in a German hotel.

I don't know if I'll even bother with the remaining discs. Instead I'll look for a more useful course.

Add to this the fact that the currency used in the dialogs is Deutschmarks (which was replaced by the Euro in 1999) and you will see why I feel so mislead by the reviews of this product. I paid good money for old rope.


Learn German in your Car, 27 Sep 2005
The cds are good for learning basic words and phrases but it would be useful to have an explanation of why some words are spelt differently in certain phrases. eg. when to use 'einen' instead of 'ein' or 'eine'.

After listening to the first 2 cds, I had learned a lot of basic phrases and words but I still couldn't have a general conversation with a German colleague at work - unless it involved asking where the airport was, what time the next train leaves at, or where is the bank? etc etc.... which it didn't! The cds are very good but I think you also need to use a book that explains some of the rules a bit better.

Definitely useful to improve your German. Worth buying!, 03 Sep 2005
I bought several AudioBooks to practice my German and I must admit I found all of them quite useful. What I appreciated most of "Learn in Your Car: German (Complete Language Course)" was however the variety of the conversational subjects covered in each CD and the different levels of complexity available in them. Given the number of CDs provided in this package (Nine 60-minute CDs) it is also possible to listen to them a huge amount of times without getting too bored. I really recommend Audio-CDs as an additional way of learning a foreign language and this specific product both to beginners and to those having already a working knowledge of German.

Learn in Car: German 3 Lev Set, 04 Nov 2003
This is a very good introductory course which starts very simply and builds up over 9 discs to give you a good basic grasp of the language. After the first 2 discs you will have basic skills to make up sentences indeed after just two weeks of playing the discs in my car I was able to have a basic conversation with a German friend. It is easy to learn and pitched at the right pace for beginners I feel confident I will be able to use my new skills when I go to Germany shortly. I highly recommend this set indeed I was so impressed with it myself that I am thinking of trying another language from the same source.

An excellent guide for learning from scratch, 05 Jul 1999
I recently decided to learn German to help me in my business, I travel to Switzerland regularly. This course was the best I've tried to help me learn the language during my daily commute. The format is easy to follow, it leads up to more challenging information with each tape. The tapes must be listened to more than once though, to get the full benefit of the information being given (there is a lot to learn!). The workbooks are very good also, they give more information about verbforms and conjugation rules.

Moving to more complex conversation, 31 Oct 2008
The advanced course is a direct extension of the Foundation course using exactly the same question-and-answer format which focuses on grammatical building blocks and even uses the same two learners. Hard to say how it would work as stand-alone package. I've studied German off and on for years, and most of the grammar-based teaching was dreadful. This is to me a more natural way of dealing with more complex areas. The first of the four CDs is relatively undemanding and revises some of the first course. Midway through CD2, though the complexity goes up a notch with mind-bending phrases of the variety "You could have come with us". This is the sort of construction you do have to learn in natural conversation, but I suspect it will take quite a few listens before it clicks. After this challenge the course settles down and a whole range of helpful grammar snippets are covered, including quite a bit of sneaked in subjunctive. I'm not sure about Michael's bold claim that you know all the major structures of the language by the end - gender, adjectives, cases, prepositions and so on are not really covered. I believe MT works best as a supplement to traditional courses and doubt it fits with modern 'theory' but it is undoubtedly effective in what it tries to do.

How NOT to teach German , 10 Apr 2008
I would like to write something positive about this curious recording.
Based on old sociolinguistics circa: 1960ties theories of teaching language, long forgotten as ineffective, M.Thomas perseveries.

THE pronunciation of "students" is appalling, and not improved at all;
from CD1 to CD 4 ( for example: the course's favorite word: zurueck, pronounced with Z instead of correct pronunciation: ts) is just an example. Many mistakes are uncorrected by M.Thomas. The bizarre terms he uses "handle" "divingboard" do nothing-at all- to explain simple grammar points (auxiliary verbs, and past participle respectively).
Avoid, (or buy for your German friends have a good laugh).


The grass is greener on the other side., 01 Aug 2007
What immediately struck me about this course following on from the Foundation Course was the sound quality. It's not that it's bad in any way, but my initial reaction was that Michel Thomas and his two guests were sitting some distance back from the mike.
The format of the course remains the same: Michel Thomas provides a series of explanations and an example sentence, followed by prompts when he expects the two learners to ideally answer correctly - if not he'll provide further elaboration. He makes no secret that grammar is the fundamental essence of the audio tracks, and he hints at this again on the fourth (of the five) discs, when he states that "all the open doors into the language...and into reading" have now been opened for learners.
Although shorter than the Foundation Course, the Advanced version manages to cover more ground - primarily because his two present guests are considerably more knowledgeable than his earlier learners. However it's obvious that this is a grammar course when you realize that there are some things which haven't been mentioned before in either Foundation or Advanced courses - especially vocabulary and some verbs. Clearly you'll need access to a dictionary, at the very least for spelling.
Unlike the previous course Michel Thomas is a lot less indulgent with variable usage on the part of his two guests. For example there he tolerated the placement of the word 'bald' (rendered as 'soon' in English); now he's a lot more insistent that such "time elements" usually come earlier within a sentence. For me this got rid of most of my earlier frustration, which was also exacerbated by the distracting sighs of his male student.
Although using non-native speakers definitely makes this course accessible, listening to other courses such as those produced by Pimsler makes it evident that things are quite different in real time. However if you've also had a negative cultural experience with high-school German in this country - in my case in south London - you'll not be bothered, especially if you're seeking rapid acquisition of some basics of the spoken language and more confidence with the written form.


Fairy Tales With A Slight Touch Of Horror., 14 Mar 2001
This book bring the reader back in to the world of Fairy Tales, Each tale has a slight twist, which brings the stories to life with a touch of darkness. The way the tales where originally told. If you think fairy tales are all happy and "Fairy" then read this and you mind will be changed, Well worth reading.

My brain must have run out of anchors, 19 Mar 2008
Perhaps I just don't learn this way. The music did nothing for me, and I can't think of any phrases "anchored into my long term memory". Perhaps I don't play it enough.

The CD is fine if you want to learn stock phrases like "I would like to order...", "Have you got..." "Is there...." but what do you do when someone responds in German.

I want to learn German so I can ask, understand the answer and respond. It will help you "get by" but not to have a conversation - go for broke and get Michel Thomas instead.

Not worth the money at all., 10 Nov 2007
I bought both rapid French and rapid German based on the great reviews they seemed to have received but I am really disappointed. I do not feel that they have enough information at all to give the user a good basis of either language. You will come away having learnt a few phrases e.g. how to order a cup of tea or a bottle of wine, but if someone is going to ask you something back in French or German you are going to have no idea what they are talking to you about. These are basically CD's of a few phrases, i'm sure the method is a good one, but the amount of information on each CD is really limited. They will not even really give you enough of the language for tourist needs. I feel that if you spent 3 hours looking up phrases in a language dictionary or even on Alta Vista Babel Fish you would be able to put together more phrases than are contained on these CD's and be able to teach yourself more of the language than the CD's will. They are not worth the money in my opinion.

Really pleased, speaking German in no time!, 13 Aug 2007
I purchased this CD on a bit of a whim, not 100% what to expect but very pleasantly surprised! This product really works and I'd recommend to anyone!

The two presenters are easy to listen to and present the language in a structured and logical way making your introduction and first steps to learning German with EarWorms very quick and fun. Supported by some really quite good music I found myself talking to my girlfriend (who speaks German) in no time at all!

Well worth a purchase, money well spent and amazon have it at a great price.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Learn while doing other stuff..., 25 Jul 2007
I enjoyed learning from the Rapid Chinese CD a few months back and so knew what to expect when this arrived. This is a very similar presentation, with the same 10 track titles: I would like...; To order; Have you ...?; To the airport; Numbers; days & times; Is there ...?; Directions; Where, when & what time?; Problems, problems!; and Do you speak English? In fact they have mostly the same phrases. Ordering a bottle of wine somehow seems more natural for German that it did for Chinese!

The way it works is there is a native German-speaking woman and a native English-speaking man. The English comes first then the German. As the track titles above suggest the 10 lessons cover useful phrase book stuff, at the most basic level. All the time there is a music track playing - easy to listen to. I do not know if the music helps memorizing the sentences but it does make the CD easy to have on in the background while working or doing other things. There is a handy 20 page booklet with the CD, which shows all the phrases on the CD, as well as describing the theory behind the learning method.

I did 'O' level German at school, which seemed to be all about learning the 16 words for "the". Thankfully not a mention of that here: ein/eine/einen/zum/zu/der/das/die/etc. are all introduced in context without being pointed out. After my German exam (I passed by the way) all I could speak in German was gutentag and "der das die die, dem dem den den", which does not get you very far. Listening to this CD course, in every school lesson, would have made a lot more sense. And we could have played cards while doing it. (Sadly the only class we actually got away with playing cards in was sociology.)

If we are looking for downsides the CDs are maybe a bit pricey, and are quite passive: no quizzes or chances for active usage of the language. But that is fine, it would not be easy to have on in the background if it was like that. Just do not expect this can be your only tool to learn the language.

Overall I like these EarWorms CDs and they will be my first choice when I want to learn the basics of a new language.

The perfect start to learning a new language - , 07 Jun 2007
I love my earworms German CD. I listen to it when I am driving and it's brilliant!! I also play it on my MP3 player whilst in the gym - the perfect combination - getting fit and learning at the same time.
I have never learned well aurally, In one ear and out the other, but this seems to have stimulated a new learning style I never thought I would cope with, I think that it will in fact help in many other ways too. I have noticed a difference in my own job of training. I can remember peoples names so much better now. I definitely think it's triggered something in my brain.

It is quite amazing that when the phrases come up in every day English, the German equivalent pops into my head at the same time - like 'Warum nicht' 'Why not' and the pronunciation seems to come automatically. I can actually hear the voices on the tape. The Phrase book that comes with the CD is also very helpful. I carry it around in my handbag, it helps to see the words as well.

I thought I might get fed up with the music and the voices, but in fact you just become even more familiar with them as time goes by. Sort of as if you actually have got to know them personally.

I look foward to buying the Volume 2 - I will wait and continue to chirp along with my volume 1 - thinking I am better than I really am!!

My only concern is what I will do once I have mastered both CD's - what sort of learning should I go on to from there.


Great!, 10 Aug 2008
I have a few of these CD's as I'm learning 3 languages (yes I'm obviously insane) and they are fantastic ways of learning. The guys voice is very sexy, which makes me want to listen more but the way it is set out makes it so easy to learn.
I have two children, 6 and 8 and even they are saying German phrases after listening to the cd a few times. The music is not as you'd imagine, it's not like hardcore pop tunes, but the tempo etc is enough to get your memory firing up.

Quality idea, I wish I'd though of it myself. Better than any book or other language course I have tried.

Poor and out of date., 13 May 2008
Having paid £29.99 for this course on the basis of the favourable reviews on Amazon, never have I been so disappointed.

The first disc was little more than an endless stream of vocabulary, with very little chance, guidance or practice on how to structure a sentence of day-to-day use. No special method of teaching is evident, nor is ones memory helped by such a high emphasis on vocabulary.

As for the selection of vocabulary offered in the first disc, much of it is irrelevant for day to day conversation; it is as though the author decided to list everything that could be seen on an international journey, on every form of transport, from a point of departure until arriving in a German hotel.

I don't know if I'll even bother with the remaining discs. Instead I'll look for a more useful course.

Add to this the fact that the currency used in the dialogs is Deutschmarks (which was replaced by the Euro in 1999) and you will see why I feel so mislead by the reviews of this product. I paid good money for old rope.


Learn German in your Car, 27 Sep 2005
The cds are good for learning basic words and phrases but it would be useful to have an explanation of why some words are spelt differently in certain phrases. eg. when to use 'einen' instead of 'ein' or 'eine'.

After listening to the first 2 cds, I had learned a lot of basic phrases and words but I still couldn't have a general conversation with a German colleague at work - unless it involved asking where the airport was, what time the next train leaves at, or where is the bank? etc etc.... which it didn't! The cds are very good but I think you also need to use a book that explains some of the rules a bit better.

Definitely useful to improve your German. Worth buying!, 03 Sep 2005
I bought several AudioBooks to practice my German and I must admit I found all of them quite useful. What I appreciated most of "Learn in Your Car: German (Complete Language Course)" was however the variety of the conversational subjects covered in each CD and the different levels of complexity available in them. Given the number of CDs provided in this package (Nine 60-minute CDs) it is also possible to listen to them a huge amount of times without getting too bored. I really recommend Audio-CDs as an additional way of learning a foreign language and this specific product both to beginners and to those having already a working knowledge of German.

Learn in Car: German 3 Lev Set, 04 Nov 2003
This is a very good introductory course which starts very simply and builds up over 9 discs to give you a good basic grasp of the language. After the first 2 discs you will have basic skills to make up sentences indeed after just two weeks of playing the discs in my car I was able to have a basic conversation with a German friend. It is easy to learn and pitched at the right pace for beginners I feel confident I will be able to use my new skills when I go to Germany shortly. I highly recommend this set indeed I was so impressed with it myself that I am thinking of trying another language from the same source.

An excellent guide for learning from scratch, 05 Jul 1999
I recently decided to learn German to help me in my business, I travel to Switzerland regularly. This course was the best I've tried to help me learn the language during my daily commute. The format is easy to follow, it leads up to more challenging information with each tape. The tapes must be listened to more than once though, to get the full benefit of the information being given (there is a lot to learn!). The workbooks are very good also, they give more information about verbforms and conjugation rules.

Moving to more complex conversation, 31 Oct 2008
The advanced course is a direct extension of the Foundation course using exactly the same question-and-answer format which focuses on grammatical building blocks and even uses the same two learners. Hard to say how it would work as stand-alone package. I've studied German off and on for years, and most of the grammar-based teaching was dreadful. This is to me a more natural way of dealing with more complex areas. The first of the four CDs is relatively undemanding and revises some of the first course. Midway through CD2, though the complexity goes up a notch with mind-bending phrases of the variety "You could have come with us". This is the sort of construction you do have to learn in natural conversation, but I suspect it will take quite a few listens before it clicks. After this challenge the course settles down and a whole range of helpful grammar snippets are covered, including quite a bit of sneaked in subjunctive. I'm not sure about Michael's bold claim that you know all the major structures of the language by the end - gender, adjectives, cases, prepositions and so on are not really covered. I believe MT works best as a supplement to traditional courses and doubt it fits with modern 'theory' but it is undoubtedly effective in what it tries to do.

How NOT to teach German , 10 Apr 2008
I would like to write something positive about this curious recording.
Based on old sociolinguistics circa: 1960ties theories of teaching language, long forgotten as ineffective, M.Thomas perseveries.

THE pronunciation of "students" is appalling, and not improved at all;
from CD1 to CD 4 ( for example: the course's favorite word: zurueck, pronounced with Z instead of correct pronunciation: ts) is just an example. Many mistakes are uncorrected by M.Thomas. The bizarre terms he uses "handle" "divingboard" do nothing-at all- to explain simple grammar points (auxiliary verbs, and past participle respectively).
Avoid, (or buy for your German friends have a good laugh).


The grass is greener on the other side., 01 Aug 2007
What immediately struck me about this course following on from the Foundation Course was the sound quality. It's not that it's bad in any way, but my initial reaction was that Michel Thomas and his two guests were sitting some distance back from the mike.
The format of the course remains the same: Michel Thomas provides a series of explanations and an example sentence, followed by prompts when he expects the two learners to ideally answer correctly - if not he'll provide further elaboration. He makes no secret that grammar is the fundamental essence of the audio tracks, and he hints at this again on the fourth (of the five) discs, when he states that "all the open doors into the language...and into reading" have now been opened for learners.
Although shorter than the Foundation Course, the Advanced version manages to cover more ground - primarily because his two present guests are considerably more knowledgeable than his earlier learners. However it's obvious that this is a grammar course when you realize that there are some things which haven't been mentioned before in either Foundation or Advanced courses - especially vocabulary and some verbs. Clearly you'll need access to a dictionary, at the very least for spelling.
Unlike the previous course Michel Thomas is a lot less indulgent with variable usage on the part of his two guests. For example there he tolerated the placement of the word 'bald' (rendered as 'soon' in English); now he's a lot more insistent that such "time elements" usually come earlier within a sentence. For me this got rid of most of my earlier frustration, which was also exacerbated by the distracting sighs of his male student.
Although using non-native speakers definitely makes this course accessible, listening to other courses such as those produced by Pimsler makes it evident that things are quite different in real time. However if you've also had a negative cultural experience with high-school German in this country - in my case in south London - you'll not be bothered, especially if you're seeking rapid acquisition of some basics of the spoken language and more confidence with the written form.


Fairy Tales With A Slight Touch Of Horror., 14 Mar 2001
This book bring the reader back in to the world of Fairy Tales, Each tale has a slight twist, which brings the stories to life with a touch of darkness. The way the tales where originally told. If you think fairy tales are all happy and "Fairy" then read this and you mind will be changed, Well worth reading.

Very enjoyable and interesting, 22 Nov 2008
This is a very interesting and enjoyable History of Classical Music on four CDs. It contains excerpts from over 50 pieces of Western Music.

I have read some musical history before but I found that this set of CDs dealt more thoroughly with the thousand years of development from around 600 AD to around 1600 AD.

The CDs are are follows:

CD1 The Early, Medieval, and Renaissance Periods

This includes Gregorian Chant; Ambrosian Chant; the Dorian, Phrygian and Lydian Modes; Hildegard of Bingen; the Gothic Age; the Motet; the troubadour tradition; Guillaume de Machaut; the Madigral - Landini; Dufay and Ockeghem; the Agincourt Carol - 1415; the Renaissance - Palestrina; the High Renaissance in England; the French Chanson and the madrigal in Italy and England; John Dowland; Andrea and Giovanni Gabrielli.

CD 2 The Baroque Period (c 1600 - C 1750)
The Classical Period (c 1750 - c 1800)

This includes:

The Birth of Opera; Claudio Monteverdi; Music in England - Henry Purcell; Handel; Bach; Music for Keyboards - Couperin, Bach; the violin; the development of the solo concerto - Vivaldi; the Age of Reason - the Classical Period; Mozart; von Dittersdorf; Haydn; Mozart; Gluck; Mozart; Beethoven.

CD 3 The Romantic Period (C 1827 - 1900)

This includes:

The concept of Romanticism - Beethoven; Berlioz; Schubert; The piano; Chopin; Schumman; Dvorak; Grieg; France - Cesar Franck; Russia - the Mighty Handful - Borodin; Liszt; Bruckner; Brahms; Mahler; Tchaiskovsky; The Concerto - Mendelssohn; the amateur choral tradition - Brahms; Opera - Rossini; Meyerbeer; Bel Canto - Bellini, Donizetti; Offenbach; Bizet; Verdi; Puccini; Weber; Wagner.

CD 4 The Twentieth Century

This includes:

Stravinsky; Impressionism - Debussy; New Directions; Stravinsky; SErialism - Schoenberg; Richard Strauss; Holst; Elgar; Sibelius; Vaughan Williams; Rachmaninov: Shostakovich; Prokofiev; Szymanowski; Bartok; Copland; Villa-Lobos; Rodrigo; Varese and Boulez; Minimalism - Reich, Glass and Adams; Gorecki; Tippett; Britten; Arvo Part.

Altogether an enjoyable treat.

My brain must have run out of anchors, 19 Mar 2008
Perhaps I just don't learn this way. The music did nothing for me, and I can't think of any phrases "anchored into my long term memory". Perhaps I don't play it enough.

The CD is fine if you want to learn stock phrases like "I would like to order...", "Have you got..." "Is there...." but what do you do when someone responds in German.

I want to learn German so I can ask, understand the answer and respond. It will help you "get by" but not to have a conversation - go for broke and get Michel Thomas instead.

Not worth the money at all., 10 Nov 2007
I bought both rapid French and rapid German based on the great reviews they seemed to have received but I am really disappointed. I do not feel that they have enough information at all to give the user a good basis of either language. You will come away having learnt a few phrases e.g. how to order a cup of tea or a bottle of wine, but if someone is going to ask you something back in French or German you are going to have no idea what they are talking to you about. These are basically CD's of a few phrases, i'm sure the method is a good one, but the amount of information on each CD is really limited. They will not even really give you enough of the language for tourist needs. I feel that if you spent 3 hours looking up phrases in a language dictionary or even on Alta Vista Babel Fish you would be able to put together more phrases than are contained on these CD's and be able to teach yourself more of the language than the CD's will. They are not worth the money in my opinion.

Really pleased, speaking German in no time!, 13 Aug 2007
I purchased this CD on a bit of a whim, not 100% what to expect but very pleasantly surprised! This product really works and I'd recommend to anyone!

The two presenters are easy to listen to and present the language in a structured and logical way making your introduction and first steps to learning German with EarWorms very quick and fun. Supported by some really quite good music I found myself talking to my girlfriend (who speaks German) in no time at all!

Well worth a purchase, money well spent and amazon have it at a great price.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Learn while doing other stuff..., 25 Jul 2007
I enjoyed learning from the Rapid Chinese CD a few months back and so knew what to expect when this arrived. This is a very similar presentation, with the same 10 track titles: I would like...; To order; Have you ...?; To the airport; Numbers; days & times; Is there ...?; Directions; Where, when & what time?; Problems, problems!; and Do you speak English? In fact they have mostly the same phrases. Ordering a bottle of wine somehow seems more natural for German that it did for Chinese!

The way it works is there is a native German-speaking woman and a native English-speaking man. The English comes first then the German. As the track titles above suggest the 10 lessons cover useful phrase book stuff, at the most basic level. All the time there is a music track playing - easy to listen to. I do not know if the music helps memorizing the sentences but it does make the CD easy to have on in the background while working or doing other things. There is a handy 20 page booklet with the CD, which shows all the phrases on the CD, as well as describing the theory behind the learning method.

I did 'O' level German at school, which seemed to be all about learning the 16 words for "the". Thankfully not a mention of that here: ein/eine/einen/zum/zu/der/das/die/etc. are all introduced in context without being pointed out. After my German exam (I passed by the way) all I could speak in German was gutentag and "der das die die, dem dem den den", which does not get you very far. Listening to this CD course, in every school lesson, would have made a lot more sense. And we could have played cards while doing it. (Sadly the only class we actually got away with playing cards in was sociology.)

If we are looking for downsides the CDs are maybe a bit pricey, and are quite passive: no quizzes or chances for active usage of the language. But that is fine, it would not be easy to have on in the background if it was like that. Just do not expect this can be your only tool to learn the language.

Overall I like these EarWorms CDs and they will be my first choice when I want to learn the basics of a new language.

The perfect start to learning a new language - , 07 Jun 2007
I love my earworms German CD. I listen to it when I am driving and it's brilliant!! I also play it on my MP3 player whilst in the gym - the perfect combination - getting fit and learning at the same time.
I have never learned well aurally, In one ear and out the other, but this seems to have stimulated a new learning style I never thought I would cope with, I think that it will in fact help in many other ways too. I have noticed a difference in my own job of training. I can remember peoples names so much better now. I definitely think it's triggered something in my brain.

It is quite amazing that when the phrases come up in every day English, the German equivalent pops into my head at the same time - like 'Warum nicht' 'Why not' and the pronunciation seems to come automatically. I can actually hear the voices on the tape. The Phrase book that comes with the CD is also very helpful. I carry it around in my handbag, it helps to see the words as well.

I thought I might get fed up with the music and the voices, but in fact you just become even more familiar with them as time goes by. Sort of as if you actually have got to know them personally.

I look foward to buying the Volume 2 - I will wait and continue to chirp along with my volume 1 - thinking I am better than I really am!!

My only concern is what I will do once I have mastered both CD's - what sort of learning should I go on to from there.


Great!, 10 Aug 2008
I have a few of these CD's as I'm learning 3 languages (yes I'm obviously insane) and they are fantastic ways of learning. The guys voice is very sexy, which makes me want to listen more but the way it is set out makes it so easy to learn.
I have two children, 6 and 8 and even they are saying German phrases after listening to the cd a few times. The music is not as you'd imagine, it's not like hardcore pop tunes, but the tempo etc is enough to get your memory firing up.

Quality idea, I wish I'd though of it myself. Better than any book or other language course I have tried.

Poor and out of date., 13 May 2008
Having paid £29.99 for this course on the basis of the favourable reviews on Amazon, never have I been so disappointed.

The first disc was little more than an endless stream of vocabulary, with very little chance, guidance or practice on how to structure a sentence of day-to-day use. No special method of teaching is evident, nor is ones memory helped by such a high emphasis on vocabulary.

As for the selection of vocabulary offered in the first disc, much of it is irrelevant for day to day conversation; it is as though the author decided to list everything that could be seen on an international journey, on every form of transport, from a point of departure until arriving in a German hotel.

I don't know if I'll even bother with the remaining discs. Instead I'll look for a more useful course.

Add to this the fact that the currency used in the dialogs is Deutschmarks (which was replaced by the Euro in 1999) and you will see why I feel so mislead by the reviews of this product. I paid good money for old rope.


Learn German in your Car, 27 Sep 2005
The cds are good for learning basic words and phrases but it would be useful to have an explanation of why some words are spelt differently in certain phrases. eg. when to use 'einen' instead of 'ein' or 'eine'.

After listening to the first 2 cds, I had learned a lot of basic phrases and words but I still couldn't have a general conversation with a German colleague at work - unless it involved asking where the airport was, what time the next train leaves at, or where is the bank? etc etc.... which it didn't! The cds are very good but I think you also need to use a book that explains some of the rules a bit better.

Definitely useful to improve your German. Worth buying!, 03 Sep 2005
I bought several AudioBooks to practice my German and I must admit I found all of them quite useful. What I appreciated most of "Learn in Your Car: German (Complete Language Course)" was however the variety of the conversational subjects covered in each CD and the different levels of complexity available in them. Given the number of CDs provided in this package (Nine 60-minute CDs) it is also possible to listen to them a huge amount of times without getting too bored. I really recommend Audio-CDs as an additional way of learning a foreign language and this specific product both to beginners and to those having already a working knowledge of German.

Learn in Car: German 3 Lev Set, 04 Nov 2003
This is a very good introductory course which starts very simply and builds up over 9 discs to give you a good basic grasp of the language. After the first 2 discs you will have basic skills to make up sentences indeed after just two weeks of playing the discs in my car I was able to have a basic conversation with a German friend. It is easy to learn and pitched at the right pace for beginners I feel confident I will be able to use my new skills when I go to Germany shortly. I highly recommend this set indeed I was so impressed with it myself that I am thinking of trying another language from the same source.

An excellent guide for learning from scratch, 05 Jul 1999
I recently decided to learn German to help me in my business, I travel to Switzerland regularly. This course was the best I've tried to help me learn the language during my daily commute. The format is easy to follow, it leads up to more challenging information with each tape. The tapes must be listened to more than once though, to get the full benefit of the information being given (there is a lot to learn!). The workbooks are very good also, they give more information about verbforms and conjugation rules.

Moving to more complex conversation, 31 Oct 2008
The advanced course is a direct extension of the Foundation course using exactly the same question-and-answer format which focuses on grammatical building blocks and even uses the same two learners. Hard to say how it would work as stand-alone package. I've studied German off and on for years, and most of the grammar-based teaching was dreadful. This is to me a more natural way of dealing with more complex areas. The first of the four CDs is relatively undemanding and revises some of the first course. Midway through CD2, though the complexity goes up a notch with mind-bending phrases of the variety "You could have come with us". This is the sort of construction you do have to learn in natural conversation, but I suspect it will take quite a few listens before it clicks. After this challenge the course settles down and a whole range of helpful grammar snippets are covered, including quite a bit of sneaked in subjunctive. I'm not sure about Michael's bold claim that you know all the major structures of the language by the end - gender, adjectives, cases, prepositions and so on are not really covered. I believe MT works best as a supplement to traditional courses and doubt it fits with modern 'theory' but it is undoubtedly effective in what it tries to do.

How NOT to teach German , 10 Apr 2008
I would like to write something positive about this curious recording.
Based on old sociolinguistics circa: 1960ties theories of teaching language, long forgotten as ineffective, M.Thomas perseveries.

THE pronunciation of "students" is appalling, and not improved at all;
from CD1 to CD 4 ( for example: the course's favorite word: zurueck, pronounced with Z instead of correct pronunciation: ts) is just an example. Many mistakes are uncorrected by M.Thomas. The bizarre terms he uses "handle" "divingboard" do nothing-at all- to explain simple grammar points (auxiliary verbs, and past participle respectively).
Avoid, (or buy for your German friends have a good laugh).


The grass is greener on the other side., 01 Aug 2007
What immediately struck me about this course following on from the Foundation Course was the sound quality. It's not that it's bad in any way, but my initial reaction was that Michel Thomas and his two guests were sitting some distance back from the mike.
The format of the course remains the same: Michel Thomas provides a series of explanations and an example sentence, followed by prompts when he expects the two learners to ideally answer correctly - if not he'll provide further elaboration. He makes no secret that grammar is the fundamental essence of the audio tracks, and he hints at this again on the fourth (of the five) discs, when he states that "all the open doors into the language...and into reading" have now been opened for learners.
Although shorter than the Foundation Course, the Advanced version manages to cover more ground - primarily because his two present guests are considerably more knowledgeable than his earlier learners. However it's obvious that this is a grammar course when you realize that there are some things which haven't been mentioned before in either Foundation or Advanced courses - especially vocabulary and some verbs. Clearly you'll need access to a dictionary, at the very least for spelling.
Unlike the previous course Michel Thomas is a lot less indulgent with variable usage on the part of his two guests. For example there he tolerated the placement of the word 'bald' (rendered as 'soon' in English); now he's a lot more insistent that such "time elements" usually come earlier within a sentence. For me this got rid of most of my earlier frustration, which was also exacerbated by the distracting sighs of his male student.
Although using non-native speakers definitely makes this course accessible, listening to other courses such as those produced by Pimsler makes it evident that things are quite different in real time. However if you've also had a negative cultural experience with high-school German in this country - in my case in south London - you'll not be bothered, especially if you're seeking rapid acquisition of some basics of the spoken language and more confidence with the written form.


Fairy Tales With A Slight Touch Of Horror., 14 Mar 2001
This book bri