Barron's 1001 Pitfalls in German

I recommend this book only for advanced students of German. The details are far too tedious and specific for anyone at any lower level. If you are ready for this book, however, I consider it to be brilliant. I have carefully read, marked up, and reread this book in order to move my German vastly forward. The author can seem stuffy and pedantic (his unceasing references to high German art become tedious), but he has done us a tremendous service and I compliment him with utmost praise for his incredibly practical choices for making sure that your German is always perfect. Because there are no practice exercises, I recommend underlining everything that you wish to remember and going over that material several times so that it sticks. It's worth it.

This book is like having 8 years of German lecture notes all in one book. This book amazes me every time I open it up. Notes and rules, pitfalls and mistakes, tips and charts and tables, plus more! I would recommend this book to anyone studying German! -Dr. Kenneth

This is a really clear, useful book for middle-level German (say, college 2nd semester and 2nd year?) I have this book in Spanish and the German version just seems more on-the-point and useful and easier to learn from. Highly recommended.

I've noted that a few of the reviews for this book are doubtful as to whether or not it's sufficient enough to learn German with. I can answer that question: no, it's not. What's more is, it's not supposed to be!This book is geared towards going over all of the most common mistakes and problems that an English speaker who is learning German will encounter in their studies. All of the questionable points of German grammar, word order, etc., that an English learner will have, is most likely covered in this book. I generally look over something in this book *every* day, and it's helped me a great deal. Definitely 5 stars from me.

A girl down the hall in college had this book, and I found myself borrowing it probably once a day. Finally, she ended up giving it to me. The reason it is so helpful is that it lists the mistakes you are likely to make as a native English speaker learning German and then tells you how to correct them. It goes through all the parts of speech in a very clear and engaging way. It really had me exclaiming "Ah ha!!" at a rate of something like 3 times per page. Great as a supplement for a German course and for someone trying to learn on their own. If you are looking to buy the essentials for learning German, I would recommend this, "Teach yourself German Vocabulary" of the Teach Yourself series, a good dictionary, a verb book, and a good intermediate short story reader. Then you can feel confident enough to move on to primary texts!