15-Minute German

Have used this series of product before, in France, and this one is just as good. CD covers the basics and the book is small enough to fit in a pocket when travelling. I am sure there are other books or CDs that go over the basics in a better format (i.e. numbers and letters first, etc.), but for the fly by the seat of your pants traveller who doesn't want to seem like the ignorant American traveller, a great resource, especially for the price.

Like all DK Eyewitness travel books this one is packed with nice photographs to illustrate the pages and make it fun to read. I was looking for a review book as well as an introductory guide for my wife that would be more interesting than a plain text phrasebook, and it qualifies well. The flaw that I have noted, (and is presumably corrected if you have the version with the 2 CDs), is that the pronunciation guides (phonetic examples) are written using UK English, rather than American English. So "raucher" (smoking) is given as "row-kher". Because we pronounce "row" differently from the English (rhymes with cow), this is a problem. I have not seen many cases of this, but there may be others. Four stars.

The Eyewitness Travel Phrase books are excellent guides for tourists looking to communicate as much as possible in foreign languages. They include a host of phrases that can be very helpful in many situations - there are the classic "Can you tell me what time it is?" to a variety of more complex or particular expressions. There's also a section on spelling and pronounciation. It also includes expressions used not only while on vacation, but also while doing business.This little book is also quite handy thanks to it's size, it fits perfectly on any pocket. It also includes a section with a simple dictionary that can be very helpful in identifying a variety of words.The book is very good at doing its job, which is helping people cross the language barriers while abroad. However, it shouldn't be mistaken with a German language course. This is book is not meant to teach you the German language, but to give you a good enough understanding of it so you can travel without major inconveniences. If you want to expand on the language, you need to get other books.