I was inspired to learn German after watching the BBC Education broadcast on TV. I thought I would just see the first 5 minutes of the late night broadcast, then after 6 hours and 20 episodes, all with no subtitles, I bought the book, CDs and work book. Unfortunately there only seams to be one broadcast a year, so you will need to wait untill April 2005 or there abouts to see the TV series, which is excellent. The BBC really should sell a DVD of their language broadcasts. The broadcast times are available on http://www.bbc.co.uk/education. Lots of info on learning German here http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/library/german.shtml
The level is similar to GCSE and would be a good introduction if you are thinking of doing GCSE German. It is very practical focusing on German you would use in day to day life. Travel, job applications, finding a flat to rent, trains, time, shopping, hobbies and interests.
The book has full colour photos and illustrations and fairly large print, also its printed on good quality glossy paper. It's very easy to read with a nice chapter size, grammar is simply explained with vocabluary introduced in small amounts. This will be a great book if you find other books too much like a school text book.
One chapter a day would be easy to do. About half the book is tied in to the TV series, which is about a man joining a German TV station and learning German, but you do not need to see the TV show to work through the book. The TV show is like a TV soap series, a very good cast, very high standard of acting, a large number of location scenes and a genuinely interesting story.
In total there is this course book, 4 CDs or 4 tapes and a work book. There is also a Tutor's Cassette Pack with only German.
Deutsch Plus 2 is a follow up course by the BBC with a book and 4 audio tapes. Deutsch Plus 2 is not associated with the TV series or characters. Just a way of taking things further. I put this in as some people prefer courses over isolated books.
