Looking for a fun way to learn German quickly and easily?
A German course that you can access on your tablet, smartphone and MP3-player?
Check out GermanPod.
GermanPod offers a unique learning experience that you just don’t find in conventional classroom courses.
GermanPod is an audioMP3-based self-study German language course which is designed for people with busy lifestyles.
What’s more, GermanPod aims to have you starting to speak German right from the first lesson.
The One Minute Review of GermanPod
What is it? GermanPod is a downloadable MP3-based German language course which can be used on tablet, iPad, iPod, MP3-player and smartphone, as well as PC and laptop.
What’s inside? MP3 audio lessons, PDF lesson notes, videos, numerous apps, members forum, and support. The course is available in three different packages: Basic, Premium and Premium-Plus.
Who is it for? Complete beginners, as well as people with previous knowledge of German who want to learn to speak and understand German quickly and easily and at their own pace. There are four learner levels: Absolute Beginner, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.
How much? GermanPod is available by monthly subscription from $4 to $23 per month. Longer term advance subscriptions from 3 to 12 or 24 months are available with discounts of up to 60%. Students also receive additional 20% discount. Quit whenever you want.
Is there a free trial? Yes. You receive lifetime access to a small subset of the basic lessons, plus 7 days FREE TRIAL access to the full Premium package.
How can I join? Go to www.germanpod101.com
How can I find out more? Read the full review of GermanPod below…
GermanPod Full Review by BreakingOutBusiness
What is GermanPod?
GermanPod is an audio-based self-study German language course that uses modern, up to date language course material.
GermanPod is THE way to learn German in your own time as and when you want and at your own pace.
GermanPod consists of downloadable audio material which you can access from a range of different devices: PC and laptop, as well as tablet, iPad, iPod, MP3-player and smartphone.
The course is accessible on any computer or device – regardless of operating system: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android. All your device needs is to be able to play MP3 files and open PDF documents.
As GermanPod themselves say, the course aims to have you speaking German after just one lesson. The lessons focus on practical speaking phrases, pronunciation and listening comprehension, so that you can start practising what you learn right away.
The PDF lesson notes contain the necessary tools you need for reading comprehension. There are thorough explanations of phrases and key grammar points, in addition to segments on cultural information.
To help you perfect your speaking practice, GermanPod has an easy-to use voice recorder on every lesson page. This enables you to compare your pronunciation with the teacher’s and to continue refining your speaking skills.
GermanPod comes in four learning levels for each package: Absolute Beginner, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.
You can download the lessons from iTunes as well as directly from the GermanPod site. You can also access the site from your mobile phone or tablet.
What Are The Best Things About GermanPod?
The GermanPod course really does have a whole load going for it.
A big plus is that you can use GermanPod on iPads, tablets, iPods, MP3-players, and smartphones.
This makes GermanPod very easy to study with and it means that you can utilize your available time for learning German very efficiently.
GermanPod teaches you modern, up to date German. So you can be sure that you’re learning the real, modern German that you actually need in daily life. It also makes the learning process enjoyable and fun.
The GermanPod lessons are presented in short, easy to follow segments. Mostly 10 to 15 minutes maximum duration. So there are no heavy chapters or units to plough through unlike some other German courses.
GermanPod comes in three different packages: Basic, Premium, and Premiun-Plus. Each is designed to meet the needs of different budgets.
GermanPod is subscription-based “pay as you go”. This means you can simply purchase only as much of GermanPod for as long as you need and as long as you want.
The subscription model also means you don’t have to find a large sum of money up front, unlike with most other German language courses.
You can also take a break from GermanPod whenever you wish, terminate your subscription, and then come back again later on, as and when it suits you.
There’s a wide range of subscription options available. Next to the monthly subscription, there are also 3-month, 6-month, 12-month and 24-month. These offer discounts variously of between 11% and 60%.
There’s also a 20% discount for students for the 12 month subscription.
What Do You Get For Free With GermanPod?
The basic GermanPod site is free to use.
The free account gives you LIFETIME access to the first three audio lessons.
Note though that this only gives you a minimal level of access to a small subset of lessons
One big advantage of registering for the free lifetime access is that this also comes with a FREE 7 Day Trial of GermanPod’s Premium package.
Which makes the free offer well worthwhile if you want to try out GermanPod first before subscribing.
You can sign up for a free GermanPod account at www.germanpod101.com
GermanPod kicks off with a “basic bootcamp” to equip you with the very basics of the German language:
- Self Introduction/Basic Greetings in German
- The First 100 Words
- Basic German: Nationality / ‘to be’ / Basic Sentence Structure
- Some Basic Useful German Phrases
- Counting from one to ten thousand in German
What I DON’T Like About GermanPod
One disadvantage I find with GermanPod is that although most of the GermanPod site now works with mobile devices, there are some Flash-based components that don’t function on iPhones.
Another minor irritant is that one of the non-German speakers, an American, has rather poor German pronunciation and intonation.
I’m not sure whether this was intentional or not, for example, to demonstrate the difference between the correct and incorrect pronunciation.
However, most of the speakers are actually native German and have very good pronunciation and proper intonation so it’s not really any big deal.
How Much is GermanPod?
A 1-Month Subscription costs $8 for the Basic, $25 for the Premium, and $47 for Premium-Plus package.
By purchasing a long term advance subscription you get the benefit of discounts of between 11% and 60%.
This make it very inexpensive to join and get started learning German with GermanPod.
Students Receive A Further 20% Discount On GermanPod!
If you’re a student then you can benefit from an EXTRA 20% DISCOUNT on a 12-Month Subscription.
Check www.germanpod101.com for full price info.
My Verdict On GermanPod
GermanPod is an excellent professional audio language course that will get you quickly understanding and speaking German. It’s the way I learned to speak German, so I can vouch for it’s effectiveness.
The course is designed to meet the needs of present-day language learners with the presentation format designed specifically for use with mobile devices – tablets, smartphones, MP3-Players, as well as PCs and laptops – and this is a BIG advantage.
It means you can use your free time for language learning much more effectively than with other courses which only work on a PC or with a DVD.
The different knowledge levels of GermanPod are also well-designed to cater for different aptitudes and learning needs.
GermanPod’s monthly subscription model makes GermanPod much cheaper up front than many other courses.
And if you know you definitely want to study for longer, then the discounts available make GermanPod well worth subscribing to up front, especially for the 12 or 24 month plans.
All in all, GermanPod is a great way to learn German quickly & easily.
How Can I Subscribe To GermanPod?
Visit the GermanPod website at www.germanpod101.com
Good luck and have fun learning German with GermanPod!