Language experts say that language acquisition actually consists of several separate but interdependent elements---the ability to speak and to write, plus listening and reading comprehension. Learners of German would do well to remember that their classmates who speak well do not necessarily understand everything that's being said to them. Nor should it be assumed that just because someone isn't speaking yet, it doesn't mean that the person doesn't understand. According to an article on the Lynchburg City Schools website, each of these elements develops separately, regardless of what language a person is learning.
According to an article in National Geographic News, expecting new language learners to learn a language without any kind of social and cultural context is difficult. The logical conclusion to this statement might be that the best audio, video and computer programs that teach German incorporate and necessitate the use of all of the elements of language acquisition and incorporate the social and cultural aspect of language acquisition as well.
Several programs exist that meet the requirements of cultural integration along with developing reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in German.
By far one of the most effective audio programs to learn German is the Pimsleur method, which is founded on four principles: anticipation, graduated interval recall, core vocabulary and organic learning. Each lesson is only a half-hour long, and language students must "pass" each step with an 80 percent before moving to the next level. One hundred percent mastery is not required, because each subsequent lesson offers a review of sorts of the previous by building on the previous lesson.
However, there is a drawback to this program. The language learner is not expected to read nor write in the target language. However, it does provide a strong base from which a new learner of German can spring, because when a person learned his mother tongue, he learned it first using only his ears and his lips.
The best videos to learn German were not originally intended for language acquisition but purely for entertainment. That is to say that the learner of German would do well to check out German movies from the library and spend some time watching them with the intention of learning the language. These can be used with or without English subtitles, although using a combination works best. While the English subtitles should not be overused, they can be used to provide context for what is being said if the watcher is able to pay some attention to both.
Additionally, German films have a feature that most Americans might find odd, but it's extremely useful for the purposes of learning the language. That is to say, all foreign films shown in Germany are dubbed over in German instead of subtitled in German. Plainly put, a person watching "The Matrix" in Germany, for example would see Keanu Reeves speaking, but hear a native German speaker saying his lines. On home video, the student learning German can watch the film in German---thus providing exercises in listening comprehension---but can also read the subtitles in English if he so chooses, which provides more context. Films familiar to the German learner are doubly useful, because the person watching the film already brings context into the film making it easier to decipher what's going on and what the words might mean without resorting to subtitles.
The drawback again is that films only offer a few of the elements required for language acquisition.
While purely audio and video programs offer only a few elements required, video games designed to teach language acquisition give the learner all of the elements of language acquisition in varying degrees. One of the most effective programs on the market to learn German is the "Instant Immersion" program.
This interactive language learning guide provides German learners some contact with all of the elements of language acquisition, spread out over five video-game programs: "Talk Now," "World Talk," "Talk To Me," "Interactive Picture Dictionary," and "Who is Oscar Lake?" In several of the programs, German learners are asked to listen to native speakers saying words and phrases and then are instructed to record back what was just heard. This provides much needed oral communication practice.
Additionally, many of the programs such as the "Interactive Picture Dictionary," "World Talk" and "Who is Oscar Lake?" offer German learners the chance to read in German as key elements of the game. Moreover, because the games are fun, language learners are more likely to use the programs on a consistent basis despite being educationally oriented.
Finally, while almost all of the programs in the "Instant Immersion" program provide some context, "Oscar Lake" offers the additional advantage of teaching German learners practical words that would be of use on a trip to a German-speaking country. The game takes players through using the train, the phone, buying tickets, checking into a hotel and other activities.
German is one of the PFIGS languages---Portuguese, French, Italian, German and Spanish---which are five of the most popular European languages in which translators work today. Additionally, with the growing strength of the European Union and Germany's role in it, German is one of the most useful second languages a person interested in studying a foreign language can learn. Each of these programs helps bring the learner of German a few steps closer to that coveted goal of German language fluency.