German for Kids: Learn German Beginner Level 1 Vol. 1

I was looking for a product to get my children started on learning German. They have had a little instruction in the past, but not enough consistency. They are 6 and 8 years old. This DVD captured their attention and my older boy was excited about the interactive games. They both liked the songs and even tried to sing along. Overall it was a positive experience and I think they will watch it again on thier own. On the down side, it is a little short on content and adults won't be overly impressed with some of the child acting...but it's fine for what we wanted. I have not tried the Muzzy DVDs so I can not compare it to them, but this product is better than many I have seen.

I’m a native born German, and I bought this DVD to supplement my kids’ basic German knowledge and improve their spoken German. Not only is the content only appropriate for kids under 6 or 7 (my kids were bored and annoyed within minutes), but the ONE German sentence on the back of the DVD is incorrect. (It says “Sprechen sie Deutsche?” - which should be “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?”) Really? You’re promoting a product to teach a language, spoken by native speakers on the DVD, and you get the ONE German sentence on the packaging wrong? Not impressed.

My daughter wanted to learn German, so I bought this program for her. She's nine and loves dogs. She was bored with the program and thought it was for babies. She wanted a more rigorous program and basically refused to have anything more to do with this one. I thought it was okay myself--colorful, cute dog, nice kid, etc. I think she would have learned quite a bit with it, but she was more interested in grammar than conversation. (Strange child, I know.) I would recommend it for another child, especially younger or less sophisticated.

I bought this for my 7 and 2 year old children as a supplement after finishing the German for Children CD series. This video covers all of the same ground (eerily so: does everyone learn their German colors from a balloon seller?). While my children loved the "home movies" of Sebastian and his friends at a birthday party, the quiz portion is tedious after you've done it once, and the songs on this dvd are not nearly as catchy as those on the German for Children CD. There's also a lot of cheesy low budget animation. Go with the CDs series.

Not sure. Gift

Trying to learn German? Go with something else. It did help us remember colors and give us some basic words, but it really goes too quickly to be of much use and the music gets obnoxious quick. My daughter didn't learn much of anything from this, as she just couldn't keep up- she's four. Might be better suited for older children in 4-7th grade, but is really cheesy for kids too much older.

It taught my son some basic German. It was strangely funny (i.e., not supposed to be, but that's okay).

We're trying to teach our toddler German, to which end I've purchased this DVD, the Little Pim Series, and Muzzy, the BBC language course. I can't stress enough how bad this product is: boring, uninspired, and unedited. For example, at one point in the DVD we're told we're meeting the boy's family: mother, father, and brother, when clearly he has a sister, not a brother. The acting is terrible; the children look uncomfortable and behave unnaturally, and the adults just look bored. The animated dog is a joke and adds nothing to the product. The Language Tree must have paid someone to do a 3-5 second clip of an animated dog, and then they just re-use the same clip -- overlaid onto the actual video -- over and over. Of course this means that most of the time the dog's expression doesn't make any sense. I would be seriously worried about any child who doesn't get bored with this rather quickly. I can't begin to fathom how anyone could give this a 4 or 5-star review. All I can think is that they haven't tried the Little Pim Series (highly recommended) or Muzzy.

I bought this for my three and a half year old son as we will soon be moving to Germany and there don't seem to be many other alternatives on the market without shelling out a fortune for 6 languages you don't need. Although the reading is beyond him (I read it for him and answer the quizzes on the remote control when he tells me the answer), he really enjoys the singing and conversation. He has asked to see it every day for a week now and even if he doesn't fully understand now, he will after a few repetitions. This DVD would be great for a 5 year old or over.