Native speakers are welcome to criticize the course but please provide some concrete arguments and examples.
From alt.usage.german
" A question about the FSI German Basic Course
As you have noted, the text is from the year 1961. This leads me to
another question: how much has the German language changed since then? I
really like this course, but more than half a century has passed since
it was written!
" I would be very grateful if someone could just quickly skim through the
> "Basic Sentences" section of the first four or five units and tell me is
> there anything that would be unusual if spoken today?
>
> The book is the "Student Text" here:
>
http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content ... an%20Basic > The "Basic Sentences" section of each unit starts on pages (in PDF
> document!): 14, 36, 62, 94, 122.
>
> For example, I've read somewhere that "gn�dige Frau" is not used today
> very often...
>
One answer:
" 01.II. "Fr�ulein Schneider".
You can't use "Fr�ulein" today.
01.VIII "Mark", "Pfennig"
Today it's "Euro" and "Cent". And of course the prices are obsolete.
01.XI "drei und f�nf"
That's what they taught me at elementary school, but in todays
elementary schools, it's "plus".
Unit 02, map.
The cities are written with lower-case letters. That looks strange.
Unit 03, map, and dialogue.
You don't write "Strasse" instead of "Stra�e" except if
- you are from Switzerland, or
- you use a typewriter that doesn't support "�", or
- you write in capitals.
03.III "Taxe"
That sounds very old-fashioned, it's "das Taxi".
"Omnibus", "Autobus"
You can say that, but "Bus" is more common.
04.VI "Ihre Frau Gemahlin"
Stilted. Should be just "Ihre Frau".
06.I "Telephon"
Meanwhile it's "Telefon".
07.I "Beckers"
I would say/write "Die Beckers", but there's a regional gradient
regarding articles with proper names. If you go north, you mustn't do
it, if you go south, it's normal, and in Switzerland, you have to.
07.VII "Solch eine K�che"
I think "So eine K�che" sounds better.
"eingebauten Schr�nke"
"Einbauschr�nke".
11.1 "Hat er sich wieder verschlafen?"
I would say "Hat er wieder verschlafen?"
12.2 "Realgymnasium"
Today, it's just "Gymnasium" in Germany, but in �sterreich and S�dtirol,
they still exist. "