Review: Routledge Modern German Reader

All about language programs, courses, websites and other learning resources
User avatar
Montmorency
Brown Belt
Posts: 1035
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 3:01 pm
Location: Oxfordshire, UK
Languages: English (Native)
Maintaining: German (active skills lapsed somewhat).
Studying: Welsh (advanced beginner/intermediate);
Dabbling/Beginner: Czech

Back-burner: Spanish (intermediate) Norwegian (bit more than beginner) Danish (beginner).

Have studied: Latin, French, Italian, Dutch; OT Hebrew (briefly) NT Greek (briefly).
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1429
x 1184

Re: Review: Routledge Modern German Reader

Postby Montmorency » Thu Jan 07, 2016 4:45 pm

Speakeasy wrote:Update: Answer Key
The following comment has been appended to my Amazon Customer Review of this textbook, "The exercise key is freely available from Routledge, please contact andrea.hartill@tandf.co.uk" What a strange way of making the document available to students! The Routledge website does not reflect this information; rather, the user is directed to the Instructor Resources Portal where the Answer Key can be accessed only by registered instructors. Perhaps, rather than relying on my Amazon post for diffusing this information, they should think about updating their website. Obviously, since the printed publication itself is now in circulation, the mention on the back cover of the Answer Key cannot be changed, although I suppose that Routledge could always supply "stickers" to be applied to the back cover by the ultimate booksellers. Regrettably for the author, the roll-out of this long-awaited textbook "hit a bump in the road."


Goodness. Routledge have really shot themselves in the foot on this one, and are now applying sticking plaster, instead of fixing the problem properly. At least you got a response from them, so well done, and I suppose one cheer to Routledge for that.

...

To be fair though, I don't criticise them for the lack of audio on this kind of book. Assuming it's like the Routledge reader for Welsh that I have, it is aimed purely at the written language and helps the beginner reader unpick that. There are plenty of sources of audio for German (just as there are plenty of written sources as has been correctly pointed out, but there aren't all that many sources of German written for natives which then go on to explain the finer points to learners, which is what this sort of book is all about. It's not a "language course").

If you want audio matched to text, there are free podcasts around with transcripts if you look for them. And of course there is no shortage of audiobooks which you can match to printed or e-books (just have to be careful to find unabridged audiobooks).
1 x

Speakeasy
x 7658

Re: Review: Routledge Modern German Reader

Postby Speakeasy » Thu Jan 07, 2016 5:26 pm

What I find truly bizarre about this little saga is not that Routledge made an error in conceiving and an announcing this textbook as suitable for independent learners who could access the Answer Key to the Exercises via the publisher website. Rather, it is their "handling" of this matter that is bizarre. All they have to do is to post the PDF copy of the Answer Key directly on their website as they have announced on the back cover of the book and on the website. They have the means to do this; however, as a "work around", they have chosen to disseminate this information by a comment to my review on Amazon. In any event, why on earth would they be willing to share the Answer Key with independent learners but not with registered Intermediate-Advanced students of German who are, presumably adults? Such a trivial matter, so completely botched!

As to the absence of audio recordings, as none were advertised, I did not expect any this was not one of my complaints. I mentioned the matter in my expanded review above solely in response to a question and having fielded the question, I decided to recommend an alternative.

Ultimately, there are only 55 pages of graded readings in this textbook. Yes, I admit that they are interesting; however for the price of the book, one could easily find materials that are equally interesting, but in greater quantity, elsewhere. This particular reader does not live up to the standards that Routledge established with their readers for other languages, two of which I have.
0 x


Return to “Language Programs and Resources”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests