So I'm thinking about Christmas presents, and my housemate has said a few times he missed doing his German GCSE and it'd be fun to try and learn it again. So I might buy him something so he... can.

I don't really know where to begin in terms of German learning resources, but can anyone perhaps recommend any PC software or books (preferably with audio or something) that aren't extremely expensive like rosetta stone?

Thanks guys.

Assimil, definitely. Basically a parallel reader with audio only in the target language. I did it for French and could read novels with a dictionary, surf the internet, and watch TV for fun in three months. Puts you at a solid intermediate level.

It's usually about $40 for the book and audio. Often Assimil will publish a new edition but the text doesn't really change, so you can buy an older edition cheap and acquire the audio somewhere else.