/lit/ - Literature » Thread #7274467

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Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 20:28:24 No.7274467 View Reply Report Delete

Does anyone know anything about graded readers or side-by-side texts for German learners?

My German comprehension is pretty shit and I want to get better at reading so I was looking at picking up a few parallel text novels, like Metamorphosis or Siddhartha, but I'm not sure what how hard they would be to read for someone around A2 level. Anyone have experience learning from them? I'm also open to other parallel text novels/short stories/poetry suggestions.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 21:12:23 No.7274577 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7274594 >>7274611

M8 Kafka isn't going to be a great idea for anyone south of M I N I M U M C1 level. He writes in fucked up Austro-Hungarian Czech 'German' and is difficult to understand and interpret even for native speakers. You're better off starting with someone like Friedrich Dürrenmatt and working your way up but you should totally read Kafka anyway cos wow

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 21:18:30 No.7274594 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>7274577
Damn, Metamorphosis wasn't that bad in English so I assume the German was just as easy. I'll definitely look into Duerrenmatt then and save Kafka for later.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 21:23:40 No.7274611 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7274711

>>7274577
I disagree with this. Kafka has a pretty simple writing style and i read his books when i was still around B1. Try Der Prozess, OP. Otherwise, pick up Der Kleine Prinz, a common first novel for language learners.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 21:28:32 No.7274621 Report Delete

Quoted By:

Hesse is probably the best German learning lit to start off with that won't feel like a waste of time. I'm thinking specifically of Siddhartha, which can be read fairly easily if you're at an intermediate level. It also has a very small vocabulary for a book, so that's nice.

Kafka should be good at the same time, but his works have much more varied grammatical techniques throughout them, and more sprawling vocabularies required to read them.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 21:58:27 No.7274711 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7276370

>>7274611

B1 here, a-am I going to make it?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 10:11:20 No.7276370 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7277919

>>7274711
yes, i believe in you

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 10:44:57 No.7276433 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7277067

>>7274467
If you have a e-reader just read and translate the words as they come. Your vocabulary will grow with time. I've been doing this since moving to germany 1 year ago when I didn't understand shit, I'm now certified B1 although I read books and newspapers without much trouble now. The trick is to progressively read harder and harder literature in german. Don't waste your time reading some shit like Emil und die Detektive or other graded and downscaled shit, just go for the originals and suck it up. Plus, if you want to buy the graded books, they are expensive.

I recommend Homo Faber (although it sucks), Schachnovelle, something by Hesse and maybe some contemporaries. Also maybe Das Parfum, although the word usage is very smell specific.

Another trick is to read the newspapers like Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Süddeutsche Zeitung and maybe Handelsblatt (only good german website for business I've found so far), and install a quick translate tool on your browser that allows you to translate words with 1 click. That way your common word vocabulary will increase fast.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 14:03:09 No.7277067 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>7276433
>Emil und die Detektive
>triggered.jpg
I read that one in German III in high school. Most unpleasant reading experience of my life. I had to keep looking shit up in the dictionary and even then I only had half an idea what was going on. I think I'll read some Hesse and try that translate thing with the browser.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 17:45:50 No.7277919 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>7276370

Thanks, anon.

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