german2k01 wrote:You can only delve into reading native materials and enjoy it when your proficiency is already on the higher end. It is very difficult to find materials that are totally suited to your level and to your preferences. I can not find a watered-down version of "Crime and Punishment" in German. So my only hope is to wait for a few more years when my reading proficiency is on the higher end or trudge it along with endless look-ups in a dictionary. I think using a bilingual book cuts short that timeline and you can still enjoy it when you are in a low intermediate level.
The key question should be asked how much reliance one should depend upon it using such language tools? Whether should it be used at all or not? Is it a hindrance to your path to developing reading proficiency?
Why does it have to be Crime & Punishment? If there is no watered-down version of that (though I think there is), then read a different book. I don't accept the view that reading enjoyment is not present without reading full native materials at high-end proficiency. This would mean all reading before that stage is and has to be a boring chore, but it isn't!
Do you want to enjoy Crime & Punishment or learn German? If you want to enjoy C&P right now, just scratch that itch and read it in English/Urdu.
You are allowed to do exactly as you please, but because it was posted as a forum question I think it's legit to question it. I think you are going about the process in an unnecessarily difficult way. Just read progressively harder books, do associated grammar work, learn words, listen to German audio/video (maybe copying speech patterns), then progressively speak. There is no other way. None that involves cloistered reading of long, hard classic novels. It doesn't work.