German/english bilingual texts for self-study

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Alfred200303
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German/english bilingual texts for self-study

Postby Alfred200303 » Tue Nov 08, 2022 10:20 am

I have studied German for something like 7 years in school (obligatorily), and currently I'm at perhaps between A2 and B1 level. I want to learn German primarily to read classic literature, and I want to do it primarily by reading physical bilingual texts, studying one hour per day. What are some good bilingual books - should I try easier books of "high literature" such as Kafka or Hesse, or should I begin with even easier books like childrens literature or texts made for learning? Any recommendations for good (physical) bilingual editions with faithful translations?

Furthermore, I spend roughly 10 hours per week in public transport, which I think can be utilised. Should I listen to podcasts or audiobooks, and is it necessary to find something with transcripts?

Lastly, how much difference is there between modern written german and other time periods, say 20th century, 19th century, 18th century and the Baroque period?
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malach
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Re: German/english bilingual texts for self-study

Postby malach » Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:35 am

I enjoyed the Intermediate-level graded readers of Brian Smith. These are bilingual, with accompanying MP3 files for listening: https://www.briansmith.de/

He also has a list of German Bilingual Readers: https://www.briansmith.de/german-bilingual-readers.php
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DaveAgain
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Re: German/english bilingual texts for self-study

Postby DaveAgain » Tue Nov 08, 2022 12:33 pm

Alfred200303 wrote:Lastly, how much difference is there between modern written german and other time periods, say 20th century, 19th century, 18th century and the Baroque period?
With out of copyright eBooks you notice some spelling differences, but texts don't become opaque. One problem is with PDFs of old books, pre-20th centuary books all seem to use Black Letter/Fraktur fonts, which I personally find difficult to read.

EDIT
Anaconda/Penguin Germany have a range of classic bilingual texts.

My local library has some German language easy readers (simplified texts) from a Danish publisher, "Aschehoug/Alinea".
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german2k01
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Re: German/english bilingual texts for self-study

Postby german2k01 » Sun Nov 13, 2022 12:42 pm

There are a few available on the dtv website. Check them out. For example,

https://www.dtv.de/buch/funny-stories-k ... chten-9491
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MaggieMae
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Re: German/english bilingual texts for self-study

Postby MaggieMae » Sun Nov 13, 2022 6:23 pm

I found Children's Books to be extremely hard, when I first started. "Pippi feiert Weihnachten" led me to literal tears of frustration. I never did the side by side bilingual books, but the readers aimed at specific levels were fantastic. There are these "Lernkrimis" out there (Compact Lernkrimi Classic) from A2-B2, and they have little grammar and vocab exercises entwined with the stories. What was better, was that these weren't aimed at children, nor were they in "dumbed down German" which always made me feel patronized. They're pretty easy reads, not too long for each, but long enough that you don't feel cheated. Here's the link to one of the B1 ones: https://www.orellfuessli.ch/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1046586398?ProvID=10917751&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyMKbBhD1ARIsANs7rEHEN9LQQGXn8-n4TubgsSMR1j92APt4B9W_Y3J7hxxC7pwV6qCcfhAaAowLEALw_wcB

Edit: Totally just had another thought. There are plenty of kids books in both German and English. My first successful German book was actually "The Rainbow Fish" because I'd already read it to my students in the US, and I knew the story. So if you want to build up confidence and really want to use both languages instead of immersion in the TL, then that's where I would look, too.

Hope this helps!
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Kraut
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Re: German/english bilingual texts for self-study

Postby Kraut » Mon Nov 14, 2022 11:31 pm

There is a very successful "guide book" for reading and cheating about highbrow German literature by Dietrich Schwanitz

https://www.amazon.de/Bildung-Alles-was ... 3442151473
Bildung - Alles, was man wissen muß
It got a rare Wikipedia entry:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bildung._ ... n_mu%C3%9F

and there is an audio edition:

Bildung. Alles, was man wissen muß: Die Höredition - Sonderausgabe

https://www.amazon.de/Bildung-Alles-was ... 3821853778

I have in my possession the translated Spanish edition and text and audio in Lithuanian.

If there was an English edition of the book, I would recommend it for bidirectional translation/memorization/exercising. The problem is,incredibly, the Schwanitz bestseller does not seem to be available in English.
And if it was, you would have to tear out pages to read both versions comfortably next to each other


(Googling for Schwanitz I have found an essay on the very special concept of Bildung in a German context:
https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/ ... 742717.ch3
The original German concept of Bildung is, in contrast to ‘education as schooling’, focused on a continual process of personal development with no final goals and no absolute knowledge to reach. Bildung is a way of being and a way of relating to knowledge more than a way of knowing. Bildung means that knowledge is integrated into one’s own life in certain ways. From a starting point in one’s own cultural heritage, Bildung is about lifelong ‘journeys’, meeting and dealing with the unknown. In this way the concept of Bildung is very relevant to arts education; between getting to know our cultural heritage on the one hand and creating new art on the other.
)
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