RIP (Read In Progress) Wednesday

[quillpunk]

The Calendar Overlord has decreed it to be Wednesday once more. What are you reading? 👀

(P.S. Sign-ups are now open for the October Review-a-Thon!)

Comments

Help?

[dialecticdreamer]

I have a question: I am looking for reading materials for an adult student (native English speaker), trying to learn German. A book like "Cafe in Berlin" is about right as a total beginner. Do you have any suggestions for "real" stories-- about second grade reading level, picture books would be great, et cetera. I can't get any help at the library because the librarians haven't found anything.

Re: Help?

[honigfrosch]

I'm shit at determining which reading level something is, but I'll run your question by my journal readers tonight if that's ok with you (some of them are German). If I can find something through googling, I'll let you know, too.

Re: Help?

[dialecticdreamer]

That would be amazing, thank you!

Re: Help?

[mildred_of_midgard]

I'm personally fond of the "Learn X with Beginner Stories: Interlinear X to English" series' approach to pedagogy. They put the literal English word underneath the original word, in fainter font so you can refer to it if you need to, but skip if you don't. This approach allows you to read a story and look up the words you need instantly, without wasting time on a dictionary and grammar. By the time this book came out, I was past the beginner stage with German, so I can't comment on the content other than "fairy tales," but I used the Danish volume last year, and I was pleased at how quickly it got me to reading Hans Christian Andersen without needing the interlinear method any more!

It's $3 on Kindle if you do Kindle.

Re: Help?

[dialecticdreamer]

OH, thank you! I'm looking for many, many languages plus English, LOL.

Re: Help?

[illariy]

Here via honigfrosch

This is not exactly what you asked but I learned English in part with this method so I can recommend the method. The linked book is A1, it has short stories in English and German on the same page with phrases bolded so you can quickly compare the translation.

13 Einfache A1 englische Kurzgeschichten mit Vokabellisten für Anfänger. Zweisprachiges englisch-deutsches Buch - Paralleler text , link is to the German Amazon. Same book on the US Amazon. It is available on Kindle only at US Amazon but in both Kindle and paperback (Taschenbuch) on the German Amazon. The fourth pic on the German Amazon has a sample page where you can see how the print looks and how the method works.