Customer Reviews

Five Great German Short Stories: A Dual-Language Book (Dover Dual Language German)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book provides five short stories, with English and German versions provided side-by-side: German on the left hand side, English on the right. This can definitely save time with a dictionary (but can also be a crutch - so watch out and discipline yourself). The stories are listed in the product description.

I'm assuming that you will be reading this to help study German. After about two years of a language you should be able to read a book on your own (slowly but surely). But many books will still be too complex. These are borderline. The stories here are at a level that could be read during a German 3 class, or between classes to maintain and build skills. I don't recommend this book during a German 1 or 2 class. Instead try Graded German Reader by Cossgrove during German 1. (It is expensive, but is very good if you know almost no German.) At a German 2 level move onto comic books like Tintin and Asterix, which have more complex grammar but use pictures to reinforce. Oh and by the way try replacing .com with .de on large websites for the German version. (This works on Amazon!) Especially look for fashion pages and "light" reading. You can understand more than you think!

Basically if you can already read moderately complex German then this is an economic book to read through. If you can't already pick up a book and read through it then this is not for you. However to get a book at your level ask advice from a German instructor. Chances are they will have had to study German, including literature, in college and will be familiar with the authors here. They can recommend authors to you and tell you if this is over your level. This is a book that you will never "outgrow", which means you have to be pretty skilled already to read it.

(And if you are German and trying to learn English, then you should be fine. Afterall you read this review;-)

For the avid self-teacher, this book will be very useful. Textbooks give you sentences here and there that are translated, and that's very useful. However, having entire stories translated for you is an even better way to learn a language. You have sentence after sentence of correct grammar and vocabulary. You can see how a proper sentence is constructed time and time again.

The translation looks like this: German on the left page, English on the right page. The five stories are by some of German's most famous writers...Hoffmann, Kafka, Kleist, Mann, and Schnitzler.

Each of these stories is a gem. This is some great story-telling, and it's worth the price of the book just to read these masterpieces in English. As literature, this would probably warrant five stars. If your are truly proficient in your German, by all means buy this book.

BUT... if you are at more intermediate level you will find this book well beyond your abilities. In my case I know a few thousands words, can hold simple conversations, managed just fine ordering dinner in my last trip to Germany, and do okay with a German comic book. The complex vocabulary and intricate sentance structures were well beyond my grasp.

The shortcoming in this case is the reader. If you have been studying German for many years and wish to hone your skills, this book could be for you. If you have been at this for just a couple years, you will only find it frustrating.

I am a retired Internist. In college, I was privileged to Major in both Chemistry and German Literature. Now, after so many years, I find myself again reading familiar stories in the original German, without the need of a large and clumsy German-English Dictionary to spoil the flow of the prose. The works in this slim volume are all masterpieces, and, for me, old and much beloved friends. I am grateful for the dual-language series which brings me such tremendous pleasure.

This book is great for people trying to learn german and having previous knowledge of english. The study of german with this book is facilitated by the format of the book: left page in german, right page in english. Still, taking into account that german has a different syntax than english, you might need some focus and a dictionary next to you.
Overall, a good tool to learn german and if studied in connection with LingQ, you may learn enough german verbal units in 1 year: if you assimilate 10 words/day, with a total of aprox. 3000-3200 words/year.

Cristian, Romania

This book of five short stories is fabulous. I bought this book to continue studying German after two years of high school study. The reading was difficult to begin with, but the accompanying literally-translated English text made it understandable and enjoyable.

I'm now in graduate study in Germanistik studying these authors in more depth, often referencing these very stories as part of an author's oeuvre. I still find myself using this book even though the English translation has since become superfluous.

The reviewer who previously described them as "grotesque" should stick to Disney tales. German literature is not known for fluff. So although these short stories are certainly not light material, if you continue with Germanistik you'll certainly read these authors again, although already with a basis to understand their style.

Gave it as a gift for someone enthused about learning German. They didn't get much use out of it. I can't offer more than that, sorry.

I am a german III student,so I am quite proficient in german. I found this book absolutely horrid. The translation was helpful yes, but the stories themselves were grotesque. After reading two of the stories I gave up trying to read a decent story. This book is best used a table decoration rather than reading.