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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Shoddy DIY Translation Project

wembley can change in 28 days

19:12 / 09.05.02

So, I've got six weeks ahead of me in Berlin, and I'm trying to listen to german news, watch german films, read german websites, etc etc. I have realised that I know a stupid little about german literature, but given the amount of Freizeit I'll have (contrasted with the lack of Geld), I'm thinking one way to boost my german - and especially my reading skills as I'll be using german aur/orally most of the time - would be to read a novel in german. And just to make sure I'm not lazy, I might as well translate the whole thing.

This post is here (although it may be moved to the Creation; that's fine) because I'd like to know if any of you has actually attempted a translation before. I'm also up for any suggestions (bear in mind that I'll find Grass a lot easier to read than Goethe). Meanwhile, is anyone else out there acutally mad enough to try something similar? Translate some poems perhaps?

19:18 / 09.05.02

I actually did this once. When I was 7 and living in Germany, I got a little He-man book. It's only like 39 pages and half of each page is a picture, but it was an interesting exercise. I did it the summer between my German 1 and 2 classes back in high school to keep in practice.

I think I threw the translation out last summer when I went through one of my mad fits of reorganizing my room.

19:48 / 09.05.02

Well, I used to have to do it at Uni but that was just small articles, not muckle-great books. Good luck to you. Though maybe it would be better just to read several books? Getting the general gist of what people are saying is (maybe?) more important than being precise, and the more you read the more vocab and phrases you'll pick up. And you'll get the general 'feel' of the language. Just a thought.

20:01 / 09.05.02

Learned all my German from listening to Marlene Dietrich (almost). It might help if you're likely to be trawling any Berlin drag bars...

Männer umschwill mich
wie Motten um das Licht
und wenn sie verbrenne
denn dafür kann ich nicht...

So poignant, still so true... Available from all good High Street record stores (and always reduced, tsk!)

Only books I remember reading auf Deutsch were Emil und die Detektive by Erich Kästner ( a ripping adventure yarn) and the tales of Heinrich Hoffmann (Struwwelpeter, Cruel Frederick, Pauline and the Matches, etc.)

& one way or another I managed a B in the Higher. Viel Glück!