warning: listening to this could be damaging to your health

frau kaleun · 01-28-10, 11:10 AM

I understand ein wenig, lol.

For giving orders and receiving reports on a u-boat, I do okay.

Everything else, barring basic civilities, if it's written down I might make out a tiny bit and guess at a little bit more, but sit and read and understand without referring to an English translation or other such helper? No.

With the Mitchell books the original text is on one page and the English on the other page facing it. Going back and forth I can figure out which words in German correspond to which part of the translation - they are very similar languages in some respects, after all.

But that's not the same as being able to read it in German and comprehend it that way, and feel it that way, which with poetry is so important.

01-28-10, 11:10 AM	#11
frau kaleun Rear Admiral Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Skyri--oh who are we kidding, I'm probably at Lowe's. Again. Posts: 12,706 Downloads: 168 Uploads: 0	I understand ein wenig, lol. For giving orders and receiving reports on a u-boat, I do okay. Everything else, barring basic civilities, if it's written down I might make out a tiny bit and guess at a little bit more, but sit and read and understand without referring to an English translation or other such helper? No. With the Mitchell books the original text is on one page and the English on the other page facing it. Going back and forth I can figure out which words in German correspond to which part of the translation - they are very similar languages in some respects, after all. But that's not the same as being able to read it in German and comprehend it that way, and feel it that way, which with poetry is so important.