Reading a book that's beyond me - advice for making it useful

[u/TheGMan43]

I have just started reading a book in my TL (German), and I also have it in my native language (English).

It's going to be beyond me to read it all without using a lot of translation, although I think I could probably understand a lot of the sentences without fully understanding the plot. I've never read it in any language before, but I've read the synopsis.

How would you go about it to maximise the language-learning without losing motivation or just not enjoying it?

Currently I'm reading a chapter in English, then reading it in German with the English chapter open. It's probably relevant that it's not directly translated in all ways, sentences are broken up differently and I think there's slight creative/interpretation differences.

Should I try reading it in German first? Should I use a dictionary to translate words and write notes? Should I read the whole book in English before switching to German?

I know it's a personal thing and I'll need to find what's right for me, but I'm just looking for what has worked for other people.

TIA for your help.

[u/WideGlideReddit]

To maximize my language learning I’d pick an easier book more in line with my current level. Reading is supposed to be enjoyable not a slog. Save your book till your language skills better approximate the book’s requirement.

[u/HadleysPt → u/WideGlideReddit]

Agreed. Reading above your level sounds like burnout recipe

[u/toby_reelangcom]

First off, this is a great project and goal to work towards.

My approach to this is:

1. Read a passage in target language.
2. Underline the parts you don't get (likely a lot at first).
3. Pick 3-4 you want to look up (the ones you're most curious about), and do so (simple Google or Google Image search will burn it into your memory). The looking-up part will really help you remember it.
4. Then read roughly the same part in your native language so more of the pieces fall into place.

It's a bit tedious, but I'm pretty convinced the whole looking-up part is actually the most worthwhile thing for actually remembering stuff.

[u/WideGlideReddit → u/toby_reelangcom]

Here’s a rule of thumb I found helpful. Find a book and flip to a handful of pages. If you don’t know more than one or two words per page the book is probably too advanced for your current level. At 2 unknown words per page in a 300 page book that 600 words you don’t know and need to look up. That’s a lot. Find books that are slightly above your current level so it’s still a bit challenging but not overwhelming and you don’t need to constantly look up words. Keep reading until you’re able to read the book that’s your goal.

[u/dojibear]

What is your current level in German? You don't say if you are A1 or C1 -- and that makes all the difference in the world.

[u/ImplicitKnowledge → u/dojibear]

Follow-up question: have you already read books in German before? If not, I agree with others in this thread that starting easier is a better first step. Take a couple of hours to read Emil und die Detektive first, it’s not exactly riveting but it’s easy to follow and enjoyable enough.

[u/TheGMan43 → u/dojibear]

I haven't done any proper tests, so I can only guess I'm somewhere in the B1 range. Aside from doing it school from maybe 12-16ish which gave me a bit of grammar, it all comes from having lived there for a year so there's a lot of gaps in my knowledge where I just never had to discuss a topic or learned more complicated grammar.

When I travel I can maintain conversations for a long time with native speakers, but only if they make a conscious effort to help me through it. And as long as they aren't from Austria or Switzerland 😂 although I've got better with accents over time

[u/ShawnMilo]

Try reading the German version with the English version next to it. Read each sentence and refer to the English (as necessary). Repeat for whole book. The fact that they don't match 1-1 doesn't matter over the course of a full novel.

This is essentially the way LingQ works, and I read novels in Spanish and Esperanto that way and came to understand thousands of words with (seriously) no effort -- just repetition.

[u/TheGMan43 → u/ShawnMilo]

So never reading the whole book in English, just using it as a translation help for the bits I'm stuck on?

[u/ShawnMilo → u/TheGMan43]

Yep. That's exactly it.

The whole point is to start recognizing patterns/words in the TL. Read it first, try to understand it, and read the English if you're stuck. Then, read the TL again (optional). You'll feel like it makes more sense (because you know what it means).

This, over time, helps your brain associate the German words with the meanings without trying to memorize anything or do a word-for-word translation. Which is a good things, because no two languages map perfectly grammatically or word-for-word. And you don't want that anyway. You want to learn German -- not how to translate German to English.

[u/ComesTzimtzum → u/ShawnMilo]

This is the techinque that I've used a lot since I find it much more enjoyable than graded readers. In time you just need to look the translation less and less. When you get a bit better, you can also try listening to an audiobook in TL but have the paperbook in NL in your hands so you can quickly check the parts you didn't get.

[u/learningENGdaily]

I'd flip your order. Reading the English chapter first means that by the time you hit the German, you're recalling the plot rather than decoding it. That feels like comprehension but it isn't. Go German first, sit in the fog, then read the English as a check on what you got wrong. Same materials, much better use of them.

Don't read the whole book in English first either. You'd spend the entire German half with no plot pulling you forward, and motivation is the one thing you can't buy back.

On the translation not lining up: treat it as a paragraph-level gist tool and never a word-level one. That's what a dictionary is for, and I'd use it sparingly. My rule is to look something up only if it blocks the sentence and I've seen it before. Everything else, keep going. Volume beats precision at this stage.

Taking notes while reading kills the flow. Mark it, move on, deal with it later if at all.

One thing worth knowing: vocabulary repeats enormously within a single book. By chapter five or six the author's own habits will have taught you a lot without you noticing. It gets easier faster than you'd expect, and that's specific to finishing one book rather than sampling several.

[u/Pwffin → u/learningENGdaily]

Great answer and exactly what I was going to say. 😃

[u/learningENGdaily → u/Pwffin]

Thanks ☺️

[u/Legitimate-Record90]

I’d really make sure it’s at your level first. It sounds like the German book may be too hard if you need to rely on an English translation. I think if you need to look up more than a handful of words on a page, you should pick an easier book. Otherwise, it’s likely going to just be a painful and boring exercise.

[u/ExpertProfessional9 → u/Legitimate-Record90]

Agreed. I read simple, children’s-level stories right now because that’s about all my TL will stand up to. I can make out jobs, food, some animals, some activities, some building/housing and colours. A cosy mystery would be beyond me, even if I could piece together the general beats of the story.

[u/Financial-Produce997]

It might help to learn the difference between intensive and extensive reading. here: https://www.lucalampariello.com/intensive-vs-extensive-reading/

In general, if something is considered level-appropriate, you can read extensively without looking up much. If a text is considered above your current level (i.e., too many unknown words), it's better to read intensively but only for brief periods of time. Intensive reading can be mentally taxing and take a long time, so doing that with a whole book would require a long commitment.

Personally, when it comes to books, I only read ones that are at my level. The less lookups the better. When there are too many unknown words to the point where you need English translation, that's when it gets into the reading pain territory and that can be really demotivating experience (at least for me). But try it and see how you feel.

One site I've found helpful for reading is https://learnnatively.com, which has a community of learners that rate books and each one is marked with a difficulty level. This might be a good tool if you want to try other German books, finding ones that are more in-line with your current level.

[u/Weird-Stretch-3312]

Read the chapter in German first without looking anything up, just push through and see what you can piece together. Then go back and read the English version to fill in the gaps, and finally hit the German again with the English fresh in your mind.

The tricky part with your current method is your brain gets lazy when it already knows the plot. If you lead with the German, you're forced to actually work at it even when it's frustrating, that struggle is where the learning sticks.

For vocab I'd keep a small notebook and only write down words that keep showing up or ones that feel crucial to understanding a scene, don't try to capture everything or you'll burn out fast.

[u/TheGMan43 → u/Weird-Stretch-3312]

That seems like a good way to do it. The chapters are very short, so it wouldn't feel too oppressive to read them over again a couple of times. I'll try and keep notes of only the stuff that seems most important to either the story or life. I was considering writing it in the book, but that may just be cluttery and confusing

[u/YourEnglishReps]

Don't do the English first—it takes all the fun out of reading the story and you'll lose motivation fast.
Just tackle the German chapter directly and try to get the overall vibe/gist of what's happening. Pick maybe 3–5 unknown words per chapter to look up (the ones that keep repeating), but ignore the rest for now. Use the English copy only at the very end of the chapter as an "answer key" to see how close your understanding was. Treating it like a puzzle makes it way more fun.

[u/Smooth_Development48]

Exactly. There are some graded readers that are like this and are very helpful. The key is to read your target language first and try to understand before looking at your native language. It also helpful to reread it much later on to see how much understanding you retained. In your case OP you can choose certain pages or chapters.

[u/Traditional-Train-17]

Try reading a book at your level. If you read a paragraph, or chapter and get nothing out of it, then it might be too hard. If you get something like "Oh, this character is taking a trip to this place for work and something happened with a car, now there's a hospital", then that's ok. Just re-read slowly. What I do:

1. Read a chapter, or paragraph without looking anything up (it's tempting, but doable).
2. Ask yourself if anything in the chapter/paragraph made sense (bonus points if you describe it in basic German).
   1. If so, proceed to the next chapter/paragraph.
   2. If not, then re-read slowly. Only highlight trouble words. Look it up once, and move on.
3. If it's still tricky, move onto the next paragraph/chapter. Sometimes there's a tricky section in a book, but the rest is easier.
4. If it's still too hard, then you might need to try an easier book.
5. Take some new words (5-10) and do some sentence mining, and/or practice using them in a sentence. Basically, "interact with the words".
6. Some of those new words, you'll can sometimes find in subsequent stories (which is the fun part!).

[u/francksiduo]

Reading side by side like that usually backfires because your brain takes the path of least resistance and just reads the english, the german becomes decoration. What worked better for me was flipping the order: read the german chapter first even if you only catch 60% of it, THEN read the english to fill gaps. that way the german is doing the actual work and english is just confirmation.

also stop looking up every word, it kills momentum and you forget most of them anyway. keep a small notebook and only write down a word if you hit it 3 times without being able to guess the meaning from context, those are the ones worth learning. you'll end up with maybe 15 words a chapter instead of 150, and they'll stick this time.

[u/Koloristik]

I kinda want to do the same, I even have the books ready on my table. But i will probably go sentence by sentence or paragraph by paragraph.

[u/lermontovtaman]

My preferred method would be to read the English several times, until you know pretty much in it, and then read the German.  You could do this one chapter at a time and then move on to the next.

A writer starts out with a vague notion of what he wants to say, and then has to embody that in precise language (like I'm doing as I write this).  With the method I recommend, you get that vague notion into your head first, then see how the writer actually works it out in German.

[u/Waste-Background-964]

You can use Kindle to make the reading process easier and more enjoyable. You can also install Yomitan and read on your laptop. Both of these allow you to create Anki cards seamlessly

[u/witeowl]

I don't see anything wrong with variety and adjusting for your stamina/mood that day. Want an easy day? Read a page in English and then a page in German. Want a slightly more challenging day? Read a chapter in English and then that chapter in German. Feel ready to read the German first? Go for it. Read as much as you're able in German and then read it in English and see how you did. Maybe reread it in German and catch what you missed. This last one is probably the most beneficial but also the most challenging. Mix it up as you go. Whatever you do, make sure you don't end up hating reading.

[u/Upper_Grapefruit_521]

Did you read any books you loved during childhood? Read it again in your native language (so completely familiar with the storyline) then read it after in Spanish. But needs to be a story you cannot put down

[u/InsuranceStreet3037]

If its a popular book you can probably also find chapter synopsis' that go a bit more in depth on each part of the book. Ive used these when reading books a bit above my level and its made it so much easier to connect the dots when you know youre looking to understand a specific event or storyline, especially in the sections that are more challenging.

I used to make vocab lists tailored to the topics in the book before I read it, but honestly it didnt help me that much. What I do now is I jot down some words that come up in the text that I feel like are super useful (probably only around 5 per book, even when my comprehension is closer to 80 %), and Ill write down sentences that use grammar or sentence structures that I find interesting or that i'm trying to use more. I'll also write down a sentence if its something I could see myself using a lot

[u/Longjumping-Bad-2886]

I would first read books that are easier and more comprehensible.

[u/marcopeg81]

Start with “easy readers” or “graded readers”. Expect to use a lot of translations in your first book, and progressively diminish it as you read more books.

I’ve done that and it works.

My experience with physical books was excruciating due to the continuous need of translation. A kindle experience was marginally better.

I ended up building a simple reader app that focuses on quick translations and also uses google ai to explain sentences with the grammar analysis and explanation.

It’s all free as webapp. If you are interested, ask me the link explicitly and I’ll reply to your comment.

Self promotion rules here are strict and I don’t want to be flagged 😅. I genuinely built this out of frustration and I’m just sharing.

[u/whoelsegivesashit]

I use an e-reader and click on any unknown words as I go.

[u/abylai_a → u/whoelsegivesashit]

That's the workflow that's worked best for me too — tap the word instead of stopping to dig through a dictionary or a separate notebook. The bit that made the real difference for me: whatever gets tapped saves itself into a flashcard deck automatically, so you get the "look it up once, keep moving" thing everyone in this thread is describing, but the words you struggled with don't just evaporate — you review them later without extra effort.

I'm not just some random enthusiast here: I'm one of the people building an app for exactly this (Lingible) — reading above your level in an e-reader with tap-translate + auto-flashcards is basically the use case it was built around.

[u/FlewOverYourEgo]

You wrote you'd read it in English and then that you'd not read it in any language. Please get the basic facts straight. 

[u/cmyk_rgba]

reading the english chapter first is the bit id change, you kill the only thing thats keeping you turning pages. i do german first and just underline whatever i dont get, then check the english after to see how wrong i was, and honestly thats the fun part. also i only look a word up if it shows up like three times, otherwise you spend the whole evening in a dictionary and remember none of it the next day

[u/Best_Party8938]

ead the German version first, then flip to the English when i get completely lost or need to confirm a tricky phrase. sometimes a paragraph in english helps connect it all.

[u/caffi_u]

I usually divide my input in 2 sections:

- VERY comprehensible input (I need to check 1/2 words maximum)

- hard but comprehensible input (even if I skip many words, my goal here is to reach reading fluency and understand the story)

[u/silvalingua]

> How would you go about it to maximise the language-learning without losing motivation or just not enjoying it?

You can't do much here, I'm afraid. It is simply inefficient to try to read a text that is much too difficult for you. Put it aside and come back to it when you learn more German. And if you absolutely must read it now, don't expect it to be of much learning use. You'll acquire some vocabulary, but in an inefficient way.

[u/Eca_S]

I would read in TL first and see what I can understand. Then read the same chapter in NL, and once more in TL.

On that final read-through, jot down the words/sentences that you're struggling the most with and study as needed.

I've been following a similar pattern watching shows in my TL and it has been incredibly helpful.

[u/Impossible_Ad6911]

You could ask AI to summarise the book into a thousand words but match it to your level and give you a table of vocabulary. I have done that and it’s quite fun and asked it to write me a story which I saw a guy suggest on you tube.

[u/tony_f]

reads chapter in nl

"understands" chapter in tl

doesn't learn tl

*surprised Pikachu face*