In 2006, my wife and I moved from Maryland to Vienna, Austria and I began to learn German. Now, three years later, I’m able to speak reasonably well. I can translate menus for my friends, describe to a mechanic what is wrong with my car, and most importantly, I can complain to the referee in a soccer match. There is a huge thrill in a successful conversation in German, but I’ve found a bigger foreign language thrill: reading books.
Through German, I’ve been reintroduced to the fundamental pleasure of reading. I had forgotten there is joy in simply picking up a book with thousands of words and endless possibilities and deciphering the code that is language, following the journey, reaching the end, and closing it with satisfaction. So often, when I read in English, I’m overly sensitive to an author’s choice of words, or the pacing of the story. But in German, I’m immune to these distractions. I understand only about 80% of the words I read. Whether it’s written he climbed the mountain that stood before him or there was a mountain and he climbed it, these details have no meaning to me in German. I have no feel for an author’s style. I’m unable to appreciate finely crafted prose. In fact, I’m only able to glean the most basic elements of the story, and yet I’m thoroughly enjoying the experience. Is it possible that I had forgotten that the point of reading is the actual story?
Indeed. Studying German has reminded me that we read for the story. So far I’ve read everything from young adult horror to chick lit. I like it all. Right now I’m reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales in the original German language edition. It includes stories such as Snow White, Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella. The stories are nearly 200 years old and the vocabulary is a bit dated, but it doesn’t stop me. I plow my way through each story, enjoying every page. It’s challenging, but in the end, I know what happened. Well, most of the time anyway. Just the other day I was reading Cinderella and the story took a rather alarming turn. I’m pretty sure the story said that the evil stepsisters cut off their own toes to try to fit their feet in the glass slippers. That’s not the Cinderella I remember, but I like the twist!
To the kids out there: don’t fret about words you don’t understand. Adults: don’t toil over mixed metaphors. Pick up a book, turn the page, and enjoy the ride.
Gregory Kemp is the author of The Legend of Vinny Whiskers (linked to Dawn’s review), and he was the inaugural winner in the fiction category of the WEbook.com Vote, an online competition where a community of writers, readers and reviewers nominate and vote their favorite projects into publication. His guest post is one stop of the official Vinny Whiskers blog tour. For more information, please visit his website, gregorykemp.com
Ah yes, the story! I know that I try to be conscious of lots of different aspects of a book when I read it for reviewing, like the author’s style and voice, the beauty of language and the like, but at the end of the book, it all comes down to whether the story was worth it or not.
Thanks so much for this contribution, Greg!
What a sense of accomplishment you must have felt the first time you read a book in German – congratulations!
I *have* heard that original Cinderella story and you *did* read it correctly … creepy.
I’m always VERY impressed when people talk about reading books in a foreign language. I never would have thought about this aspect of it. Very interesting!
Enjoyed this 🙂 And I can relate, as I read books in French now…painfully slowly though.
And I’ve read that version of Cinderella too. In fact, I seem to recall that being the first version I read, and being disappointed with the cleaned up Disney version.
Hello,
What is the title of the original German version of Grimm’s fairy tales? I am looking for a collection in the original German.
Thanks,
Mike
Michael,
Sorry it’s taken me a while to answer your question – I was off on vacation when you posted and I missed it when I got back. Anyway, the version I’m reading is entitled: “Maerchen” by Brueder Grimm. It’s published by Arena in their series “Arena Kinderbuch-Klassiker”. Take a look at http://www.arena-verlag.de. If you have trouble finding it, I might be able to find a copy here in Austria.
Greg