First German Reader: A Beginner's Dual-Language Book (Dual-Language Books)

Reader Reviews
The introduction claims that "First German Reader is truly a beginners' book. It may be started after two or three weeks of experience with an introductory book to German." I couldn't possibly disagree more. You really should have a few years of classroom experience under your belt before attempting it. The reading passages are highly academic in nature, with a very strong focus on philosophy and poetry. They are often very dense and difficult to understand, even reading the English translation. Furthermore, to fully appreciate many of the passages, a great deal of context is often required. While the notes at the end of the book do help somewhat, they are woefully inadequate in many cases. Last but not least, I personally found most of the content to be pretty dull. These factors can easily combine to make for a very frustrating, and not necessarily productive, reading experience for a beginner. A few short sample passages: "Large industries have already introduced a system of profit-sharing with their employees. But what is much more significant: in all industrial concerns the workers enjoy the legal right of having a voice in matters that concern them. They get a third of the seats on the boards of directors of joint stock companies (one half of the seats in the mining and steel industries)." "Act in such a way that the maxim of your will may at all times also have validity as the principle of a universal law." The texts are also outdated. Besides the lack of any material from the past forty years and the use of the old spelling throughout, I suppose this fact mostly only matters for the "Über Deutschland" passages, which are intended to paint a broad picture of modern Germany. One of these essays states that "West Berlin is a part of the Federal Republic, while East Berlin belongs to the 'German Democratic Republic.'" Hmm. This edition was published in 2007, but it's clear that none of the content has changed since it was originally published in 1964. On the plus side, the translations are generally very good for the purpose they serve. They are literal enough that it is farily easy to compare the English and German versions, but (mostly) natural enough to be comprehensible by themselves. There are also a fair number of endnotes that explain references to particular people and places, as well as unusual word usage and grammar. The passages are of just the right length that the reader can maintain a sense of accomplishment and not get too bored, even reading very slowly and carefully. Despite the blatantly false advertising of the title, if you have a fair amount of experience with the language and a strong interest in German philosophy and poetry, you might find this book to be rewarding. Otherwise, save yourself the frustration and steer clear.