Waterstones Short Stories in German
174 ratings
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Price: £10.99
Brand: Waterstones
Description: This new volume of eight short stories offers students of German at all levels the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of contemporary literature in the original, with the aid of parallel translations. The majority of these stories have been written in the past decade, and reflect a rich diversity of styles and themes. Complete with notes, the stories make excellent reading in either language. Waterstones Short Stories in German - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9780140265422
Delivery cost: 2.99
ISBN: 9780140265422
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Author: Pat
Rating: 5
Review: It is a long, long time ago since I studied German, nor have I had the opportunity of speaking the language...but I found the book not downright easy, but not difficult either. The parallel definition is good. I am refreshing German mainly as a challenge - using it just like a crossword to stimulate my brain. I am treating the text as I was taught - studying the German concentrating on it , memorizing it as best I can then turning to the English and translating that. It does the trick. If I have a word I just can`t make head nor tail of, I look it up in a dictionary rather than look at the text. That way the word is explained in full. I don`t think it is too difficult for students - I did Buddenbrooks (Thomas Mann) this way - I first read the book in German when I was a student - years later I did it by parallel.. - I couldn`t put it down. Maybe it is better to read something like it, something you like - If this book is too challenging, don`t give up
Author: The Prodigal Son
Rating: 3
Review: I'm British. I've lived and worked for more than 7 years in Germany in Austria, I'm now working as a part-time translator (German to English). I've been intensively investigating and buying "dual-language / parallel text" books for months now, to help me with my translation skills. The many books I've bought are not only from British publishers but also from German publishers. Of all the books that I've bought, this one is the most unusual. Firstly, the choice of stories. I liked the fact that they are quite modern stories. Learning a foreign language is doubly difficult if you have to struggle with archaic terms. Another positive point is that a couple of the stories were quite origina: the first one, with its "story within a story", and the one about Chicago. However, some of the others were, well, a bit underwhelming. For example, the extremely long story about the lady who is waiting for her dinner guests to arrive. Another reviewer here was less kind, and described that particular story as "interminable". Secondly, the translation. According to Penguin Books, Ernst Zillekens was the editor and translator, he chose the stories, translated them, and wrote the useful notes at the back. Apparently he was born and brought up in Germany, and after spells at universities in Germany and the UK, he now teaches German at Charterhouse School. Therefore, one would imagine that he is eminently suitable as a translator, and I'm sure that he's a good one. However, I am skeptical about the claim by Penguin Books that Zillekens translated these stories. The translation seems very wooden and literal, and there are some absolutely elementary mistakes that are absolutely baffling in this context. For example, in the story near the end about the grandfather, there are two references to the grandfather's habit of eating a fried egg on a slice of fried bread as a "second breakfast". There is no difficulty in translation there. It's not some overly abstract concept, it doesn't deal with an obscure metaphor or some cryptic, high-flown metaphysical theory. Yet, at two different points in the story, the eggs are described as "poached eggs". You may be thinking: "what does it matter, poached, fried, who cares?" But it does matter. The original text says "Spiegelei" and "Bratei". Both are incontrovertibly "fried egg", "Bratei" even had the prefix "Brat-" which denotes "fried". A poached egg is "ein pochiertes Ei". I hope this has not been an "interminable" explanation, my point is that someone of Zilleken's background would not make such an elementary mistake. So who did the translation, then? Another reviewer, D.S. Hall, presumably feels similar because he/she writes, "I struggled with the way this was translated so I loaned it to a native Berliner who works as a translator for the government, she was less than impressed and suggested the translation was poor and that some compound German words were either not used or do not exist. I buy parallel text books from German bookshops now." A final point: in my experience, "dual-language / parallel text" books from German publishers are not necessarily any better, neither in choice of story nor in the quality of the translations.
