[Butterfly9595]

Okay, so I'm interested in studying German at uni as part of a joint degree, any tips advice etc??

And what could I do to improve my chances of getting in e.g. reading around etc?

Thanks

[hannah_dru]

Tbh I think you just need to show a really keen interest

[Butterfly9595]

Okay any suggestions of German literature to read?? I'm reading Der Vorleser (which is brilliant!) but I'm not sure what other books are good and not too heavy for an A Level student...

Thanks

[chinaberry]

(Original post by Butterfly9595)
Okay any suggestions of German literature to read?? I'm reading Der Vorleser (which is brilliant!) but I'm not sure what other books are good and not too heavy for an A Level student...

Thanks

Hallo again :-D

Have you tried Harry Potter? I know it's not German but you get loads of brilliant vocab and turns of phrase from the translation.

There's Hesse (although- he did say no one should read his work until after 40!), Kafka, Patrick Suskind...

[Butterfly9595]

Hi!

That's a good idea with Harry Potter - and it'll be a whole lot faster as I already know the storyline etc....

And ooh I'll look them up!

Thanks

[thegodofgod]

(Original post by Butterfly9595)
Hi!

That's a good idea with Harry Potter - and it'll be a whole lot faster as I already know the storyline etc....

And ooh I'll look them up!

Thanks

Have you tried 'Die Verwandlung' (The Metamorphosis) by Kafka?

Great book about a butterfly (?), which my german teacher studied as an A level text around 15 years ago

Although she did advise to read it in English first, then in German

[hannah_dru]

(Original post by Butterfly9595)
Okay any suggestions of German literature to read?? I'm reading Der Vorleser (which is brilliant!) but I'm not sure what other books are good and not too heavy for an A Level student...

Thanks

I read some short parallel texts which are published in 2 books by Puffin. "Momo" and "Krabat" also weren't too heavy.

[alaska.]

(Original post by Butterfly9595)
Okay, so I'm interested in studying German at uni as part of a joint degree, any tips advice etc??

And what could I do to improve my chances of getting in e.g. reading around etc?

Thanks

Das Parfüm by Patrick Süskind was absolutely gorgeous! I can really recommend that. some people did it at school but it is awesome if you read it on your own.

Also, I would start to watch Films in German or listen to German Radio (1live is similar to BBC Radio 1, or WDR 2 is also okay!). And maybe you have access to German magazines/ newspapers? If not thete's always the internet.

All of the stuff is what I do for English. So it should work the other way round for you ;-)

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-S5830

[The Polymath]

(Original post by Butterfly9595)
Okay any suggestions of German literature to read?? I'm reading Der Vorleser (which is brilliant!) but I'm not sure what other books are good and not too heavy for an A Level student...

Thanks

You're reading it in German!? Are you in Lower Sixth?

(Original post by chinaberry)
Hallo again :-D

Have you tried Harry Potter? I know it's not German but you get loads of brilliant vocab and turns of phrase from the translation.

There's Hesse (although- he did say no one should read his work until after 40!), Kafka, Patrick Suskind...

^ Harry Potter is brilliant to read, as it's simple and you know the story already.

(Original post by thegodofgod)
Have you tried 'Die Verwandlung' (The Metamorphosis) by Kafka?

Great book about a butterfly (?), which my german teacher studied as an A level text around 15 years ago

Although she did advise to read it in English first, then in German

^ Heard about this as being an absolute classic.

(Original post by alaska.)
Das Parfüm by Patrick Süskind was absolutely gorgeous! I can really recommend that. some people did it at school but it is awesome if you read it on your own.

Also, I would start to watch Films in German or listen to German Radio (1live is similar to BBC Radio 1, or WDR 2 is also okay!). And maybe you have access to German magazines/ newspapers? If not thete's always the internet.

All of the stuff is what I do for English. So it should work the other way round for you ;-)

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-S5830

All these books seem very high level for an AS student I've been struggling with things like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

[thegodofgod]

(Original post by Junaid96)
You're reading it in German!? Are you in Lower Sixth?



^ Harry Potter is brilliant to read, as it's simple and you know the story already.


^ Heard about this as being an absolute classic.


All these books seem very high level for an AS student I've been struggling with things like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Book reading is really an A2 thing - AS is more of settling you into German A2; more for bridging the immense gap between GCSE and A2.

At school we're reading 'Der Vorleser' by Bernhard Schlink, on which we will have to write an analytical essay in the exam

[chinaberry]

(Original post by Junaid96)
You're reading it in German!? Are you in Lower Sixth?



^ Harry Potter is brilliant to read, as it's simple and you know the story already.


^ Heard about this as being an absolute classic.


All these books seem very high level for an AS student I've been struggling with things like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I haven't read Hesse in German!! good lord! wouldn't understand the title...no no I mean, just to get a taste of the "German flavour" in books, read them in English.

You don't have to for A2 but if you do lots and lots of vocab learning apart from the blessed all important topic specific vocab you really reap the benefits. For one thing- if you're trying to think of something original to write for an essay, you can just think of a random word you've just read and build a point around that. And of course then you get through books in German more quickly.

[The Polymath]

(Original post by thegodofgod)
Book reading is really an A2 thing - AS is more of settling you into German A2; more for bridging the immense gap between GCSE and A2.

At school we're reading 'Der Vorleser' by Bernhard Schlink, on which we will have to write an analytical essay in the exam

(Original post by chinaberry)
I haven't read Hesse in German!! good lord! wouldn't understand the title...no no I mean, just to get a taste of the "German flavour" in books, read them in English.

You don't have to for A2 but if you do lots and lots of vocab learning apart from the blessed all important topic specific vocab you really reap the benefits. For one thing- if you're trying to think of something original to write for an essay, you can just think of a random word you've just read and build a point around that. And of course then you get through books in German more quickly.

Ahhh right. I panicked a bit there because all I've managed to to read without a dictionary is Harry Potter and you started naming those classics

[alaska.]

(Original post by Junaid96)
All these books seem very high level for an AS student I've been struggling with things like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I recommended that because the TS was saying she read/ or is currently reading "Der Vorleser". We read both of them in class 10 so I thought it must be on the same level. But tbh one can read a lot of books which weren't originally written in German - so many books are really well translated. The translator of Harry Potter clearly did a good job

[neonreindeer]

I don't think it's necessarily a case of reading a lot of German literature to get you into a German degree - it will certainly help, don't get me wrong, but on my personal statement I didn't mention any books I'd read around the subject or anything like that, I just spoke about why I liked certain aspects of the A2 course. I reckon especially due to the fact you're thinking of doing it as part of a degree rather than straight German you just need to show somehow that you're committed to both/all of the subjects you're applying for - with German that may be through further reading (if so I definitely recommend reading Harry Potter, it helped me a lot!) or through film (Goodbye Lenin, Die Welle, Der Untergang to name a few). What I'm trying to say (in a very roundabout way) is don't worry if you're not immensely well read and you're applying for German as part of your degree - the likelihood is as long as they like you on paper and you match the grade requirements they're not going to care if you haven't read loads of German literature. Just as a small disclaimer though, I didn't apply for straight German, I applied for German, Scandinavian Studies and European Union Studies, so my application didn't centre solely around German.

Hope that helped, if not then sorry you had to read my ramble!

[Butterfly9595]

Thanks guys, this is really helpful!

(Original post by Junaid96)
You're reading it in German!? Are you in Lower Sixth?

All these books seem very high level for an AS student I've been struggling with things like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Yep, jusst finished AS and reading it in German but its taking a long time and I use the dictionary a lot .... definitely worth it though! And the storyline is excellent!

[Butterfly9595]

(Original post by neonreindeer)
I don't think it's necessarily a case of reading a lot of German literature to get you into a German degree - it will certainly help, don't get me wrong, but on my personal statement I didn't mention any books I'd read around the subject or anything like that, I just spoke about why I liked certain aspects of the A2 course. I reckon especially due to the fact you're thinking of doing it as part of a degree rather than straight German you just need to show somehow that you're committed to both/all of the subjects you're applying for - with German that may be through further reading (if so I definitely recommend reading Harry Potter, it helped me a lot!) or through film (Goodbye Lenin, Die Welle, Der Untergang to name a few). What I'm trying to say (in a very roundabout way) is don't worry if you're not immensely well read and you're applying for German as part of your degree - the likelihood is as long as they like you on paper and you match the grade requirements they're not going to care if you haven't read loads of German literature. Just as a small disclaimer though, I didn't apply for straight German, I applied for German, Scandinavian Studies and European Union Studies, so my application didn't centre solely around German.

Hope that helped, if not then sorry you had to read my ramble!

Yep that is definitely helpful already watched a few German films and I loved Die Welle! Have you seen The Edukators (can't remember the German title)??

[Bobo1234]

(Original post by thegodofgod)
Have you tried 'Die Verwandlung' (The Metamorphosis) by Kafka?

Great book about a butterfly (?), which my german teacher studied as an A level text around 15 years ago

Although she did advise to read it in English first, then in German

OP, try "Ich fuehle mich so 50-50", I read that prior to coming to uni, and it's very accessible to an A-level student's level of vocab Also someone mentioned Harry Potter- I'd go wider and say that you can read just about anything translated from English into German that you know already, as knowing the storyline will help a lot. Otherwise, if you want any more German books, I'd recommend stuff by Duerrenmatt and Frisch, both accessible authors, well known and fairly recent (meaning that the German is more accessible again).

[AllesWirdGut]

(Original post by Butterfly9595)
Yep that is definitely helpful already watched a few German films and I loved Die Welle! Have you seen The Edukators (can't remember the German title)??

Sorry to hijack your conversation!

Die Fetten Jahre Sind Vorbei is the German name for 'The Edukators'

I must admit, this is by far my favourite German film, with Die Welle coming up close behind. I don't know about you, but I find that German films have a lot more substance than English ones, and Die Welle and the Edukators have quite a serious undertone, which just makes you go 'wow' when you finish them.

German films are a good way to kill time. Have you tried:

Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters): Absolutely fantastic, but a bit heavy for a relaxing night in xD
Barfuss (Barefoot): A bit more lighthearted, and the German is quite simple in comparison to other films!
Lola Rennt (run, Lola, run): A weird film, in my opinion, but I've always seen it as one of those films you just have to see, along with 'Downfall'.

I have ordered a couple more off Amazon.de with English subtitles: Westwind and Mord ist mein Geschäft, but I don't know whether they're any good yet!

[peach.plum.pear]

(Original post by Butterfly9595)
Okay, so I'm interested in studying German at uni as part of a joint degree, any tips advice etc??

And what could I do to improve my chances of getting in e.g. reading around etc?

Thanks

Hey there, I'm just finishing my first year of German at KCL so pm me if you have any questions/advice on what to expect studying German at uni. x

[Butterfly9595]

(Original post by AllesWirdGut)
Sorry to hijack your conversation!

Die Fetten Jahre Sind Vorbei is the German name for 'The Edukators'

I must admit, this is by far my favourite German film, with Die Welle coming up close behind. I don't know about you, but I find that German films have a lot more substance than English ones, and Die Welle and the Edukators have quite a serious undertone, which just makes you go 'wow' when you finish them.

German films are a good way to kill time. Have you tried:

Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters): Absolutely fantastic, but a bit heavy for a relaxing night in xD
Barfuss (Barefoot): A bit more lighthearted, and the German is quite simple in comparison to other films!
Lola Rennt (run, Lola, run): A weird film, in my opinion, but I've always seen it as one of those films you just have to see, along with 'Downfall'.

I have ordered a couple more off Amazon.de with English subtitles: Westwind and Mord ist mein Geschäft, but I don't know whether they're any good yet!

oh yeah, knew the name was something along those lines!

And I agree - some of the German films are excellent and easily outstrip the English ones.... but everyone turns their noses up at them purely because of the language!!

Haven't seen either of the first two, but saw Lola Rennt - I thought everything was good except for the way it turned out (if that makes sense) - so like the three different realities and the pictures and changing stories for random people she goes past, but didn't quite work together - still enjoyed it though!