University of Wisconsin Independent LearningGerman 391: German for Reading Knowledge
Course Homepage

If you are not enrolled in this course, learn more and register online at the Independent Learning catalog. This course is offered worldwide by University of Wisconsin-Extension Independent Learning for transferable college credit, and is taught by UW-Madison Continuing Studies staff.

Or you might be looking for other UW-Madison services relating to German for reading knowledge.

Contents

Getting Started

  1. Read the Course Guide. Start with "Introduction" and "How to Do the Work of the Course." This is absolutely critical information for you.
  2. (Optional: Get instructions from Learner Services about the online method of assignment submission. I strongly encourage all students to use the online method instead of submitting pieces of paper via snail mail.)
  3. Follow the directions in the Course Guide for each Assignment. And when you start each unit, first make corrections in and additions to the textbook using the latest information in the Corrections and Additions section of this Web site.

Getting Help

Grading

Each sentence you translate in Assignments 1-5 is worth 4 points each (60 points total). In Assignment 5, Part 2 of the assignment is worth an additional 5 points. Each sentence in Assignments 6-16 is worth 5 points each (75 points total), except for the three longer sentences in Assignments 15 and 16, so that those two assignments are worth a total of 80 points. The texts for Assignment 17 vary in point value: the longer texts are worth more points, only so that the percentage-based grading scale remains consistent.

I assign letter grades following UW-Madison grading policy and the traditional scale: >98% = A+, 91-97% = A, 88-90% = AB, 81-87% = B, 78-80% = BC, 70-77% = C, 60-69% = D, 0-59% = F.

I subtract points from translations according to accuracy: one point for errors which both contradict the meaning of the original German sentence and would mislead a reader who wanted to know what the German sentence meant. I subtract a half-point for errors which indicate you probably didn't understand the German grammar perfectly but your error wouldn't significantly mislead somebody about the meaning of the German sentence.

The bottom line is whether a reader of your translation would end up with an understanding which does not explicitly contradict some aspect of the German sentence in its real-world meaning. That doesn't mean you need to be knowledgeable in every scientific field covered in this course – although sometimes a little research into the sentence's vocabulary may help you understand the German sentence better. I only assign grade-point value to information one can directly derive from the standalone sentence using just the rules of German language and a good dictionary.

How to Type in German

This Australian site explains "How to Type German Umlauts" (and ß) on your computer (both Windows and Macintosh):

www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au/la/lote/german/materials/umlauts.htm

Additional Resources: General Study Tips

Recommended Books

If you find that our course textbook uses grammatic terminology and concepts with which you're not totally comfortable, I recommend this book: Cecile Zorach and Charlotte Melin. English Grammar for Students of German. Olvia and Hill Press (latest edition).

If you would like more detailed and/or alternative explanations of (and exercises in) German grammar at an advanced level, I recommend this book: Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik. Ed. J. Rankin, L. Wells. Houghton Mifflin (latest edition). Like the Zorach/Melin book, it is intended primarily for students who are learning how to write (not just read) German, but nevertheless you may find it very handy.

You may also find the online "German for Reading Knowledge Tutorial" at University of Texas useful as a collection of tips on various topics which we also cover in our course.

Analyzing and Translating Complex Sentences

Here are two online learning guides which guide you step-by-step to gain skill in diagramming the structure of complex English sentences. Many of the concepts there will be things you can apply exactly the same way to reading German. This will really help you to visualize the meaningful relationships between the phrases of a sentence, and how to retain those meaningful relationships while writing your translations, such as when you need to change the word order of a sentence without losing or corrupting its meaning:

How Do I Make Sure My Translation Is Complete?

There are many occasions when a German term or phrase doesn't have a word-for-word correspondence in English, so you "leave it out." Take, for example, most German reflexive verbs (covered in Unit 5), for which you "ignore" the reflexive pronoun in your translation. When you're in doubt about whether you need to clearly include a translation of a particular German word or grammatical feature, consider how your translation would differ if the German sentence had also omitted it. A helpful rule to keep in mind might be: If you were to make a change in the German sentence, it should result in a different English translation. If your translation would not reflect that difference in the German, then there’s a problem in your translation.

Example: Wir waren enttäuscht mit dem Film und nachher verlangte unser Geld zurück.

You could translate this as "We were disappointed with the film and demanded our money back," or as "We were disappointed with the film and afterwards demanded our money back." You could argue that the first translation implies the meaning of nachher. Consider, then, that the German sentence could also have omitted nachher, and left it as an implied meaning. But it didn't; there was a clear choice to include nachher, perhaps to emphasize the sequence of events in time. So your translation needs to reflect this. Here's the rule again: "If you were to make a change in the German sentence, it should result in a different English translation. If your translation would not reflect that difference in the German, then there’s a problem in your translation."

Another factor to consider is whether your translation is actually comprehensible English. The bottom line again is: Would a reader who does not know German get the same real-world meaning from your translation as I do when I read the German sentence? If the English doesn't make sense on its own, then there's a problem.

Parenthetical explanations are fine with me, as long as they are explanations of your translation, not optional translations. Sometimes English is more ambiguous than German, so letting me know that you understood the specific meaning in the German original is very helpful to me. A classic example is translating German pronouns ihr/euer which have no English equivalent other than the ambiguous "you/yours," so adding a "(plural)" remark might be necessary.

Learning Vocabulary

This course only advises and guides you on how to learn vocabulary; see the Course Guide section "Building Your Vocabulary" (pp. xiv–xv) as well as the textbook's "Introduction" and its many "Word Formation" sections. The task of memorizing vocabulary is entirely optional and open for you to approach in your preferred learning style. Some of you may have a personal motivation to memorize German vocabulary for reasons beyond the requirements of this course. Here are some additional practical suggestions beyond those already covered in the Course Guide and textbook.

One suggestion is to use the textbook's Glossary as a starting word list. How to learn that list really depends on your personal learning style. If you do well with flashcard exercises, you can simply make your own low-tech ones. Or you may prefer to buy any of the large number of commercial computer programs that add convenient error-tracking and smart-drilling strategies to the word lists you type in. Some people do better by oral drilling with a (human) partner, and some people learn best by reading as many real texts as possible, thus learning vocabulary “the natural way” by encountering words in their real-world contexts and usages. See Additional Resources: German Texts to Read.

If you do choose to drill yourself on word lists, I recommend grouping lists thematically, for example: economy-related, then science-related, then art-related, etc. If you’re starting from scratch, then start with “basic” lists such as household items and actions, food, human body, family, etc., since often that gives you a lot of useful root words which form “advanced” vocabulary. Another idea is to pick a German text you want to read, skim it, make a list of the vocabulary words which you want to learn, and then after you’ve learned that list, you can comfortably review and reinforce your vocabulary by reading that text at any time. It's amazing how fast your vocabulary can grow when you simply work on it every day for 20 minutes in any manner you like.

Additional Resources: Unit-Specific Grammar

Try these online exercises on specific topics. By practicing a little bit of writing in German, you can quickly gain a lot of confidence for reading German. If you have any troubles using a site, let me know so that I can remove that link or post a warning. Naturally we carry no responsibility for third-party sites.

Additional Resources: German Texts to Read

"Practice, practice, practice" is the secret to learning both musical instruments and foreign languages. Practice doesn't have to be a chore – practice can be fun, if you combine it with your own interests. The best way to practice for this course is simply – jetzt aufgepasst! – to read German texts! Here are some sites I recommend to pursue your own interests and simultaneously practice reading German:

Errata: Corrections and Additions for the Textbook

This section is on the Errata page of this site. Be sure to re-check this page for any updates before you begin work on each unit.

About Your Instructor

Visit Alan Ng's academic home page.

This page is written and maintained by Alan Ng. It was originally started in October, 2005.

Instructional Web Materials | Division of Continuing Studies | UW-Madison