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> It's hard to find books, shows, or conversation partners, all the way through that critical awkward stage from beginner to vaguely proficient. Children's boo
by klipt 3y ago
> It's hard to find books, shows, or conversation partners, all the way through that critical awkward stage from beginner to vaguely proficient.
Children's books? Children also learn from scratch. I think an adult reading books targeted to progressively higher ages would do reasonably.
- famouswaffles 3y agoChildren are native speakers. This is something that doesn't quite hit you until you seriously undertake language learning. assuming we are talking about children's content in general (and not content for babies), you will find that it is not much more comprehensible than the adult stuff. a language learning beginner is nowhere near the command or vocabulary of a child.
- MostlyStable 3y agoYeah, I've been learning German for about a year and a half now through a combination of traditional classes and duolingo. I'm roughly high A2, low B1. I've tried multiple times to start reading children's books (e.g. Die Kleine Hexe, Emil und die Detektiv, Das doppelte Lottchen, Der Räuber Horzenplotz) which are all, supposedly, for readers under 10. They have a surprisingly large required vocabulary and grasp on the grammar. I think part of the problem is that adult learners learn things in a sequence. They learn one part of grammar, then the next, then the next, so that there are grammar rules and structures that you are almost completely unaware of until pretty far into your learning. Whereas a native child is exposed to the entire language all at once. They don't fully understand everything, but they are aware of all of the different structures. Children's books know this and are written with it in mind, as opposed to things like readers, which restrict their grammar to a particular level. I have a much easier time reading an A2 reader than any actual childrens book.
- pflenker 3y agoI am a native speaker in German and I can tell you that while all the books you listed are children’s books, they are all quite old, and the words and phrases they use are weird, to say the least. Maybe grab a Lustiges Taschenbuch? They’re available almost everywhere, fun to read also for adults and since they are comics, the accompanying images provide context.
- MostlyStable 3y agoThat's probably what I get for asking my older German-speaking relatives for book suggestions, haha. Thanks for the recommendation!
- ivanche 3y agoAs an adult, finding children's books to be engaging is... well, a tad difficult.
- jamager 3y agoI used to think the same, and I admit that having children yourself is deff a factor, but I have been surprised by how good kids books and shows can be these days. Nothing to do when I was a kid, so I would not rule it out.
- barrell 3y agoMy experience from learning from childrens books has not been very good. They tend to be quite whimsical, which is hard to follow, use quite old language, which is hard to follow, and use really child-appropriate language, which is hard to follow. Getting to a middle-school or YA level though, and increasing through reading levels there, is probably the best thing you can do for your language (and phrasing was built specifically to make this level accessible to you before your language level is high enough). PS: Childrens books work on Phrasing too, so this isn't inherently biased in that respect, just my genuine opinion.