How to read a German text

Now that you have somewhere to find interesting texts to read, you need to know where to start.

At first glance, it may seem that the texts have been written by aliens and that the Germans just seems to make up new words by sticking them all together (take Dampfschifffahrtsobergehilfe for example), but the situation is not nearly as bad as it looks. Just follow these simple rules:

1. To get the message of a text, you only need to understand the context. You are not expected to understand every word.

2. Keep up-to-date with important events and topics.

3. Use your knowledge of grammar to pick out the verbs, nouns, adjectives, tenses etc...

4. Read a text more than once.

5. Use your knowledge of English. German and English were both influenced by Latin and although the spellings may differ you can see that the words come from the same route.

6. When confronted with a long word, divide it into its parts (e.g. Dampf-schiff-fahrt-s-ober-gehilfe).

7. Use your common sense!

Try it next time you read a text from the blog.