Well even as a native English speaker (which they say is supposed to help....) I have this same problem. I find reading boos in German much harder than even in Portuguese which I just started! lol. So try not to get too down about it, I think German just has a lot of vocab and idiomatic phrases... plus the different dialects might not help.
I think I am slowly improving, but it seems to me that you just need to look up each new word or phrase as you come across it and try to find out what it means. Google hopefully knows all?? I use dict.leo.org usually. I find native speakers are MUCH easier to understand when they speak than when they write. What kind of books are you reading? I would have thought a comic wouldn't be too bad. Can you give an example of something you don't understand? Maybe I will know what it means xD Or maybe not! haha.
Anyway this is a completely normal thing, I don't think you need to live in a German-speaking country but I do think more input will help. Different regions just use so many different ways of saying things. So each new author you read might take an adjustment or needing to figure out some of the main ways they say things. That's been my experience anyway. It has got slightly easier with time as I've been more exposed to the language. I'm still working on it!
The problem is that even when I look up all the words in a given sentence, it still doesn't make much/any sense. Lately, I've tried to read Disney comic books, some manga, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and some HP fanfics on FF.net.
Just so you have an idea what I'm talking about, here's the first dialogue in a Disney comic book:
- Schiebt ab. Sonst setzt's Senge satt. - Erst spuckt er Töne - dann seine Zähne! - Dir klopfen wir den Lolli aus der Luke, du Lutscher.
I do get the gist of these sentences because I've translated them word by word and also had a native German speaker tell me their meaning, but they still seem like near-gibberish! These sentences - particularly the first and the third one - just aren't the kind of stuff we're taught in textbooks and grammar books! :T
I've been reading translated things (Disney, Harry Potter) precisely because I was hoping to avoid dialects, regional expressions and excessive colloquialisms, but I guess it didn't help much. XD
Hmm, yeah, I can see what you mean, those are very colloquial sentences. Like calling someone "Du lutcher" "you lollypop" sounds pretty strange to me. But the more you read the more I'm sure you will pick up. Since you like comics you might as well keep trying with them!
I think I am slowly improving, but it seems to me that you just need to look up each new word or phrase as you come across it and try to find out what it means. Google hopefully knows all?? I use dict.leo.org usually. I find native speakers are MUCH easier to understand when they speak than when they write. What kind of books are you reading? I would have thought a comic wouldn't be too bad. Can you give an example of something you don't understand? Maybe I will know what it means xD Or maybe not! haha.
Anyway this is a completely normal thing, I don't think you need to live in a German-speaking country but I do think more input will help. Different regions just use so many different ways of saying things. So each new author you read might take an adjustment or needing to figure out some of the main ways they say things. That's been my experience anyway. It has got slightly easier with time as I've been more exposed to the language. I'm still working on it!
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Just so you have an idea what I'm talking about, here's the first dialogue in a Disney comic book:
- Schiebt ab. Sonst setzt's Senge satt.
- Erst spuckt er Töne - dann seine Zähne!
- Dir klopfen wir den Lolli aus der Luke, du Lutscher.
I do get the gist of these sentences because I've translated them word by word and also had a native German speaker tell me their meaning, but they still seem like near-gibberish! These sentences - particularly the first and the third one - just aren't the kind of stuff we're taught in textbooks and grammar books! :T
I've been reading translated things (Disney, Harry Potter) precisely because I was hoping to avoid dialects, regional expressions and excessive colloquialisms, but I guess it didn't help much. XD
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