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Career Specific Language Books | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3706 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 1 of 5 22 March 2014 at 4:21pm | IP Logged |
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I'm an engineering student in college and I study German on my own time. I would love to one day be able to do some work in Germany/Switzerland and also be able to read papers (German is the second most common language for engineering papers). Do they make books or other programs that are geared toward learning certain lingo (in my case, science/engineering terms) for certain languages? What would be the best way to go about this?
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| Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5708 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 2 of 5 22 March 2014 at 4:32pm | IP Logged |
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I would just buy a textbook in the target language and try to read it. Focus on material you're familiar with or something you just read in the textbooks you use in college. Or do it the other way around - try to read unfamiliar material in German first, see how much you can understand, and then read it in English. Maybe start with easier things, like science/engineering articles that are written for the general public. Whatever works for you. Also, you might find visual dictionaries useful. There might be career-specific guides available but I kinda doubt it... But you should be able to achieve the same thing by practicing over time.
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| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 6943 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 3 of 5 22 March 2014 at 4:50pm | IP Logged |
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In years past, German was considered much more useful in a number of scientific and technical fields than English, and Americans frequently spent time at German universities in order to gain knowledge more advanced than was available in US universities. At the time, there were a fair number of books, usually entitled "Scientific German Reader" or "Technical German Reader" and the like, to introduce English-speakers to the relevant German vocabulary and style.
Some of these, from about a century or more ago, can be found on GoogleBooks for download, or in cheap reprints. The technology in question will be pretty much out of date, but a good deal of the basic vocabulary will still be relevant, I suspect. Here's what a search for "scientific German reader" turns up: https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=scientific+ger man+reader&tbs=,bkv:f&num=10 Another more recent book is "Scientific and Technical German Reader" by Howard H. Hirschhorn, published in 1964, of which used copies can be picked up for a song on Amazon.com. I think that reading knowledge of German is no longer required for higher education in technical fields in the US, and so the market for these books has essentially disappeared. As for books of this sort published in German-speaking countries, I suspect that they likely exist, but I've been outside of Germany for too long to have a feel for what may be available. Edited by daristani on 22 March 2014 at 4:51pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3706 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 4 of 5 23 March 2014 at 4:17am | IP Logged |
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Thanks guys! This is some great advice. I just looked on Amazon and saw a few scientific readers (for cheap too). I figure I can use the readers (since they seem more fundamental), then find textbooks from amazon.de and go from there. Of course, I have to wait until I get a firm grasp on the language itself, but that'll come with time.
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| YnEoS Senior Member United States Joined 4053 days ago 472 posts - 893 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 5 of 5 23 March 2014 at 5:05am | IP Logged |
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If you can get a hold of a copy you might want to try German for Reading by Karl C. Sandberg and John R. Wendel. It's not specific to engineering, but aimed at reading comprehension from beginner-->intermediate for a wide variety of academic subjects covering science, history, and art. It might not have any engineering terminology, but it will probably be more useful than a lot of the "hello, how are you?" type dialogs that more conversational type courses have and I think it would help you move to more advanced reading material. It's a really well made course and useable with very little starting knowledge of German, but it's also really thorough and probably useful for intermediate learners who have finished more conversation courses.
Unfortunately it appears to be out of print, and used copies go for over $100. But if you can find a copy in a library (or if you happen upon a pdf in some dark corner of the internet), I'd highly recommend using it. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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