Is it worth learning German just to read Goethe, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer,

It's the only thing worth learning german for.

>>9759000
Make sure to read Hesse too!

As a native german-speaker, I would say no. The old and poetic writing style of Goethe, Schiller, Nietzsche ect. is very complecst. You need to practice many, many years before you can read these texts.

I haven't learned German but I have learned Spanish. It might sound like a depressing answer, but: no, I don't think it is ever worth learning another language only to read texts. There are people who dedicate their entire schooling and careers to that language you are considering learning in your free time. Translations by these people into your native language will be a better read for you, unless you study for a decade.

I've studied Spanish for a good 3 years and speak it fluently; I've read several Spanish books and they still don't affect me as much as a good translation. All languages have their nuances that a non-native speaker misses.

>>9759065
Holy shit, 3 years to learn spanish? Took me a month pactically, but I'm a native portuguese speaker though.

>>9759086
No, you misread that. I've STUDIED it for 3 years. After 6 months I was reading and after a year was holding conversations pretty well

>>9759065
wouldn't say I necessarily agree I read dutch and english which both aren't my native tongue and I still enjoy reading the texts in their original language more
>>9759000
german is hard as shit and reading the old german of Nietzsche/Goethe etc is even harder
If you really want to - go for it, it will take really hard work and dedication to master tho so dont expect it to be easy
is it worth it? I'd say yes, german is imo one of the most divine languages for poetry and artistic prose

>>9759000
As a native speaker, I'd say learn German for itself. It's a beautiful language that has all the best words. It's the best language for precise and rigorous thinking. Not like french will all those words that have 50 meanings. We have the exact right word for the exact right use case. That's why we're kings.

PS: Actually Austrian here so you can't call me a Nazi.

>>9759160
>Austrian here so you can't call me a Nazi
And where the fuck was Hitler born?

>>9759171
Hitler was German, Beethoven was Austrian. Read up

>>9759065
>All languages have their nuances that a non-native speaker misses.
I think it's all about practice. I can understand why spanish texts don't click for you; three years is enough to read and speak properly, but not to get the spirit of the language. English is not my first language, yet I speak it for many years and my ability to read english language literary texts has greatly improved since I started studying - I actually end up reading more in english than in my native language as a result of the greater availability of online material such as e-books. I see your point about the nuances of the language, but that can be learnt over time too, as harder as it might be.

>>9759176
Erstes Opfer des NS- Regimes!

https://youtu.be/0zB4RBHh1Tw

>>9759065
Depends on your purpose for learning it. If you want to read literature then it is enough to read books progressively until you come to get used to it. I have been taught English since first grade, was chatting with people online in English at 13, and yet I remember thinking books like Dune or 1984 were very hard to read when I first started reading them in the original at about 18. I have also never spoken to a French person and yet I can understand passages from Proust (admittedly I have read the Recherche before).
Universities teach you a lot of things that you have to know when speaking to somebody but are irrelevant when it comes to reading, such as knowing all of the grammar rules very well or having a bigger vocabulary (there are lots of words you can deduce from the context if you are reading or that will resemble words from other languages you know).

Goethe is overrated

Read Hölderlin instead

I wouldn't learn a language for a country on a downtrend. Germany will not look the same in 20 years.

I'm a german student. Learn german, it's based.

>>9759000
To get any extra benefit you would need to master the language and read many classics. Otherwise you're just pretentiously reading translated works, only this time in your head rather than on paper.

If you're borderline obsessed with the authors, go for it. Cursory interest -- not worth it.

>>9759000
Why would you learn German when their national language is Arabic?

Everyone ITT is just lazy. I know Spanish and German (and English of course) and am startling to learn French, and I don't regret it. Maybe it's not worth it if you're a middlebrow but German has a rich literature, and you will definitely get more out of it in the original. This guy >>9759065 is a retard; poetry CANNOT be translated. It is impossible. Reading, say, Borges or Cervantes, or Höderlin or Nietzsche in translation is nothing less than idiotic.

>>9759797
There's nothing idiotic about that, a good translation can retain the style, the original reflection and the idea that the author wanted to pass. Of course it's really hard to create a good translation, but there are several examples of those in my language. In fact, I would even say that reading in your mother language sometimes can be better than reading in the book's original idiom. Learning another language is surely great if one really likes it, but it's also not like you won't be able to comprehend, for instance, Cervantes in its entirety if you can't read in spanish.

>>9759797
Borges doesn't seem that bad in translation, does he really lose a lot?

>>9759176
Austrians are German.

I wish to learn French so I can read Maistre, Rousseau, Guenon, Malebranche etc. I live in Australia so there no other common European languages spoken in close proximity beyond English. And im not learning any Asian language (fuck off we're full). Hence I will have virtually no practical use for it.

How long will it take me to be able to read French philosophical texts from the 17th and 18th centuries?

>>9759000
Only for the poets sake.

Philosophy and novels are all easily translated.

>>9759874
>I posted it again mom!

>>9759284
this

>>9759086
Woah dude, I bet you also have a huge dick!!1!