Americanist preparing for foreign language exam

[mcb27]

For my masters I have to prove reading ability in a foreign language. I took four semesters of German as an undergrad, but it has been three years since I took a German course, and it was certainly never one of my strengths academically. And as an Americanist, I have never dealt with foreign language sources (at least I haven't yet), so even reading a passage in German is difficult at this point in the game.

 

I was wondering if anyone else has fulfilled their foreign language requirement by translating a passage with a dictionary, and what kind of preparation they took in doing that? I understand some people may have already been close to fluent in a language before they were tested, so they may have done little to know studying. At this point I've just been reviewing vocab, and I don't have to complete this exam until sometime next year, so certainly not in any kind of panic mode. But any prep strategies others may have would be great to hear about (especially if your experience was in German). Thanks!

[maelia8]

I'm a specialist in German history, already very fluent in the language, but when I was learning, I found "English Grammar for Students of German" to be a useful text for German grammar review, and I also recommend the book "German for reading knowledge" which is designed specifically to help you use German as a research language and not necessarily speak it.  I hope this is helpful!

[mcb27]

I'm a specialist in German history, already very fluent in the language, but when I was learning, I found "English Grammar for Students of German" to be a useful text for German grammar review, and I also recommend the book "German for reading knowledge" which is designed specifically to help you use German as a research language and not necessarily speak it.  I hope this is helpful!

I will check those out. The second book sounds especially relevant. Thanks!