More on Schliemann, learning

For those intrigued by Schliemann's language learning practice - reading and parsing a book in the new language alongside a book in a language he knew - it's worth looking into the Penguin and Dover bilingual books. In the past, I've used these with the idea of the English serving as a crutch in a language I knew but not too well (my French, long ago, plus Spanish and Italian). Where I would always run aground was that it was tedious picking through the new language, so I would make too frequent reference to the English, and in the end the exercise proved pointless. By contrary, these books are quite good if you want to do a point by point comparison.

This weekend, I picked up Siddharta with German and facing English. I like this better than the Penguin Reader for German that I already had in that it's one long novella or short novel by one person. The readers give you broader exposure, of course, but I don't want broad exposure. I want a model for German that will show enough internal consistency in style, phrasing and unnecessary flourish so that by the end I can manage at one form of German, even if it is that of a pseudomystic from early in the last century. By contrast, the readers change subject, tone, meaning and the whole ball of wax every fifteen pages.

There are also bilingual editions for Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther and (for Italian) Pinocchio. And there are editions aplenty for French, though that doesn't serve me particularly well.

I am looking for similar books for more exotic languages, out of curiosity as to how this works with unfamiliar languages and would welcome pointers in the comment section.

One other note: This site tries a lot of language learning styles, techniques and approaches. Having a love of language but limited patience and perserverance, I enjoy making of myself a guinea pig for the different ideas out there. Looking for ideas, I stumbled upon a Stevick's book on the approaches of successful adult language learners at Uztranslations. If you're looking for something new to try out, set aside an hour or two and have a read.