The German reading room
Die Verwandlung — The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka, 1915 · 19,246 words in German · part of the library.
How long «Die Verwandlung» is, and how hard
| Length in German | 19,154 running words · 696 sentences · about 77 printed pages |
|---|---|
| Time to read | about 174 minutes at a learner's pace, with the glosses to hand |
| Different words | 2,685 dictionary words, averaging 27.5 words a sentence |
| Words glossed | 2685 of 2,685 — every one that appears in the tale |
| Words that appear once | 1479 — 55%. A word met once is a word you will not learn from this text alone |
| Where it stands | 9 of 9 by length in the German room |
1728 of this tale's own 2,685 words, most frequent first, carry 95% of it; 394 carry 80%.
How it begins
Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt.
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.
That first sentence is the free sample, and the only one: «Die Verwandlung» is part of the interactive library in German, Russian, Spanish, French and Italian, with word meanings and sentence translations — one subscription for all five rooms. What the library costs. «Der süße Brei» is free, entire, on its editorial reference page.
Shorter and longer in the same room
Der Froschkönig — 1,291 wordsHänsel und Gretel — 2,678 words