[bunkerbewohner]

Oh the poor people who try to learn German by reading Kafka. I'm not sure literature in general is suitable for learning a language that you don't already have a tight grip on. Maybe children's books, but even then it's too far removed from spoken language for some languages.

[sarabande]

I've found the concept of extensive reading with a 98% threshold (that is, you must be understand 98% of words on a page) to be pretty effective in picking up foreign languages. Less than that and I give up. You're right, starting to learn German through Kafka is going to lead to bad times. I tried that with Mandarin and a translation of an Orhan Pamuk novel and gave up some twenty pages in after a brutal slog.

[t-3]

Having some simpler and easier selections ala Lingua Latina (https://lingualatina.dk/wp/) would definitely help. If you haven't heard of it, that is a book for learning Latin Wooten entirely in Latin. It starts off with very simple grammar and vocabulary and adds more each chapter. You can find digital copies pretty easily.