and I’d describe works by Fontane or other german authors as “old german”, when it’s merely old fashioned with words not in common use today, or not used in the same context, for which i remember using a dictionary. I know they used the same language as i do, there was no great shift in how the language worked, but the style and vocabulary used is enough to trip over if one is not used to it.

I don’t think an llm is a good tool to engage with a text one thinks is difficult, but it’s better than not engaging with the text at all.