Unable to Use non-English Books on Kobo app

[jcobban]

For some reason Kobo did not base their Android app on the existing source code running on their dedicated eReaders. As a result the Android app is severely limited in functionality, and needs a completely separate body of documentation. That body of documentation does not exist, and all existing forum discussions and other web-pages for Kobo eReaders are irrelevant.

I have basic fluency in 9 languages and significant familiarity with a dozen more which means that most of the time all I need is access to a dictionary to read just about anything. My dedicated Kobo eReader accommodated that, but because Kobo apparently contracted out the development of their Android app to a contractor who was not given the source code of Kobo's existing implementation the result was a severely deviant implementation.

Instead of using the existing implementation, which followed typical Unix style design with text config files and a folder structure in which, for example, each eBook was simply stored as a file, the Kobo Android app apparently loads EVERYTHING into an SQLite database. Since all of the customization and management information is hidden inside that database, there is no way to tweak the behavior of the app as you could do with the dedicated implementation. My particular concern is that there is no support for multiple languages: the Android app does not even look at the metadata for the eBook, it simply ASSUMES that all books are in the base language of the Android device.

My immediate problem is that, for the purposes of improving my command of German, I wish to read Kinder- und Hausmaerchen by Grimm. Since the authors died more than 60 years ago this is available as a free download. How can I read this book on an Android table with access to a German-English dictionary?

I have tried reading it on my Linux laptop using Calibre, where it gives me access to a German dictionary which, for example, informs me:

Vermögen
Worttrennung:

Ver·mö·gen, Plural: Ver·mö·gen

Aussprache:

IPA: [fɛɐ̯ˈmøːɡn̩]
Hörbeispiele: Lautsprecherbild Vermögen (österreichisch) (Info)
Reime: -øːɡn̩

Bedeutungen:

[1] ohne Plural: Leistungsfähigkeit, Können
[2] Gesamtheit an Geld und geldwerten Gütern im Besitz einer Person oder eines Unternehmens

Herkunft:

Konversion aus dem Infinitiv des Verbs vermögen (substantivierter Infinitiv)
spätmittelhochdeutsch vermügen, substantivierter Infinitiv[1]

Synonyme:

[1] Anlage, Auffassungsgabe, Befähigung, Begabung, Eignung, Fähigkeit, Fertigkeit, Geist, Geistesgabe, Kompetenz, Können, Kraft, Kunst, Macht, Möglichkeiten, Neigung, Veranlagung, Voraussetzung

bildungssprachlich: Ingenium
umgangssprachlich: Zeug

[2] Besitz, Besitztümer, Eigentum, Gelder, Güter, Kapital, Mittel, Reichtümer, Schätze, Vermögenswerte

gehoben: Eigen, Geld, Gut, Habe; Geld und Gut, Hab und Gut
veraltet: Habschaft