This is appendix d from twains book a tramp abroad. The awful german language mark twain audiobook and. The awful german language according to mark twain the. The awful german language, erschienen zuerst 1880 als appendix d des reisebuchs a tramp abroad in hartford. A gifted person ought to learn english barring spelling and pronouncing in 30 hours, french in 30 days, and german in 30 years. If youve ever studied german and maybe even if you havent, youre likely to find this short essay to be hilarious. This text is basically a html i spoke entirely in that language. Many people become frustrated when learning german. Read by rainer for further information, including links to online text, reader information, rss feeds, cd cover or other formats if available, please go to the librivox catalog page for this recording.
I really dont know which language i should write this in. Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject american studies literature, grade. Mark twain, the witty american writer, visited the german city of heidelberg for a few weeks towards the end of his life. His examples of precisely how the german language is awful include the famed separable verb which allows one to put the first part of a given verb at the beginning and its second part at the end of a. The awful german language is mark twains humorous account of his frustrations with the german language. A tramp abroadappendix d wikisource, the free online.
Images are downsampled to low resolution for screen view only. The awful german language by mark twain home languages german mark twain. The awful german language a little learning makes the whole world kin. He tried to learn german and reports in this texts about many difficulties he encountered. German is certainly not an easy language to master and no individual has documented the struggle more publicly than iconic american author, mark twain. In 1880 twain published his infamous essay titled, the awful german language, a humorous exploration of the frustrations a foreign speaker experiences when learning german. Look into your dictionary to count the meanings of shift and pitch. Published as appendix d from twains 1880 book a tramp abroad, this comedic gem outlines the pitfalls one will encounter when trying to wrap ones mind around the torturous german cases, adjective endings, noun genders, and verb placement. For more free audiobooks, or to become a volunteer reader, please visit. The awful german language by mark twain free at loyal books.
This ebook and audio book is ideal for anyone who wants to learn the language and have fun doing it. Librivox recording of the awful german language, by mark twain. The awful german language, by mark twain 1880 as read by luke amadeus ranieri german was my first foreign language, which i learned in high school and i have loved it ever since. The awful german language, erschienen zuerst 1880 als. Germany and the germans in american short fiction, language. Mark twains lovehate relationship with the german language is why many people believe that twain did not like german, let alone spoke it. This page is intended as a humorous plea on behalf of the german language. The awful german language, much maligned by mark twain, is spoken by almost 200 million people worldwide and is, according to wikipedia, the 3rd most learned language worldwide. The awful german language was published in the second volume of twains a tramp abroad, 1880, as appendix d. Gunnar magnusson describes the work as twains most famous philological essay.
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