This essay is 124 years old, and it made by laugh so hard I nearly wet myself. If you are German, or have ever tried to learn that language, check out either the German translation or the English original. [via schockwellenreiter]
Comments
On May 19, 2007 5:25 PM, Jo
said:
I thoroughly enjoyed the essay. A real chuckle. I am a German teacher and a Language teacher. I’m relieved I’m not the first to have felt so perplexed by German. Indeed, that so many of my sentiments are shared amuses me greatly. But I still love the German language and would never treat it as harshly as Twain prescribes. (Yes, I would even keep the dative case.) Ach! Mein Gott! I should be killed for the use of parenthesis!!)) Just remember the English language has it’s own convolutions.
I have been married to a German lady for a couple of years and took it upon myself to learn German. What blows my mind is not only their tendency to tie nouns together like a freight train ready to derail, but the temporal gymnastics of remembering an infinitive verb and sticking it on the end of a sentence.
This essay is funny and sad; it’s so true.