Never knew before what eternity was made for. It is to give some of us a chance to learn German.
– Notebook #14, 11/1877 – 7/1878 Mark Twain –
Oct 2, 2011
Quote of the Day
My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years. It seems manifest, then, that the latter tongue ought to be trimmed down and repaired. If it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have time to learn it.
– Appendix D of A Tramp Abroad, “That Awful German Language” by Mark Twain –
Sep 18, 2011
Quote of the Day
I don’t believe there is anything in the whole earth that you can’t learn in Berlin except the German language.
(Mark Twain after his visit to Berlin in the winter of 1891/92)
Deutsche Übersetzung: Ich glaube nicht, dass es irgendetwas auf der ganzen Welt gibt, was man in Berlin nicht lernen könnte – außer der deutschen Sprache!
Sep 4, 2011
Quote of the Day
In Paris, they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language.
– Mark Twain –
Mar 10, 2010
The World’s Most Difficult Language
could be Tuyuca, of the eastern Amazon,
based on the article Tongue twisters – In Search of the world’s hardest language, published by The Economist.
For some learners of German, this might come as a surprise. The der/die/das phenomenon for genders is hair-raising enough, and just recently, an adult student, close to the brink of giving up, exclaimed: Es ist leichter einen neuen Mann zu finden als Deutsch zu lernen (It is easier to find a new husband than learning German).
Well, she is still married and passed her German proficiency test.
Mark Twain had a lot to say about learning German too – read more at Life is too short to study German.
Well, enjoy reading these articles and be grateful you do not have to study Finnish with its 18 cases.
Or Tuyuca, which has only 1000 speakers left.
