COMPLETE: The Awful German Language, by Mark Twain

raynr · Post by **raynr** » December 21st, 2005, 8:31 am

All audio files can be found on our catalog page:
http://librivox.org/the-awful-german-language-by-mark-twain/

As I realized that there are a few non-native speakers interested in the German language (Kara?), I got an idea for a (more or less) short work.

"The awful German language" by Mark Twain, which is an article about Twain's experience with German. It is originally appendix D from Twain's 1880 book "A Tramp Abroad".

The text can be found on Gutenberg:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5788/5788.txt

The article is exceptionally funny and a comfort for everyone trying to learn German...

kayray · Post by **kayray** » December 21st, 2005, 8:36 am

Raynr, I read this when I was studying german oh so many years ago and it was a scream!

You're planning to read this for us? It will be wonderful to hear it again, and very amusing to hear it read with a german accent :)

I'll add you to the "to come" section of our catalog page.

Kara

Gesine · Post by **Gesine** » December 21st, 2005, 11:46 am

Oh brilliant, raynr - love that piece!

I also just came across a little gem by Ambrose Bierce (whom I love) about the English language, which I'm tempted to read as a solo project... a bit like an opinionated, rude White & Strunk (the 'bible' for good writing; well, one of them anyway)!

Please read and finish the Twain soon. I know some people learning German right now and they'd love to listen to it!

Izze · Post by **Izze** » December 24th, 2005, 3:15 am

I cracked up laughing when I read the title. I've never even heard of the piece, but after spending many, many, many torutous years studying German, and now putting up with my German studying roommate (she's required to know German fluently for her degree), I can truly say that I hate the German language.

I look forward to hearing this! ^.^

kayray · Post by **kayray** » December 24th, 2005, 10:04 am

Raynr, you've got a fan club waiting for this one ;-)

raynr · Post by **raynr** » December 25th, 2005, 7:50 am

Well, I have got to satisfy the fans...

Here's the first part (it is a continous text, but I split it up into three reasonable parts):

http://s53.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1EINXCM4BTJUW1VR0N6U0MXBMS

kayray · Post by **kayray** » December 25th, 2005, 8:37 am

downloading now...
***
Ok I just listened to the whole mp3 and was laughing so much!! Thanks, Rainer, more more more!

raynr · Post by **raynr** » December 26th, 2005, 7:42 pm

More, more, more? Here's part two:

http://s38.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1HPHRZLS190WP3DAEWBKBSJO06

The last part will follow tomorrow or on wednesday!

kayray · Post by **kayray** » December 26th, 2005, 8:13 pm

YAY!!!

raynr · Post by **raynr** » December 27th, 2005, 6:19 pm

Here's the third and last part:
http://s16.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2UG1STAPRSPKX352AGGC5M6B9L

It includes a faked speech by Mark Twain. It is a mixture of English and German, so don't be confused about it.

And Kara, you wrote in another topic that you had problems not to start crying when you read a chapter. It had to read this text very often before I could start recording it, because I always began to giggle while reading it...

kayray · Post by **kayray** » December 27th, 2005, 7:54 pm

Got it, Rainer. Heheheh I can hardly wait to listen to the whole thing! And I'll get it uploaded and cataloged as soon as I can. Please remind me in a few days if it seems like I may have forgotten :)

kayray · Post by **kayray** » December 27th, 2005, 9:36 pm

Sixthly, I would require a speaker to stop when he is done,
and not hang a string of those useless "haven sind gewesen
gehabt haben geworden seins" to the end of his oration.

*falls off the chair laughing*

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » December 27th, 2005, 10:18 pm

LOL! Thats so good....and sooo clever!
Rainer! Hell of a job!
A german struggling with an english text about an englishman struggling with german! Hilarious.

And you do dead cool!
I am chuckling so much. Thank you.

kayray · Post by **kayray** » December 28th, 2005, 6:09 pm

All done!
http://librivox.org/the-awful-german-language-by-mark-twain/

I listened to the whole thing during my son's karate class this morning, and was struggling not to laugh aloud and disturb the class.

"For instance, the same sound, SIE, means YOU, and it means SHE,
and it means HER, and it means IT, and it means THEY,
and it means THEM. Think of the ragged poverty of a
language which has to make one word do the work of six--and
a poor little weak thing of only three letters at that.
But mainly, think of the exasperation of never knowing
which of these meanings the speaker is trying to convey.
This explains why, whenever a person says SIE to me,
I generally try to kill him, if a stranger."

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » December 28th, 2005, 6:20 pm

Yeah. I was laughing out loud at that one. Twain is so pissed!