The Awful[ly Difficult] German Language

Here is a hilarious essay for you to read on the difficulties an English speaker faces in trying to learn German: "The Awful German Language" by Mark Twain.


http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/texts/twain.german.html


"I heard lately of a worn and sorely tried American student who used to fly to a certain German word for relief when he could bear up under his aggravations no longer--the only word whose sound was sweet and precious to his ear and healing to his lacerated spirit. This was the word DAMIT. It was only the SOUND that helped him, not the meaning; and so, at last, when he learned that the emphasis was not on the first syllable, his only stay and support was gone, and he faded away and died."


Let's hope this doesn't happen to me.