An Italian Resource and some language humor
Since I'm concentrating on Spanish and Italian right now, I've had an eye out for resources available. One I didn't know about, and wish I'd encountered some time ago, is Berlitz' Shortcut to Italian. This little book promises to teach you 100 words, lining you up for 500 phrases, and setting you on course to get by in Italian. The words are fairly well chosen - a mix of grammar words and everyday vocabulary items - and the usage explanations are clear, concise, and free of the sort of information that is supposed to make you a better speaker but really just tangles you up in rules and exceptions. Whether you're extremely rusty and in need of a quick review of articles, demonstratives, etc., or you're a complete beginner trying to clarify what you've been hearing on discs 1 and 2 of Michel Thomas, this is a handy little book to have. If you're an intermediate-advanced speaker with questions about the subjunctive, of course, this probably isn't the book for you.
And now for something completely different...
Whenever languages come up, it seems like it's always the Germanic languages that get the bum rap. As I was reminded, flipping through the section on "Nations and Nationalities" in Des McHale's delightful quotation collection, Wit. It is not clear whether the Germanic languages are held in universally low esteem, however, or if it is just that Mark Twain is commonly taken to be the Anglo-American wit where languages are concerned. In any case, here are three from Twain, one for French, one for German and one for Dutch. Enjoy. And if you don't, remember that Twain wrote 'em, not me.
And now for something completely different...
Whenever languages come up, it seems like it's always the Germanic languages that get the bum rap. As I was reminded, flipping through the section on "Nations and Nationalities" in Des McHale's delightful quotation collection, Wit. It is not clear whether the Germanic languages are held in universally low esteem, however, or if it is just that Mark Twain is commonly taken to be the Anglo-American wit where languages are concerned. In any case, here are three from Twain, one for French, one for German and one for Dutch. Enjoy. And if you don't, remember that Twain wrote 'em, not me.
In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.Again, please direct any complaints to the estate of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain.
* * *
The Germans take part of a verb and put it down here, like a stake, and then they take the other part of it and put it over yonder like another stake, and between these two limits they just shovel in German.
* * *
Dutch is not so much a language as a disease of the throat.
4 Comments:
*secretly agrees with Mr Twain's evaluation of the Dutch language* ;)
I hope the Dutch isn't too troublesome. Though I confess that my own studies came to an end when efforts to say "Good day" started giving me smoker's cough.
Hmm, I've always taken that quote about the French not understanding their own language to be Twain laughing at himself, and at the pompous, superior attitude displayed by some (many!) tourists.
Anonymous-Yeah, Twain was mocking himself and tourists. But also hitting on the frustration that those weak in French will encounter in Paris. It's like Brendan Beehan's crack that foreigners start speaking to each other in English as soon as our backs are turned, their native tongues being just for show, if not made up. And I certainly know more than one or two people whose French in Paris was greeted with halting English.
America runs on a mix of populism and meritocracy that makes for a funny situation: our politicians and comedians have to be smarter than us but pretend it's the other way 'round. Hence the wry comments to be laughed at according to the level at which understands them.
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