Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
It is not like studying German, where you mull along, in a groping, uncertain way, for thirty years; and at last, just as you think you've got it, they spring the subjunctive on you, and there you are. No- and I see now plainly enough, that the great pity about the German language is, that you can't fall off it and hurt yourself. There is nothing like that feature to make you attend strictly to business.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Learning German can be frustrating because of its complexities, but those challenges are what keep you focused on mastering it.
Mark Twain expresses the challenges of learning the German language by comparing it to a situation where one might easily fall off to emphasize the importance of being fully engaged in the learning process. He humorously illustrates that the difficulties and unpredictabilities in mastering a language compel learners to pay attention and work hard, while the relatively safe nature of learning German may make it less urgent or engaging.
Themes
LanguageLearningEducationFocusChallenges
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about language education, highlighting the complexities of different languages.
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In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
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