July 19, 2022
Jerome’s book after “Three Men in a Boat” follows the same English friends, this time on a bicycle trip through Germany. Their prejudices and lack of linguistic skills make for some hilarious encounters. Clean British humour.
You can find the book in different formats on the Gutenberg website.
Here an excerpt in English and German.
(Disclaimer: I read the text in English as a way to force myself to speak out loud to improve my poor pronunciation skills. I read the text in German to provide learners of the language with audio snippets, hopefully from books they love. Check out forvo for word pronunciations by native speakers for all the words in the world.)
.. (Your German) likes his view from the summit of the hill, but he likes to find there a stone tablet telling him what to look at, find a table and bench at which he can sit to partake of the frugal beer and “belegte Semmel” he has been careful to bring with him. If, in addition, he can find a police notice posted on a tree, forbidding him to do something or other, that gives him an extra sense of comfort and security.
.. (Der Deutsche) mag seine Aussicht vom Gipfel des Hügels, aber er mag dort gerne eine Steintafel vorfinden, die ihm sagt, was er sich anschauen soll; einen Tisch und eine Bank, wo er sich hinsetzen kann um von seinem genügsamen Bier und belegtem Semmel teilzuhaben, die er umsichtig mitgebracht hat. Wenn er noch dazu an einem Baum eine polizeiliche Notiz vorfindet, die ihm dieses oder jenes verbietet, gibt ihm das ein zusätzliches Gefühl von Behaglichkeit und Sicherheit.
Collage with photos from openverse
“Seat with a view” by highlights6
“Lederhosen, green knee socks and leather shoes” by Ivan Radic
“Salami-Käse-Baguette – Salami and Cheese Baguette” by Jutta M. Jenning