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    Bitte was? An American author's misadventures in the German language
    Bitte was? An American author's misadventures in the German language
    Bitte was? An American author's misadventures in the German language
    Ebook31 pages21 minutes

    Bitte was? An American author's misadventures in the German language

    By Lawrence Elliott

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    About this ebook

    Lawrence D. Elliott is an American author, whose work has appeared in many popular books, including 4 books in the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Now he tackles the language of German in this humorous story of how he struggled to relearn the language, after being away from it for over 20 years. No one is off limits when it comes to poking a bit of fun, not even the author.

    The author is not a teacher or professor. This is not a language book or a dry instruction manual. His world is not the clean or pristine environment of a classroom, where you'd hear perfect German spoken from professional performers. (Who speaks perfectly in any language?)

    He writes about the real world and what he's encountered as he struggled to relearn German, one of the world's most difficult languages. Hopefully, you won't make the same mistakes he's made.

    If you've ever taken a foreign language and tried to say something in "perfect" German (or French or Spanish or Mandarin), only to realize you made a terrible mistake, THIS STORY IS FOR YOU!

    If you've ever said something that left the other person completely speechless or shocked, or you've said something you thought was a compliment, only to realize you said something extremely rude, THIS STORY IS FOR YOU!

    Or maybe you're studying a language in school now and you want to understand what it's like to hold real conversations in the real world.

    Then, THIS STORY IS FOR YOU!

    *** FREE RESOURCES INCLUDED ***
    There is a SPECIAL RESOURCES section at the end of this selection. Here, the author provides a special link to his website where you can use free tools he's discovered and has used that will actually help you improve your German. You should bookmark this page because he'll continue to add to it.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLawrence Elliott
    Release dateJun 18, 2013
    ISBN9781301063925
    Bitte was? An American author's misadventures in the German language
    Author

    Lawrence Elliott

    Lawrence D. Elliott is an American author and contributor to the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. He's also a contributor to HuffPost (formerly known as The Huffington Post) and has been interviewed on The Wall Street Journal Radio Network. Born in San Diego, California, Lawrence has lived in Germany for over 6 years and still understands the language. Lawrence is a member of Toastmasters International.

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      Book preview

      Bitte was? An American author's misadventures in the German language - Lawrence Elliott

      Bitte was?

      An American author’s misadventures

      in the German language

      By Lawrence D. Elliott

      [Part of the Writer’s Notebook Series]

      Copyright 2012 by Lawrence D. Elliott. All rights reserved.

      Smashwords Edition

      Who is Lawrence D. Elliott?

      Lawrence D. Elliott is an author, whose work has appeared in many popular books and publications, including four books in the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series. His words can be found at many online locations, including The Huffington Post. He has also been interviewed for such radio shows as The Daily Wrap from The Wall Street Journal with Michael Castner. A native of San Diego, California, he now lives in Germany.

      Visit his website at http://www.lawrenceelliott.com

      Contents

      Careful. My eggs.

      My German Beginnings

      My First Words of German in Germany

      About the German Language

      So, what’s the meaning of Bitte was?

      The German orthography reform of 1996‎

      When is a Gift not a Gift?

      So geil?

      What I meant to say is…

      The Most Dangerous Word in German?

      Free Resources

      My Booklist

      © 2012 Lawrence D. Elliott. All rights reserved.

      CS, Chicken Soup for the Soul and its Logo and Marks are trademarks of Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.

      Introduction:

      Careful. My eggs.

      "Eggs and oaths are easily broken."

      ~ Danish Proverb ~

      As I began my exit from his office, the young banker courteously opened the door. I carefully steered my bag I had filled with items purchased at the market just before stopping by.

      "Vorsicht, I said to the young man, meine Eier."

      Translation: Careful. My eggs.

      Uh, he

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