The Awful German Language
Mark Twain had an abiding fascination with Germany and at the age of 15, undertook a first attempt to learn the German language; he quickly capitulated and didn’t resume his studies of the language until 28 years later when he spent over a year in the country with his entire family.
In 1878, the great American author took up residence in Heidelberg. It was also during this time that he wrote one of his sharpest and funniest essays ever entitled The Awful German Language.