a) Beauty is in the ear of the beholder, and in my ear German definitely _IS_ - I repeat _IS_ - beautiful. ;-) It might be suited to bureaucracy, but it's even more suited to rhetorics, poetry, narration and just everyday use. Besides, every language is monstrous in the hands of a bureaucrat.
As a native speaker of another Germanesque language (Schwiizertüütsch), I can say that while those are very interesting and full of character, the majority of them (including my native dialect) are ugly to listen to. High German, on the other hand, sounds noble, smooth and refined. It's the Elven tongue amonst the Germanic languages. =P
b), c) Agreed.
d) I know Mark Twain's rambling. It's funny, but for the most part proves his utter ignorance of the German language. ;-)
-- Catharsis |
