Die besten englischen Filserbriefe. Your true Gisela

von Gisela Daum - ISBN 9783784427775

Gebundene Ausgabe, 240 Seiten
Veröffentlichung Mar 2000 bei Langen/Müller
Amazon-Verkaufsrang #34741
Bewertung 5.0/5.0 bei 4 Meinungen
neu: ab 6.99 Euro
gebraucht: ab 1.83 Euro
Autor: Gisela Daum
ISBN 9783784427775
ISBN 3784427774 (alt)

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Kritik zu Die besten englischen Filserbriefe. Your true Gisela

I love this book! I pick it up again every so often, I read it, and I laugh till I cry. :-) vom 17.06.2008
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I purchased this book in a small bookstore in Garmisch in 2000. I love Germany, and I am always looking for something new. I had no idea what I was in for. The cover was in German, but the inside of the text was in English, which I thought was kind of strange, but I was glad because it would be easier for me to understand. Or so I though, until I started reading. For a brief moment, I questioned my ability to comprehend. Although I could read the words, I could not make heads or tails of what I was reading. I asked my German friend, Karin, to read one of the letters out loud to me. She started reading, and half way through the page, she stopped and said to me in English with a puzzled look on her face, "Uh? What is this?! Who speaks that way?" I couldn't help but to burst into laughter. The look on her face was priceless. When I could calm myself down a bit, I told her with tears in my eyes, "Germans do." Then she looked at the text again, and translated what she was reading into German, and she read and read and finally said in disbelief, "Genau!" :-) I have done this exercise several times with my other German friends, and their reaction has always been the same. First, confusion, followed by disbelief, and then the "a-ha" moment. It is so funny! Then, when try reading the letters, the laughter goes on and on.

This is a great buy for English people learning German or Germans learning English. It will give you a indepth look at the way Germans process language. The book is cleverly written as letters sent by Gisela (a naive, opinionated and somewhat impertinent country bumkin, who is at the same time quite endearing because of her idealism and concern with the issues of the day). The recipient of these letters is mainly her friend Peter, but she has also written to illustrious individuals such as Queen Elizabeth, Michail Gorbatschow, and Bill Clinton. The letters are sorted according to theme, which have been divided into 10 sections: Moderne Zeiten, Freud und Leid im Alltag, Britischer geht's nicht, Deutsches Wesen un die Welt, Gesund und schoen, Oekologie fuer den Hausgebrauch, Liebe, Lust und Frust, Direkt aus der Traumfabrik, Es weihnnachtet sehr, Politisches, allzu Politisches. Some of my favorite letters are the letters sent to Queen Elizabeth, the letter about smoking, and the one sent to Bill Clinton at the "Oral" Office.

Another fascinating aspect of the writing is that the nuances of idiomatic expression do not translate --what validates them is the cultural meaning attached to them by the society where they developed. For this reason, the literal translation of idiomatic expressions, while showing how germans process experiences through language, confuses the mind of the English reader significantly, and gives the reader the impression that Gisella is a bit eccentric or even off her rocker. Another thing I noticed was that after a while, our brains starting to hurt a bit (linguistic chaos overload, I think). Our brains could not deal for too long with the weird sentence structures that interfered with comprehension. Actually, I quoted one of the letters to Prince Charles in an assignment I did on contrastive analysis comparing two languages for my master's in linguistics degree. The material was perfect for showing the differences of the two language syntax, and how English words on German sentence structure triggered confusion for both the native-German and native-English speakers.

I found this book by chance, or perhaps there are no chances? In any case, I am so glad I did. Die besten englischen Filserbriefe has brought me many interesting and happy hours. I have enjoyed sharing its contents and comparing the linguistic and cultural differences with friends, teachers, and students. For all the joy you've brought me, vielen Dank, Gisella!

Your true Maria-Elena