Decisions..Learning German or staying sane?

It bothers me that I only speak one language, it bothers me more than I can't even speak the indigenous language of my own country, Maori. It says more about our inherent lingual arrogance that most of us, myself included, will probably never learn it.

Here in the clinic I am surrounded by everyday people who through choice or situation have taken the time and effort to learn not only the language of their estranged homeland, but that of their chosen new home, Germany. Then having settled here and found employment they have taken the time to learn our language because most of us English speaking people cannot be bothered to learn theirs. Instead we believe that the whole world should learn English and things would be so much easier. (for us).

So with that thought in mind I've spent most of the day searching the internet for resources on learning German. One thing that I am seeing over and over again is that just one word might have many meanings, and then there might be half a dozen words to describe the same thing depending on whether it is masculine, feminine or neutral. There are exceptions to every rule, and then there are exceptions to the exceptions. I'd started to think I was inferior and that somehow I lacked the intellect to see the structure of the language and therefore make progress.
Then I stumbled upon an article written in 1880 by the author Mark Twain on the subject of learning German. I have realised I am not alone. Below I have pasted just a small part of that article...

THE AWFUL GERMAN LANGUAGE.

One is sure to lose his temper early; and if he sticks to the subject, and will not be warned, it will at last either soften his brain or petrify it. Personal pronouns and adjectives are a fruitful nuisance in this language, and should have been left out. For instance, the same sound, SIE, means YOU, and it means SHE, and it means HER, and it means IT, and it means THEY, and it means THEM. Think of the ragged poverty of a language which has to make one word do the work of six -- and a poor little weak thing of only three letters at that. But mainly, think of the exasperation of never knowing which of these meanings the speaker is trying to convey. This explains why, whenever a person says SIE to me, I generally try to kill him, if a stranger.

In his parting shots at the German language Twain declares that an intelligent man should be able to learn English in 30 Days, French in 30 months and the basics of German in 30 years.

..I think I'll learn Maori, at least that way I can purge some of my cultural guilt.


PS: Six hours post Chemo and I'm feeling fine :)
The night nurse, Shkoza, performed a blood sugar test (it's a little high), and told me my urine PH was low. So I've had another IV to fix it. That took 30 minutes. (None of these tests have ever been performed on me when getting treatment in NZ!)

It's now 12:30am and I'm off to sleep.

Oh..BTW, Shkoza is replacing Marcus who is on holiday in Croatia for two weeks. Shkoza is a giant of a man who looks like he could be a wrestler if he wanted a career change. Like Marcus he is easy to talk to and very professional.