This was based on Scene 4.5 of our German 1 course and our conjecture that Mark Twain liked the name "Heidelberg" because Heidelberg in English means Huckleberry mountain.
Actually, more correctly, Heidelberg is an abbreviation of "Heidelbeerenberg" (huckleberry mountain).
Huckleberry Adventures
We found it interesting that Twain had stayed in Heidelberg with his family for several months in 1878.
Twain had unsuccessfully tried to learn German in 1850 at age fifteen. He resumed his study 28 years later in preparation for a trip to Europe." [Wikipedia: "Mark Twain"]
Mark Twain had published his novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” in 1876 and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in1884.
A little further digging found several German sites which also describe his love of Heidelbeeren. He found them in the forests around Heidelberg and enjoyed Heidelbeerkuchen (huckleberry pie).
By the way, a similar confusion between a huckleberry and a blueberry also exists in German between a "Heidelbeere" and a "Blaubeere". (For further enlightenment, try this link.)
Heidelberg, Mississippi
So the character of Huckleberry Finn had already been well-established by the time Mark Twain arrived in Heidelberg, Germany in 1878, as the travel writer Lucy Gordan explains:
"Supposedly looking for a quiet village, where people didn't know him, neither of which fit Heidelberg because it was already home to active American and British communities, he arrived with his family on May 6 for the day and stayed three months.His biographer Justin Kaplan asserts Twain was aware that Heidelberg derived from 'Heidelbeerenberg', meaning 'Huckleberry Mountain', which may explain his affinity."
"Nobody really knows," writes Werner Pieper in his updated Mark Twain's Guide to Heidelberg , "what made Mark Twain stay in Heidelberg for such a long time. Maybe he was prompted by old dreams from the times he was passing Heidelberg, Mississippi, while working on the steamships? Did he plan to stay here or did he and his family just fall in love with this city?"
While the above allusion to Mark Twain's passing by Heidelberg, Mississippi, during his days as a river pilot may be compelling, a little further digging causes some doubts:
Mark Twain worked on a steamboat, first as an apprentice, then as a pilot during 1857 to 1861.
However, Heidelberg, Mississippi was only founded in 1882 by Washington Irving Heidelberg [google History, Town of Heidelberg] - and even more importantly: Heidelberg is not situated ON the Mississippi, but located in the State of Mississippi, southeast of Jackson, MS, and about 130 miles from the Mississippi river.
Twain visited the river a number of times after his pilot days, most notably in 1882 as he prepared to write "Life on the Mississippi" and maybe on his travels TO the river he came through the little town.
Maybe that's when he came across the name Heidelberg again. So whether he already knew the name Heidelberg or whether he related to it as a translation of "huckleberry" we'll never know.
But we do know that he liked his three months in Heidelberg, Germany, in spite of his continuing struggle with the German language.
And we'll explore in another blog post Mark Twain's love-hate relationship with "The Awful German Language" which he published as an Appendix to his "A Tramp Abroad" in 1880.
Bio: Peter Rettig is the co-founder of Gamesforlanguage.com. He's a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact.
When I retired, my wife and I decided to head to Europe for an extended stay.
Both of us were born in Austria. My wife had childhood memories of the Italian Alps and Venice, and I enjoy remembering a trip through northern Italy with friends. I was a teenager then.
Although neither of us spoke any Italian, we decided to spend five months in Rome and take trips from there.
We prepared with Pimsleur's Italian CDs. My wife was at that time still working as a free-lance editor for Pimsleur Language Programs. (During our stay, she was able to continue her work remotely.)
We searched online and rented an apartment in Trastevere, a charming medieval neighborhood on the other side of the Tiber. We were off to Rome in September.
Rome and Surroundings
We enjoyed Rome very much, improved our Italian by taking daily lessons with an Italian tutor, and explored the city and its surroundings on foot, by bus, and by train.
We came to realize that staying in a foreign place for more than just a few days has many benefits.
Not only can you visit the “must see” attractions (view from St. Peter's right) at your leisure, but even more importantly, you can start to experience the “vibes” of the city: the daily bustle on the streets and in the markets; the atmosphere in the neighborhood cafés and restaurants; the conviviality of the Romans' habitual late afternoon stroll; the pleasurable local night scene: in movies, theaters, concerts, bars; the activities at neighborhood squares and parks that function as community centers.
As in most European cities, you can visit many places just using public transport. From Rome, we enjoyed easy day trips by bus or train to Castel Gandolfo, Ostia, Frascati, Tarquinia, Civitavecchia, Villa d'Este, Hadrian's Villa, and others.
Still starting from Rome, several overnight train trips - to Pompei, Naples, Capri, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast - rounded out our Italian experience at that time.
Getting to Know a City
We still travel by car from time to time (e.g. see our blogs posts on our recent trips to Barcelona (w/ Gaudi's Sagrada Familia left), Southern Spain, Cornwall and London, Brussels. etc.).
However, we really like to stay in a place for at least a month, especially when we are in a larger city.
Besides our stay in Rome, we have also stayed a month each in Paris, Berlin, and Barcelona.
Recent one-week visits to Madrid and London were pleasant and filled with many activities, but they didn't allow us to absorb each city's character in a leisurely way.
We know Vienna, Amsterdam, Munich, Zurich and Brussels quite well, but there are still many other European cities on our current list, such as Dublin, Prague, Budapest, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, etc.
And When You Have Time...
So, if you have time on your hand, love other cultures and languages, and can afford it - you may want to forgo the “5 countries in 7 days” kind of trip. You may rather want to choose a country or even just a city to get to know in more depth.
Regarding “affordability”: We have found that renting an apartment is not only more economical than staying in a hotel in most cases, but also gives you more space and flexibility. In our case, it often provided an opportunity to invite friends and family for a visit!
(For the more adventurous travelers, there are also apartment/house exchanges, etc).
So far, we have limited our extended stays to European countries, but we are eager to extend our reach.
Still, unless we stay in countries where we speak the local language, it would mean that we should start learning another language. And that will be another project (and another story).
Every year starting in November, language learning companies offer numerous promotions and discounts.
While nobody knows how many such offers are regularly accepted worldwide, we can assume that there are many who make learning a new foreign language their New Year's goal.
Motivation Tips
There is no lack of research and literature that analyze and describe the challenges of achieving our goals. I recently came across a post on zenhabits.net. Here are some suggestions how this blog can be applied to language learning:
1. Start small. Many language programs overwhelm a learner with too many options and choices. We, at Gamesforlanguage.com, add 15-20 words with each lesson. The phrases of each lesson are part of an ongoing travel story. Learning these words and phrases should take about 20 minutes. If you get into a daily habit of committing those 20 minutes, you'll have made a great start. You can always add more time later.
2. One goal. Focus on one achievable and realistic goal. No, you will not speak a new foreign language fluently in a year - unless you are willing and able to commit considerable time and energy. Learning a new foreign language as an adult requires discipline and sustainedeffort. Completing the course you have purchased, subscribed to, or enrolled in may be your one realistically achievable goal.
3. Examine your motivation. Write down the reasons you want to learn a new foreign language. Maybe you plan to travel to a foreign country, you have a friend, spouse or relatives you want to communicate with, or your education or business interests motivate you.
4. You have to really, really want it. The above reasons have to be strong enough for you to commit the energy and time needed to make real progress. If you can stay excited about your choice long enough to reap some benefits, e.g. reading an article or a book, watching a foreign movie or video, chatting with a friend, etc., your feeling of success and accomplishment will then carry you along. But if you have just been “seduced” to learning a new language by an unrealistic promise such as “Speak a language in 10 days,” or other slick marketing ads, think again. You have to stay excited about your goal and continuously fuel your enthusiasm.
5. Commit publicly. Today there are many ways to do that. Many online language programs let you post your progress scores on your Facebook page. If you are into blogging, you can report your experience and progress. You can tell your friends. And, especially if you have friends that speak the language you are learning, let them know.
6. Get excited. See also 4. above. The more you learn, the more opportunities will open up for you, whether reading on-line blogs or articles, watching foreign movies or videos, linking up with online chat rooms, or preparing for your trip. You need to find your way of visualizing the benefits of achieving your goal.
7. Build anticipation. You may want to start today: Buy that CD course you saw in the mall, enroll in the Adult Ed course your local college promotes, or subscribe to an online course you saw advertised. But hold it! First do some homework: What kind of materials do you enjoy the most? Where and when can you commit the time? Before work? After hours? At home? In a class setting? At work?, e.g. during a lunch break? What is your budget? Think it through, take some time and make your choice deliberate.
8. Print it out, post it up. (Right from the blog): “Print out your goal in big words. Make your goal just a few words long, like a mantra (Exercise 15 mins. Daily.), and post it up on your wall or refrigerator. Post it at home and at work. Put it on your computer desktop. You want to have big reminders about your goal to keep your focus and to keep your excitement going. A picture of your goal also helps,” e.g. a picture of you friend, spouse or relative, or of the foreign country you want to visit, etc.
Even if you have followed all the above tips and have carefully set your goal, you'll need to find ways to keep going when your enthusiasm starts to wane. In several of our future blogs, we'll apply the "20 ways to sustain motivation when you are struggling" to learning a foreign language.
Watching these pictures without explanation would make you speculate for hours what could possibly create the stripes and colors. Fortunately there are scientists who can explain such mysteries, i.e. translate the mechanics of nature into language that we can understand:
“Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions. Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with melt water and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside.
If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe. Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice grinds downhill towards the sea. Antarctica Frozen Wave Pixs - Nature is amazing!
The water froze the instant the wave broke through the ice. That's what it is like in Antarctica where it is the coldest weather in decades. Water freezes the instant it comes in contact with the air.”
Fortunately learning a new language does not have to be like deciphering the mysteries of nature. There are many language programs that will make it easy for you to get started. And then it is up to you to expand your basic understanding by listening, reading, writing, and speaking more and more!
During a recent trip to Europe, I realized again that you can "zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen": practice your foreign language skills even while waiting in line. (Can you now guess the translation of the German idiom?)
Waiting has never been one of my particular pleasures, (just ask my sons) but this time I quite enjoyed it!
Grand Place, Moules et Frites, et Gaufres
We were spending a few days in Brussels, marveling at the wonderful “Grand Place” (see image) and city hall, enjoying “moules et frites”, “gaufres” (waffels) with ice cream and strawberries, and hearing all kinds of different languages in the busy streets.
At the end of our stay I needed to get some train tickets for our afternoon trip to Bruges. We were going to meet some of our extended family members there for a family reunion. I was surprised by the long lines at the railway station, both in front of the two ticket machines as well as at the ticket windows.
Getting in line at one of the counters, I asked the man behind me (in French), whether he knew of any other ticket machines in the station. He did not, but we continued our conversation.
British Comedy-Drama set in Bruges
I quickly earned that he was actually French, not Belgian, and had just visited Bruges as well as Brussels. He was now returning to Paris.
As we were talking about our travel experiences – he gave me some good recommendations for Bruges – and waiting in line suddenly became enjoyable.
He also commented that Bruges was really a worthwhile place to visit – and not at all what the somewhat facetious line in the 2008 British dark comedy-drama (“In Bruges”) implied: “Hell is staying in Bruges forever.”
We had both seen the movie and talked about some of the scenes. (On the left, the Bruges tower, where much of the movie's action takes place.)
And when he then complimented me on my French, I remembered a German proverb: “zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen” (literally: to hit two flies with a fly swatter). The equivalent in English is: "to kill two birds with one stone", which seemed to me a very fitting translation in connection with the film.
So, waiting in line, especially in a foreign country, not only lets you exercise your foreign language skills, but it also lets the waiting become more enjoyable – and you may even pick up some good tips and information.
I for one, will start to apply this notion also while waiting in other lines at home.
Following up on my previous blog post Everybody speaks English anyways. Really?, and prompted by our visit to the battle field of Hastings (see left), I was wondering about the French Connection.
After all, the English forefathers had to get used to the French tongue for several hundred years – and there are many similarities between both languages.
A Momentous Event
Our visit to the battlefield in Hastings, England, and to the Tower of London refreshed some forgotten school knowledge.
It also reminded us that the Norman invasion and the victory of Duke William II of Normandy over the English army under King Harold II on October 14, 1066, represented a momentous event during the height of the Middle Ages.
The victory of William the Conqueror, how he is now mainly known, not only resulted in the French-speaking Normans' control of England, but also had tremendous influence on the English language. By imposing the French language on his court and administration, William caused many French words to become part of the English language.
While the reign of the Normans may have begun with the victory at Hastings, it took much more for them to control the towns and the country side.
William immediately set out to take charge by introducing a series of laws, and building fortifications and castles. One of them, the Tower of London has a long and interesting history.
The White Tower, on the right, gave the entire castle its name and was begun by William already by the end of 1066. It served as royal residence, armory, treasury, as well as home of the Royal mint and the Crown Jewels.
Its location on the Thames and its fortifications which were expanded over the centuries gave it a commanding position to control London and the Thames river traffic.
While French was the language of the nobility in England for about two centuries, English continued to be spoken by the common people.
After King John lost Normandy in 1204, the use of French started to decline and English again became dominant by the beginning of the 14th century. Further, in 1362 Parliament passed a law requiring all lawsuits to be conducted in English.
True and False Cognates
Laura K. Lawless on about.com estimates that about 10,000 French words were adopted into the English language during the nearly 300 years following the Norman invasion, and that ”English speakers who have never studied French already know 15,000 French words.” She also compiled a list of 1,700 words – true cognates – that you can access with the Vrais Amis link.
There are also plenty of “false cognates.” When learning another language it's often quite helpful to also study the false cognates. Not knowing their meaning in the foreign language can lead to embarrassing moments. You can take a look at the Faux Amis, the French-English false cognates .
Learn French Easily
For English speakers who want to learn French, there are many online resources available today. (For obvious reasons we like our own French 1 course.) In one of our next posts we'll discuss various online programs that let you improve your vocabulary and/or learn French (or other languages).
And - just maybe - a reminder of the close connection between English and French will motivate some English speakers to give French another try.
FREE French Language Games and Courses
And, if you want to learn or practice some French, just click on the FREE (no registration required!) French Language Games, see how much you already know, and check back from time to time for new ones and, please, SHARE us with your friends.
And don't forget: You can practice French online for FREE with our 36-Scene travel story "Daniel en France" HERE.
Like Gamesforlanguage, Lingohut is also completely free with over 100 vocabulary lessons!
Other Language Learning Resources
We recently discovered a very effective app for learning French: MosaLingua. There are currently iOS and Android Apps, with a MosaLingua Desktop App for PC, Mac and Linux users just launched. You can also try out the "Lite" version for FREE! We like the apps a lot and are currently using them ourselves. Read Ulrike's Review HERE.
Disclosure: The MosaLingua links above are to a partner's program with revenue sharing, should you subscribe or buy. We would receive a small payment, which helps us to keep our site ad free.
Many Americans and for that matter many natives of other English speaking countries (Ireland, UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) often feel that the effort of learning another language is just not worth it: “Everybody speaks English anyway” is a not uncommon excuse.
How about you, when you travel abroad?
Essential Vocabulary
The fallacy of this notion becomes evident as soon as your travels take you off the beaten path. Knowing at least a few basic words becomes a matter of necessity when you’re looking for the bathroom or a street or place to stay.
Admittedly, traveling with a guided tour group as part of an all inclusive package greatly reduces such necessity. But the inability to communicate in the local language may also limit your travel experiences.
Several years ago, we traveled to China as part of a professional delegation. We had prepared ourselves diligently with audio courses (though for obvious reasons, learning to read and write Chinese was way beyond our efforts to prepare for the trip).
Our audio lessons had included Chinese numbers, and thus we were able to “negotiate” in Mandarin during our visits to various markets. We also found other basic vocabulary very handy, when asking for directions, requesting a restaurant bill, or asking how much something costs.
A snake in a bottle on the Li River
Later on during a boat cruise down the Li River (see photo left) we encountered a travel group from Rome.
After we had quickly determined that our Italian was much better than their English, we had a long and very enjoyable Italian conversation with two of the couples.
We told them about our recent stay in Rome, they told us about a trip they took to New York and plans to visit the Grand Canyon sometime in the future. Having the vocabulary to talk about travels was a huge asset.
We were all deliberating whether to dare a drink from an ominous looking bottle (see photo) with a dead snake in it, but for good reasons we finally decided against it.
Which illustrates another point: When traveling you may meet people who will also speak your second (or third) language. And for many people who travel, the ability to communicate in a language other than their own will create memories that last.
“Assassins et Assassinés”
Our recent trip to England just reminded me again how much more you can get out of traveling when you understand (and ideally also speak) the local language.
While sitting in a pub or joining a walking tour through a city, you pick up tidbits of information that would elude you otherwise. Obviously, it was easy for us in London where we learned much on David Tucker’s (the co-owner of “London Walks” and author of “London Stories”) “Shakespeare’s and Dickens’s London Walk.”
However, several years ago we joined a French tour at the Père Lachaise cemetery (see photo left) in Paris. Our guide was the well-known “Nécrosophe” Bertrand Beyern and we visited the graves of “Assassins et Assassinés” (Assassins and Assassinated ones).
Not only was the walk fascinating and funny, but we learned a lot about Paris history and events at the same time. Not to mention that Bertrand’s stories nicely stretched our French vocabulary. Both the London and Paris walks made us realize how differently humor is expressed in each language.
Which brings me to the conclusion: Not everybody speaks English, and the most memorable events of a trip often don't happen in English, they happen in a foreign language!
When somebody told me some time ago that there are palm trees in England, I thought they were kidding.
However, during our recent trip though Cornwall and the “English Riviera” we could convince ourselves first hand that indeed there are palm trees growing there! And - Chevy Chase has an English (or rather Scottish) origin...
Minack Theatre
A wonderful discovery in Porthcurno at the very tip of Cornwall was the Minack Theatre. The dream and vision of Rowena Cade, who started the construction in 1938, has now become a world famous open air theater. It could easily be mistaken for the remnant of the Roman occupation as it reminded me very much of the amphitheater in Taormina in Sicily with its spectacular view out to the sea.
We saw a wonderful performance of Oliver Twist during a sunny afternoon with sailboats in the background adding to the spectacle on the stage. Pictures of the subtropical garden can also be seen when clicking on the above link to this amazing theater!
Europeans and Languages
The many cars in the theater's parking area with French, German, Swedish, Dutch, Swiss, etc. number plates reminded us that most Europeans are quite able to communicate in more that one language, and their training starts early.
Right behind us on the seat terraces cut into the ledge, a German couple was seated with their 10-year-old daughter. We were quite impressed that the girl sat through the whole performance, without complaint, although, as her parents told us, she really did not speak any English (yet). She was following the action on the stage with great attention, with her parents, who were fluent in English, giving her brief explanations from time to time.
St. Michael's Mount
Another interesting visit during our trip was to St. Michael's Mount, which not coincidentally shares with its French cousin both its tidal island characteristics and its conical shape: The island was given to the Benedictines, the religious order of Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France, by Edward the Confessor in the 11th century.
The Mount, as locals call it, with its imposing castle, has gone through various ownerships, after Henry VIII abolished the priory. The St. Aubin family retained a 999-year lease after donating it to the National Trust in 1954, and one of the Lord's nephews lives in the castle and manages the island's operations. (We ran into him, as he hurried from his private quarters through the museum to the chapel!)
Chevy Chase on the Mount
We took a small boat over during high tide, visited the castle and walked back across the causeway during low tide.
The causeway and the harbor as well as the palm trees can be seen on the picture on the left looking out towards the town of Marazion, only a few miles from Penzance, the most westerly major town in Cornwall and home to the pirates in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera.
During our visit of the castle we were intrigued by the name of the "Chevey Chase Room" and one of the guides explained to us that the name comes from the plaster frieze depicting hunting scenes of the Ballad of Chevy Chase: "The ballads tell the story of a large hunting party upon a parcel of hunting land (or chase) in the Cheviot Hills on Anglo-Scottish border - hence the term, Chevy Chase."
There is actually another more linguistic explanation for the name, which can be found on the site of the Chevy Chase Historical Society:
"Chevy Chase may have been derived from the French word 'chevauchee' used in medieval Scotland and England to describe the horseback raids made into the ancient borderlands between the two countries. Whatever its derivation, the name became the title of the English version of a ballad memorializing the famous Battle of Otterbourne which took place at Otterburn, in the Cheviot Hills, Northumberland, England, in August 1388, between the Scottish troops of James, Earl of Douglas and Englishmen led by Lord Harry “Hotspur” Percy, who challenged Douglas by mounting a deer hunt in the hills. The battle was stubborn and bloody, fought hand to hand in the dark -- and may have been fought hand to hand through the night. The Scots prevailed, but many troops were lost, and Douglas died."
For more information on St. Michael's Mount, go to Anglotopia.net:
"St Michael’s Mount is famous both for historical and mythical reasons. An important Benedictine priory used as a stronghold by a pretender king, held for the king during the Civil War before being taken by a parliamentarian Colonel, and machine-gunned during World War II, St Michael’s Mount has seen its share of real-life warfare. But the mount also has an aura of mystery they has made it the setting of the legend of Jack the Giant Killer and a filming location for various Dracula films. An iconic rocky island on the coast of Cornwall, St Michael’s Mount has many stories to tell and is very worth a visit if you’re in Cornwall."
The article meant to address the "things" our future Secretaries of State or for that matter, the students and future international policy wonks should learn.
(The 1938 photo from the article shows undergraduates from Oxford University as they walk to lectures, well equipped with books.)
Foreign Language
While I certainly cannot argue with any of his ten points, I wish he had listed “Foreign Language” as #2 or even #1 (instead of #3) for all the excellent reasons he mentions:
“... I know that everyone is learning English these days, but learning at least one foreign language provides a window into another culture that you can't get any other way, and also provides a sense of mastery and insight that is hard to achieve otherwise.”
It seems clear to me that among the many other “things” a foreign policy expert should know, foreign language and history should be on top. Considering the interconnections of our lives with the rest of the world, Prof. Walt's reasoning does not only apply to foreign policy wonks, but indeed to many industries, businesses, and people.
He also speaks to “a sense of mastery that is hard to achieve otherwise,” a point that is rarely mentioned when enumerating the benefits of knowing a foreign language.
Presidential Politics
The current presidential election campaign in the US also makes me again painfully aware of the fact that knowing another language (than English) does not give any candidate an advantage with the voting public.
You may all remember that John Kerry downplayed his knowledge of French in 2004, and Mitt Romney is currently doing the same.
President Obama is now staying away from that topic as well, as he got blasted in 2008 when regretting: “I don't speak a foreign language. It's embarrassing ... It's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is merci beaucoup, right?" (CBS News 7/11/2008)
But for those who endeavor to learn another language both the “window into another culture” and the “sense of mastery” provide ample rewards.
Last week, I read an article on the difficulties that the majority of Spanish high school students are facing in understanding spoken English.
According to data taken from the latest European Survey on Language Competences (ESLC), only 12% actually understand simple expressions about everyday topics.
Given such data, a simple question arises: What is wrong with ESL programs in the current educational system in Spain? From my own experience, two main reasons immediately occur to me:
1. Firstly, the quantity of English input that a student receives in class is extremely low. On average, the amount of time spent engaging in listening activities is 30 minutes per week.
2. Secondly, and as importantly, the quality of the English that students hear is quite poor because: (a) Portable stereo systems have inadequate sound quality and can hardly be heard in the back of classrooms. (b) Exceptions aside, the pronunciation of non-native teachers is sometimes not quite up to standard. This fact, together with not hearing native speakers often enough, makes it hard for students to improve their listening skills.
Consequences of Dubbing
In addition, there are a few extra-academic factors, which definitely have an influence on the listening skills of high school students. One mentioned in the article is the dubbing into Spanish of movies and television shows.
This alone represents an additional obstacle to ESL students because, as a result, they are not being exposed to the English language as much as it would be desirable outside of class.
Benefits of Digitalization
However, I'm convinced that with the advent of media digitalization, the option to choose between Spanish and English audio tracks on multimedia content is giving students the chance to improve their language competence. I
It might actually be interesting to research a bit further: Will those students, who regularly watch content in English, do better than the 12% percent of students who understand simple expressions?
Bio: Pablo Montoya is both the writer and a speaker of our Spanish 1 course; he is also assisting us in developing our ESL course for Spanish speakers.
Recently we put together a YouTube video “Why did Mark Twain like Heidelberg?” 
So the character of Huckleberry Finn had already been well-established by the time Mark Twain arrived in Heidelberg, Germany in 1878, as the travel writer Lucy Gordan explains:
When I retired, my wife and I decided to head to Europe for an extended stay.
lessons with an Italian tutor, and explored the city and its surroundings on foot, by bus, and by train. 
We still travel by car from time to time (e.g. see our blogs posts on our recent trips to 
