HENRY KISSINGER AND HIS GERMAN ACCENT

 

Henry Kissinger (1923-2023) reached the United States from Germany in 1938, as a very young man, 15 years old. He served in the U.S. Army and studied at Harvard University. He has just died at 100. Why am I mentioning him? 85 years in America did not erase his German accent in English and to his dying day, he pronounced "we" as "ve", German style. He was indeed intelligent, yet the sounds of English were too much for him. All those who urge you to go to the country to practice a language are given the lie here. There must be more than just hearing a language to reproduce the sounds well. I am baffled and certainly disturbed and have no answers, but I am still convinced that we can master the sounds of a language. If some can do it, why can´t we? Let´s hold on to that simple idea and hope for the best.