General

English as She is Spoke

by Pedro Carolino

LibriVoxInternet Archive1h 03m

Free options are listed first. Book Search Party does not host audio.

Free sources are not affiliate links.

Listen for free

About this audiobook

English as She is Spoke is a 19th century Portuguese-to-English phrasebook that has become a classic of absurdist humor, owing chiefly to the apparent fact that its writer had absolutely no knowledge of English. It is thought that for utterly obscure reasons its unknown author, Pedro Carolino, used a dictionary to translate Portuguese words to French, then a second dictionary to convert French to English, producing an incoherent but hilarious result. Mark Twain said of this book, "Nobody can add to the absurdity of this book, nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect." - Summary by J A Carter

Summary source: LibriVox / Wikipedia.

Public-domain status depends on your jurisdiction. Check the source page before downloading or redistributing.