V. I.

Lenin

5

To:   HIS MOTHER

Salzburg, May 14 (2), 1895

I am making use of a two-hour stop at a small Austrian town (not
far, [1] now, from my destination) to fulfil my promise to write on the
way. [3]

This is my second day of travel abroad and I am practising the language; I have discovered that I am weak at this
and have the greatest difficulty in understanding the
Germans—or rather, I don’t understand them at all . [2]

I ask the guard on the train a question, he answers and I don’t
understand him. He repeats the answer more loudly. I still
don’t understand, and so he gets angry and goes away. In
spite of this disgraceful fiasco I am not discouraged and
continue distorting the German language with some zeal.

Regards to all, Yours,

V. Ulyanov

I shall probably not be able to write another letter very
soon.

---
Notes:
[1]
A little over 24 hours.— Lenin

[2]
Their pronunciation is so strange and they speak so quickly
that I do not understand even the simplest sounds— Lenin

[3]
On April 25 (May 7), 1895 Lenin went abroad on the instructions
of St. Petersburg Marxists to establish connections with the
Emancipation of Labour group and familiarise himself with the West-

European working-class movement. Lenin visited Switzerland,
France and Germany and returned to Russia in the autumn of
1895.