Radio interview with Elisabeth Bergner (SFB, 1968)
Radio interview with Elisabeth Bergner (SFB, 1968)
Ich glaube, dass dieser Sprung so schwierig war, dass ich ihn nicht schildern kann. Ich kann mir vorstellen, dass ich halb von Sinnen war.
[I think that the switch was so difficult that I can't describe it. I can imagine that I was half out of my mind. (ed. trans.)]
Elisabeth Bergner on her switch to the English language
Elisabeth Bergner, exiled in London and faced, at the age of 35, with the financial and professional necessity of learning English, was fortunate: in the British woman Florence Freedman, she found a language teacher who accompanied and tutored her at all times. This enabled Elisabeth Bergner to master English so well after just half a year that in early June 1933 she was able to speak the female lead role, Hedwig, in a radio play rendition of Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck in English, and soon received other offers. The same year she celebrated her first major success on the English theatre scene (Escape me never, which premièred on 10 December 1933 at London's Apollo Theatre).
In this interview clip, the actress describes how difficult the “switch to the foreign language” was for her despite her linguistic achievements.
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