This blogger hearts the Deutsche Bahn. Photo (cc) flickr user Train Chartering and Private Rail Cars

Everyone in Germany, it seems, likes to complain about the trains.  A train will be five, ten minutes late, and you know that at least a dozen people somewhere are muttering (loudly) under their breath about how intolerably unreliable the Deutsche Bahn is.  But I am an American, and frankly, the tendency to be disappointed in the state of the German public transportation system is a cultural tick that I will never understand.  The people grumbling about the delays have obviously never ridden Amtrak or Greyhound.

It turns out that with the same amount of time and effort, adults are just as capable as children at learning a new language quickly. Photo (cc) flickr user tilitran

You’ve heard it said before, “Kids learn foreign languages more quickly than adults.”  And you’ve probably—if you’re struggling to learn a foreign language yourself—let out a deep, tormented sigh of jealousy.  “Why didn’t I start learning this while I was still young?!” you ask yourself, wringing your hands.  “When my brain was still so fresh and absorbent!”  But have you ever thought to stop and ask yourself if the statement is actually true?

Something as simple as saying the alphabet can trip you up in a second language. Photo (cc) flickr user james.swenson

Sometimes when you’re learning a foreign language, it feels like you’re doing everything backwards.  When children learn a language they start small, maybe asking for a toy simply by saying “me doll!”  While adults may resort to similar sentences in must-communicate situations in their adopted language, they often have the disadvantage of wanting to start with more complex subject matter.

Fear of speaking keeping you from practicing a foreign language? Here's how I got over it. Photo (cc) flickr user greenpeanut

After deciding to take German to fill my high school foreign language requirement in the eighth grade, I spent four years in classes figuring out the grammar, memorizing vocabulary, and practicing short conversations.  My teacher’s logical approach to explaining grammar clicked easily for me, and I always got good grades.  But that didn’t mean I was anywhere near being good in German.  In fact, I was terrified to speak it.

Welcome to our new YG blogger Jesse! Photo (c) Jesse Woods

According to Wikipedia, the term Military brat “describes people who spend their childhood or adolescence while a parent (or parents) serve full-time in the armed forces.”

I have lived in Germany for most of my life, but I feel like I have really only lived in Germany during the last two years working for a small German Internet company and hosting a weekly talent show at a local German night club.

Many foreigners think about living in Germany after studying an interesting university language course, visiting on a family vacation, discovering a foreign job opportunity,  or even after seeing a movie with scenes of Germany’s beautiful castles and countryside.

The entrance to the Mainz Christmas market. Photo © Click Clack Gorilla

Though technically winter doesn’t start until the solstice—that is the shortest day and longest night of the year around December 22nd—for me the season is heralded by two things, regardless of the date: snow and Christmas markets.  So now it finally feels official: though the Christmas market has been up and running since the end of November, the first snow arrived on my doorstep yesterday.  The holiday season can begin.

As a word lover I am constantly thrilled by in the ins and outs of foreign languages, picking favorite words and expressions. Do you have a favorite word in German? Photo (cc) flickr user Charlie P Barker

When I was in the eighth grade, our class was told that the time had come to choose a foreign language.  Our high school offered German, French, and Spanish, so we would spend a third of that year studying each one.  That way, our teachers explained, we could make an informed decision about which language we wanted to spend the next couple of years studying in more depth.  At the end of the year I decided for German.