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.

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.

Language milestones become far more important when you take the language out of the classroom. Photo (cc) flickr user -Georg-

Foreign language milestones during school never seemed particularly important: you pass another vocabulary test, you manage to stumble through another book with a little less dictionary hopping.  Ho-hum, another day of school.  But when that language becomes the currency of your life, those milestones suddenly become monumental.

The first time you manage to order dinner at a restaurant completely in German is so exciting that you e-mail your friends to tell them about it.  The first time the woman behind the counter at the bakery asks you something and your reply doesn’t make her switch automatically over to English you buy an extra celebratory pastry.  And when you finally manage to make a telephone call without breaking into a cold sweat or causing an epic misunderstanding you’re ready to throw a party.

No matter what language you're trying to learn, you're going to make mistakes. Don't let them get you down though, have a good chuckle over them instead! Photo (cc) flickr user revecca

Once upon a time when I was an English teacher in Frankfurt I had a lot of German students intent on mastering small talk. So we would practice talking about nothing. “How’s the weather been lately?” I would ask them in a role play. They would respond, and ask me about my family. What they needed to practice wasn’t so much the English itself, but the art of pointless conversation. Which meaningless subjects were appropriate? Which subjects were taboo? And why the hell would anyone want to waste ten minutes talking about nothing in the first place? It’s a concept many Germans can’t wrap their heads around.

The author enjoying a walk through a small town in northern Germany. You can read more about her adventures at www.clickclackgorilla.com. Photo (c) ClickClackGorilla

I listen to Rumo by Walter Moers as I wash the dishes, and I remember.  I remember buying a one-way ticket to Frankfurt, Germany.  I remember that Frau Cole (my host mother where I would spend a year au pairing) met me at baggage claim in a long skirt and that I felt befuddled by the change of time and place.  I remember buying a copy of Faust at the bookstore between the Zeil and the River Main to indulge my fantasies of reading it in the original (it is still sitting on my to-read shelf).  And I remember asking the Cole’s oldest son to recommend a good German science fiction or fantasy book for me to try reading.  He gave me Rumo.