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.

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.

Learning German isn't just about reading books: you can learn just as much by watching television shows. Photo (cc) flickr user Lubs Mary

I’m dreaming in German now. Ah, so it has come to this. Last night I dreamed that it came out in a shocking news story that America was using fresh Dachshund (wiener dog) meat in its sushi. I expressed in this dream my shock and dismay – in German – with an Afghan woman from my class.

In other language-learning news, I’ve found in the past month that watching children’s TV is an excellent way to learn the language. My new nightly ritual is to tune in every night at 7:45 for the kid’s version of Nachtrichten (news) on KiKa. This is where German children learn at an early age to be knowledgeable and serious citizens of the world.

Photo (c) Resident on Earth

This week I was contemplating how to say a sentence in German that involved the words German woman and American man when a German language concept dug in a little deeper. I knew this concept, but I was still thinking about it in English. I wanted to string together the language the way we do in English by adding the words for woman (Frau) and man (Mann) to specify the gender of the German and American. But German is efficiently built with the person’s gender in the words themselves:

■die Deutsche = German woman
■der Deutscher = German man
■die Amerikanerin = American woman
■der Amerikaner = American man

At the end of a six-month stretch of language classes, it was time for the B1 exams. Photo (cc) flickr user Alex France

To complete the B1 level (the halfway point in the language levels), we had a party with a veritable international food buffet from everyone’s contributions. While I’m happy to finally be wrapping up my intensive classes, and I’ve struggled with them from time to time, I felt a bit sad yesterday. We all had to say good-bye to each other, including to our instructor who has worked so hard for the duration of these classes. My routine is changing again. It seems strange to not be returning to class on Monday. And now the big question for me is…what next?