-
When life gives you lemons, it helps to recognize them
I thought my French was good enough to get me around southern France. But language skills were not enough.
-
The French girl who wouldn’t talk
Language class is where you learn to speak a language, but just memorizing vocabulary and practicing dictations won’t do the trick. I found a surprising way to get our exchange student to talk.
-
Linguistic sleight of hand – bilingualism at any cost
Dear subscribers, Due to maintenance to my website, last week’s e-mail did not go out. You can read via the link at the bottom of this post. Thank you for reading and I’d love to get your feedback! Now on to this week’s post: Raising a family in Germany was a golden opportunity to raise my kids bilingually. I initially thought this meant just speaking to them in English, but reality proved to be a lot trickier. I discovered I had quite a few tricks up my sleeve. Kind regards, Brenda
-
Ukraine on the train – from a military to a cultural conflict
Taking the train home from Berlin, some Ukrainians boarded the train. Watching their interactions with the conductor reminded me of my first experience taking German trains
-
Give us our daily bread, but please let it be German
2 August 2021 A good friend of mine recently returned to the U.S. after several years’ absence. “Watch out!” I warned him. “You’re going to have reverse culture shock!” All those huge cars, jammed highways and overfriendly people. It’s a bit scary after you’ve been gone for a while. “Take it easy!” I said. “Don’t […]
-
Vaccination Fascination
25 July 2021 A strange thing has set upon us. Suddenly, we’re all doctors. Better yet, we’re virologists. At least you’d think so listening to the conversations around you. Small talk used to revolve around topics such as “How are the kids?” or “How’s work?” Ha! Those were the days. Little did we know how […]
-
Thanksgiving? No, thanks
Americans like to think of Thanksgiving as being the ultimate American holiday, but it’s actually a fairly recent creation.
-
Halloween Goes Global
Halloween has made its way to Germany, but some funny things happened to this holiday along the way
-
The Curious Case of the X in the Sock Drawer
Remember the old standard joke that people use when they don’t want to go to a party – “I have to organize my sock drawer?” I actually met someone who took this to heart