Most people would agree that the key to learning a language is practice. Practicing in stores and restaurants, with friends at lunch, with roommates, and with your teacher, or with…

My flatmates (Mitbewohner) have a well-developed system for cleaning our apartment. Our four names are listed on a big chalkboard in the hall, with our weekly assignments marked: K for Küche…

I studied in Norway for five months. I had an amazing experience and met a German girl, who I fell in love with. She speaks fantastic English, but I wanted…

Ich habe ein Fahrrad gekauft. I told my German-speaking roommates that I’d just bought a bike. Learning some basics of past and future tense in Level 2 of Rosetta Stone…

I have a little corporate apartment in Berlin, in an unfashionable neighborhood called Moabit, right across from the main train station, Berlin Hauptbahnhof. My business partner, Mark, also spends half…

Nodding my head and saying, “Ja bitte,”—yes, please—is my default. It seems to me that smiling, nodding, saying “Ja, ja,” and then, if the conversation continues, adding “Genau,” (literally meaning…