The Telegraph – Ulrike Lemmin-Woolfrey
“Now I’m not saying I’m an old dog, but on reaching middle age, learning new tricks became more difficult. As a German-born serial expat for most of my adult life, I got by with only having to learn English as a second language, plus a smattering of Arabic. I accepted that speaking quite fluent English did not necessarily mean I could understand it as spoken in Australia. Then I moved to France. Having visited habitually, I had a basic knowledge of vocabulary that could get me through a hotel stay and eating in a restaurant. However, forming a proper sentence and understanding the fast answer to a slowly pronounced question was another thing altogether.”(more)