It’s always the second question

The first question can be anything — where are you from, what do you do, when did you get here, where do you live. But the second question I’m always asked whenever I’m in Germany: “Why do you speak German?” I love the directness of this question. Americans would ask a more polite/roundabout, “Where/How did you learn German?” But Germans, dammit, they want to know WHY.

(The answer, by the way: I was an exchange student for a year when I was 17, and my host mom was very strict with the rule of only speaking German after my first two weeks there. Deep-end-of-the-pool method of language learning totally works— I’m still mostly fluent 20 years later… and still very close with her and my host family.)