Though still rather persistently disheartening, the myths of formative language years (that the brains of juveniles are plastic enough to easily pick up a new language but adults become too set and rigid) or that bi-lingual exposure results in a poorer language arts skills in both tongues have been debunked.
I’d be happy to attribute my dithering German abilities to shyness and laziness rather than some physical and developmental limitations, and I am finding that when trying to delve deeper than the gist of a article or a conversation, being able to more than follow but to repeat, report and better participate, I get very muddled with the prefixes—those inseparable parts of words (er-, ver-, ent-, ab- and so on) that are more transformative, nuanced than their English counterparts. When I come across a new word (usually in writing and usually something that that I’d just elide over when heard) I try some techniques, memory-hacks, to make the meaning stickier. Ent- as a part of speech can be especially tricky to puzzle out sometimes, for example, but usually connotes to me a casting out or taking off or a loss. The similarly-sounding Ente is a canard, a more concrete concept, and encountering an unfamiliar word, I try to imagine a deprived duck doing whatever root-word Ent- is modifying. It can be jarring to hear and drive some people crazy when things are too mixed, but I also am finding that intentional Code-Switching (Kodewechsel) is also helpful—specifically when all hope seems lost trying to remember a word encountered constantly that still needs to be looked up. It’s rather heavy-handed and nonsensical, but one can plop down a stubborn word into a familiar jingle or marketing phrase and then never forget it again: like “Alive with Vergnรผgen” or “Sippe of the Cave Bear” or “the committee for Truth and Versรถhnung.” Eventually, I think it does stay without the need of employing such silly tricks.
