How did you cope with all the language changes. English, German, French?

Oral English was native and written English is still a challenge. There are so many rules and exceptions that I did not learn. I believe I have a genetic affinity with German. I love the sentence constructions and the phonetic spelling. I believe I was lured into German because I wanted to communicate with two particular men. One was my 23 year old cousin Hans, who fascinated me. He spoke English well but determined to teach me German. I owe a lot to his determination.

The other was the son of my mother's friend Ellen. He was 2 years older, quite good at climbing trees, doing deadly tricks on bikes and telling horror stories about bombs falling during the war. To bully him into my games I had to speak German.

French was difficult although I loved the sounds. I feel I never got enough of it into my ears. I understand much more than I speak, although Dawn became a natural French speaker with less affinity for German.