I "picked up" my German again when I went back to school at Pitzer. My advisor was the German professor. Seeing how much German was on my transcript she asked me to speak to her in German. I just couldn't think of anything to say - so she said she was going to tell me a story in German, and then I was to tell her as much of it as I could in English. She started talking and my heart went through my shoes. But I just continued to listen - and at one point a light went on in my head and I understood what she had said. I was not able to translate individual words - but my auditory abilities - whole concept - understanding was there. It blew my mind!