There’s a moment clients keep describing to me. Someone asks them something. They know the answer. And nothing comes out. Not because they can’t. Because the German is in the way.

I’ve been teaching German as a Foreign Language at the University of Vienna for over 14 years. I prepare students for the Supplementary Examination in German. I know what educated people actually need. Not a beginner’s pace. Not a worksheet from 2009.

What I learned about neurodidactics with Dr Marion Grein in Mainz changed how I see all of it. The problem is rarely the grammar. It’s usually what happens in the nervous system when pressure builds. That sounds abstract. In practice it’s very concrete.

Some clients arrive with a vocabulary that exceeds my own. And still can’t hold a conversation. That’s the puzzle that interests me.