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Kestrel, the opposite thing happened to me when I tried to take German in college. I was exposed to Spanish as a child/teen because about half of my family speaks it, and then I took it in middle and high school. They wouldn't let me take Spanish in college, so I tried taking German. I would try to respond in German, but frequently my brain would fail me and I would respond in Spanish, English, or some mix of "Spanglish." My professor thought it was really amusing that she would ask me, "Wie get es dir?" and I would respond, "Bien, y tu?" I thought it should count for something that I at least knew what she was asking me in German, even if my response was in Spanish!