Any foreigner in Germany knows all about the country’s love of overengineering. All it takes is trying to fill out a single form to get a residence permit. Less talked about is how German mothers also overengineer. Are they just responding to t...

Those of us who predate GPS know how to get around without using technology. Knowing the points of the compass is helpful for navigating in an American city, but in Europe, the streets often date from the days of footpaths and donkey carts. The...

I thought my French was good enough to get me around southern France. But a one-letter mistake in a word sent me off on a wild goose chase – if that’s what you can call missing your stop on a bus.  

My trust in native speakers was boundless, and it caused me to maneuver myself into an excruciatingly embarrassing situation.

American companies have made serious inroads into the economies of Europe and elsewhere, but this has come at a cost. There have been some pretty big flops along the way as executives naively thought they could simply replicate the American mar...