this is exactly why i went so easy on learning german at the point where i was dating someone from germany--i felt like i had one slot for not english, and until i knew that german was going to be important, i didn't want to muddy up my french. i think i have forgotten almost all the german i picked up over those four years--german words i had before, i still have (which are often sort of not german words--often they're really yiddish).