Player Diary: Kameron Taylor 10/25

Taylor in ProA action against the Dresden Knights Oct. 9.

On the court, Ehingen Urspring's Kameron Taylor is having little trouble adjusting to Europe. Through the first five games of Germany's ProA season Taylor is putting up 13.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg and 2.4 apg. Off the court, however, Taylor is facing several of the same challenges that face many American players around the world, including a very important one: the language barrier.

Today is October 25. I have been Germany just over two months, and I finally ordered from a Chinese place speaking in German all by myself for the first time. The language barrier was tough when I first arrived, just because I've never really even heard German before, so the whole language was a brand-new experience. My teammates were my teachers these past months - it's amazing that all of the German guys can both speak German and English, including the coaches! It made it so much easier to learn and to adapt. They taught me a new word or sentence every day. Even the people of Germany know some English, too. This makes this easier like when, for example, if I'm ordering food (Chinese, maybe?) and I don't get the order completely right, I could just say the name of the food in English and they would understand. I'm expecting to be somewhat fluent when I come back to the States, and I'm excited to show off my new language when I get home.

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