Learning / Lernen

Spotted on some new student flats, this prompted an interesting discussion on what it means, whether it’s true, and even if it’s grammatically correct!

I first assumed it means “what you don’t learn when you’re young, you’ll not learn when you’re older”. But maybe it’s more general, something like “if you don’t get into the habit of learning early, then by the time you try it will be too late”. Or maybe it’s just meaningless without “Was” at the beginning?

Either way, as I race through my fourties, I’m rapidly feeling like I’m in the latter category. In particular, I am limping through my German language classes, whilst my kids effortlessly soak up everything - youngsters eh, they don’t know they’re born!