Ah, ok, that explains it... It is illegal to enter an intersection on yellow in most of Europe, I think. The yellow light is for driving off of intersection, is what I've been taught. It's only allowed to enter the intersection if you're going really fast and the light turns when you're really close to the intersection, but even then the cops are likely to question you if they see it.
That‘s not the case at all in Germany (most of all because you cannot even see the lights anymore once you entered the intersection since in Germany they are at the beginning of the intersection, not the opposite end). Which European country are you talking about?
In driving school I was taught to generally be ready to brake when approaching a light, but to also then pick a reasonable point of no return (depending on speed, maybe a couple dozen meters before the light) beyond which I would not be braking, no matter what the light does. That way braking should never ever feel anything close to emergency braking you do when there‘s an actual unforeeen obstacle. It should always be smooth.
Also, when making a left turn at an intersection in Germany you drive into the intersection and then you wait for the oncoming traffic to clear. At this point you cannot even see the lights. The only thing that is relevant for you is to wait for oncoming traffic to clear up (or if you obviously see they have stopped since the light has since turned red and have verified optimally by eye contact that you are free to go).
Other traffic from left and right obviously have to wait until you have cleared the intersection even if they have a green light.
