I chose Russian because while I can read French much more easily, I think my speaking skills fall on the Russian end of things. Extremely out of practice with both though... And I have never claimed fluency in either. But somehow got by in both France and Russia speaking little or no English (maybe that's why the French never seemed too rude to me?)...
My job involves working with materials published in all European languages, incl. Greek and Latin. So I have picked up a smattering of other languages along the way, but mostly vocabulary specific to publishing and research.
Still, I am sure any skills I have pale compared to those of the Europeans in the room. I really envy that you have so many opportunities to speak a variety of languages. I find I get rusty pretty quickly. But once I am immersed in a language it also comes back pretty quickly. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
Well, that happened to me too! I can understand Spanish pretty well if it is railway literature, and all of that is self-taught (I just used a dictionary, figured out the grammar by myself). Also a bit of Italian. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
