To share with you a bit of my experience with Russian, I enrolled in university Russian courses during my last two years of high school. I then graduated with a bachelor's degree in Russian and moved to Tobolsk, Siberia, Russia to teach for a year and a half. During this time, with few exceptions, I spoke English only while I was teaching. There were no other native English speakers in the whole town and being a gregarious person by nature, my Russian developed quickly and with high quality.

Upon my return to the U.S. in 2002, and even as recently as yesterday (March 20, 2009), I have been commonly mistaken for a native Russian speaker. While none of my work requiring Russian has been full-time, I do speak/write in Russian almost daily. In my work with PZ Production and Russian American Business Magazine, I communicate with other staff in Russian 80-95% of the time.