Languages (d)
1. American English (native)
2. Russian (fluent). I made the most progress when I rented a room from librarian who spoke not a word of English in St. Petersburg in the mid-1990's. Many evenings with her making dinner and talking non-stop while I read my Russian-only dictionary. It took me very long time to learn the language, but I never gave up.
3. German (professional fluency). German has a lot in common with English, but don't underestimate the differences! Germany is a very developed country with a huge selection of reading material in German.
4. Chinese (professional fluency, including reading and writing). It took me forever to learn Chinese. For one thing, I never realized that none of my Chinese friends in China spoke Chinese around me. The writing system is a challenge, and only those that go slow (thus the website name "slowchinese.com") and don't give up reach the goal. Being able to read has always been my priority. I have read through my Xinhua dictionary several times. My favorite study materials are Youtube video channels.
5. Hebrew (beginner). A great country and great language. A small country, but there is so much worth reading and listening to in Hebrew. I spent a lot of time reading through a Hebrew-only dictionary, but I have forgotten everything. I hope to learn more of the language in the future.
International experience working in private-sector software companies (number of years)
1. USA (10)
2. Russia (6), Belarus (1)
3. China (7)
4. Germany (7)
5. Israel (1)
