Hope Muntz, am not a native English speaker either. I really started to learn English at age 30, while waiting in Latina and Capua (Italy) refugee camps for entry to Canada, June-October 1984. Could read and somewhat write by the end, but boy, it took me a while to make a sense of the spoken lingo!

I still do commit Czechisms here and there, after all these years. Fortunately, gotten myself a native speaking wifey in mid-90s and we agreed she’ll correct me mercilessly… that really helped a lot.

OTOH, I also speak decent Cat.

Maybe I should brush upon my rusty Russian, I have a feeling that it may be needed, since I’ve spent some 9 years learning it (or pretending I were learning it–it was mandatory, but everyone hated it, teachers inclusive) when I was a kid.