I went to what I believe we all felt was a pretty normal high school in the suburbs of Washington DC. The foreign languages on offer at the time were French, Spanish, German, Latin, and Russian.

But I was wondering a day or two ago whether any of my classmates achieved any fluency in their language. And, particularly, whether they have retained any of it.

I've retained a lot of the vocabulary, but I've said for years that I can read it way better than I can speak it.