Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I would be curious if someone who had the same experiences but was less isolated and had social nets would have a very different take. That's me, and I totally have a different take. I studied abroad as a foreign language major - but only after three full years of studying the language and culture of the country I was visiting. It was an enriching experience and I felt pretty comfortable navigating the country socia…
How fluent were you in the language after three years? Three years of French or Spanish might put you much further ahead than three years of Mandarin or Russian, for example.
It was German. I was (am?) fluent enough to function in a professional office environment without falling back on English. Of course it was a luxury to be in a country where I know 90% of people can just switch to English if the conversation goes off the rails