>"In a few cases I've met people who could speak no language well. Their native tongue was gone or degraded but they had not achieved strong proficiency in Engl

>"In a few cases I've met people who could speak no language well. Their native tongue was gone or degraded but they had not achieved strong proficiency in English or the local language." Me, me, me ;) My spoken Russian has somewhat degraded. And my English and "strong proficiency" are worlds apart. 30 years of living in USSR and then 30 years in Canada.