Chuks,
Beautiful post.
It seems that mono-lingual english speakers on this board figure that proper communication in all aspects of life can only be achieved in english.
Sometimes, YOU have to go the extra mile. I congratulate you on learning a bunch of languages (some of them harder than others) to stay ahead of miscommunication, instead of expecting everybody else to talk like you.
I would love to see the reactions of those people if one of theirs was reporting from Italy that their employer were forbidding them from speaking english with a countryman.... oh the nerve!!
Felix