I cant remember the last time I tried to communicate with someone who had a different language background than myself. The biggest thing I noticed, even though it took me a minute, was that my english skills are far more advanced that i know, being a Russian student and studying the language for the past year and a half has taught me how one word can change an entire conversation. Saying your doing great, to a non native english speaker, could be way different than just good. I found myself trying as hard as I could to make my sentences and questions as simple as possible so that someone with only 6 months of english could understand, in short. It really brings english full circle.