How did he learn to speak Russian?

At the international congress conference dinner, the seating plan had been really mixed. Opposite me sat a husband and wife from the United States. This was their second visit to Europe. Small talk? Not much and exhausted before the soup. On my left was a softly spoken, elderly German whose English was hard work, bearing in mind that my German was non-existent: niceties were over before the soup. On my right sat a Russian who, I surmised, had to be reasonably fluent in the conference …