Diversity

I guess it may be one of the many reasons I like using the Internet. The fact that I don't really have to go far to find someone who speaks another language or lives in another country.  It helps to break the monotony of everyday life, to interact with people from different parts of the world, and to some extent, it helps me to expand and improve my knowledge of other languages.  I mean, I live in a rural part of Alabama, so on a daily basis, I'm only exposed to English and Spanish speakers, though I don't run into very many opportunities to use Spanish.  Anyway, since joining Deviant Art, I've actually enjoyed being able to meet people who speak foreign languages, because it challenges me to use what I do know of those languages, and to learn more.  I mean, it kinda sucks that English is the universal language because, well, in my country it promotes stupidity for everything to be in English, and for everyone to learn English.

So, my question is, how many of y'all have tried to understand a language foreign to your own before using Google Translate?  That is, how many of y'all try to make use of what knowledge you have in another language (and please be more sensible than to use your knowledge of foreign profanities) when reading journals, art descriptions, or while commenting and replying to other artists?  Personally I'm curious, because I would really like to know that I'm not alone.