To your "Merci beaucoup" I reply with the Russian word "Pozhalsta." Interestingly, exactly like the German word "Bitte," "Pozhalsta" can mean "Please" as well as "You're welcome." And yes, I can speak Russian, though I get far fewer chances to speak it than to read it. I am a professional Russian-to-English text translator. If you scroll through the International Forum, you will find a thread I created called "Peculiarities of the Russian Language," to assist anyone who might be interested in learning Russian.