Wow, Bob, you're absolutely amazing. That was so detailed and professional, I had to print it so I'd be more comfortable reading it. I did and I'll probably read it again just to make sure those corrections sit well in my head.

I do have a couple of questions based on the grammar I know....

Многое из этого - (you need a dash to replace a skipped part of the phrase "я достигла") благодаря людям (благодаря кому? - Dative)
"Much of it - thanks to the people of ... "

I thought that whenever the word "of" appear in the sentence you use genitive. Is it not the case when refering to people?

разговорного уровня (достичь чего? - Genitive)
But you have a noun after a verb--shouldn't it be "accusative"? Unless достичь is one of those special verbs.

Я очень рекомендую этот сайт студентам (рекомендовать кому? - Dative)
But it's more like "рекомендую ДЛЯ..." figured after "для" always comes genitive.

Но у меня есть и другие причины (it better sounds with "и").
How come? What's the "и" gotta do with anything?

1. Please remember: русский, американский, еврейский, китайский... are adjectives.
по-русски, по-американски, по-еврейски, по-китайски are adverbs. No "й"! It is a very typical mistake foreigners do.
Oh, darn it! I was corrected about it once, HOWEVER I misunderstood the explanation. Now I'll never make that mistake again, for sure

Я трачу or уделяю ("инвестирую" is a very official word! Are you writing a thesis on economics?
Well, in English you can say "I invest many hours a day studying X"... and it works. Is it different in Russian?


Это же круто. (I would put an exclamation sign: Это же круто!) Я хочу производить впечатление на людей. Участвовать в шутках (1. "участвовать в чём?" - Prepostitional; 2. did you mean "шутки" (jokes) or "штуки" (things?)).
I meant jokes!
Thanks.

чувствовать себя ("чувствовать" does require a direct object: either "чувствовать something" or "чувствовать себя") больше связанной (чувстовать себя кем? - Instrumental)
What exactly makes this sentence instrurmental? The "чувствовать"? If anything, I would imagine it's accusative since it an adjective that comes after a verb.

В прошлом году (did you mean "last year"? it is "в прошлом году")
Thanks, yes I meant "last year"



Much much appreciated...

-Valda