2 language long-haulers keep German skills fresh for travel JEFF HIMLER, Tribune-Review FacebookTwitterEmail In other words, for those who don’t speak German, use it or lose it. That truism applies to many things in life, including conversing in a foreign language. It’s what has kept two local men returning week after week, for decades, to practice their German phraseology with language instructor Evelyn Ruffing of Derry Township. “If you quit, you lose it, and it’s probably something that you lose pretty fast,” said longtime student Mike Miller, 65, of Greensburg. Miller has been taking German lessons from Ruffing since 1993, when she was teaching a course in the language at Saint Vincent College in Unity.