I lucked with a russified Civ1 available to me (of course pirated from somewhere, but at that time I wasn't aware what is it, and frankly no legal market existed at 1991 here, especially when it comes to localizations, they are made by enthusiasts and either sold or redistributed for free), so I had an easy time figuring out mechanics. Eventually I migrated to english Civ1, since I had a semi-native knowledge of English thanks to studying it while being 4-5 years old, and some more nice features were rediscovered :)
With Civ2 I started with englishversion at once, and while struggling at first have managed to get a ridiculous 342% rating in a huge game, ending with about a hundred cities and a complete boredom and anticipation at playing this anymore.