During training, a line from the great Dos Equis advertisements played over and over in my head, “He speaks French, in Russian.” I had studied French in high school and college and every time I wanted to speak in a foreign language, I’d speak in French when I should have spoken Russian. My LCF hated it. But now that it’s been two years since training began, I think it’s time I can start studying French again. I’ve come across a great website which teaches you a new language (currently only Spanish, French, and German) while you translate the internet. It’s called Duolingo (http://duolingo.com) and it’s completely free. For those of you who have worked with Rosetta Stone before, it’s a similar setup.
If you’re brave enough to learn another foreign language, or want to refresh your knowledge of an old one for your return to America, I highly recommend Duolingo. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to speak French in Russian (or is it luckier to not be able to do this?).