How many here have tried to learn the native languages of your station?

I think it would be great if they had a program where they would teach you while your in country.  This way you could bounce off what you learn against the native speakers and get real time feedback. 

I grew up in Luxembourg…so German, French and English were mandatory.  I moved to the states at age 12 and joined in 1992.  My first duty station was Vilseck, Germany. Already knowing the language helped me tremendously in every day life…not to mention the interaction with the locals.  I would encourage everyone to attempt to learn at least the basics of the language.  People are more inclined to help you out if you attempt to speak their language.

My only major duty station was at 29 Palms, CA and I mostly avoided dealing with the local population, but I did pick up some desert dweller speak, and while I was aboard the USS Pearl Harbor, I did learn the local sailor tongues to better understand and relate to the crew of the ship. Other than that most of my deployments/port calls were too short in duration to pick up a foreign tongue.