Congratulations to all of you! If you're going overseas you should feel fortunate to have missed the "Covid" years. Let me offer all of you some advice:
- Americans are universally considered foreign language illiterate and sometimes looked down on for that reason. No matter how off your grammar or pronunciation may be, don't hold back from speaking to as many native speakers as you can. people will be happy to guide you along. Your effort will earn you automatic respect.
- Think of the town/city you're in as your classroom and the entire day as class time.
- There is a fine fine line between being anti-social with your American Classmates and taking advantage of the opportunity in front of you. You will have to work that out, but remember the American taxpayer isn't paying to have you hang with your friends in a foreign country speaking English, which you will do unless you consciously choose not to. You will not speak anything other than English with other Americans outside of the classroom.
- If you live with a family they will probably want to use you as an English language resource. Be careful not to fall into the comfort zone of using English with them other than to help out.
Those of you going to Latvia will have a very interesting challenge. Latvian is not a Slavic language. Latvians are not Orthodox Christians. They think of themselves as Westerners. At the same time, of all the former Soviet Republics, Latvia has the largest ethnic Russian minority. At the time of the breakup of the USSR, it was close to 50% of the population. There is a Latvian woman in my boot camp class. She is about 30 and speaks no Russian at all, although her parents do. There are resentments in both directions. In Latvia, you will find a distinct minority of ethnic Latvians <35 years old who speak Russian. My DS 's Project Go was Russian in Kyiv in 2013. Some Ukrainians simply refused to speak Russian, even though they all knew how. If he were in your shoes I know what he would have done. He would have asked people what bars are most popular with ethnic Russians.
DS was able to earn language incentive pay during AROTC. He is an O-3, AD for 7 yrs. During that time, his foreign language ability has been a resume enhancer, a requirement of his MOS and a substantial bonus on his paycheck. Think of your Project Go time as an investment in yourself.
