Free, and open to you
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC)
The real free one. Self-paced, no enrollment, no cost.
- DLIFLC posts self-study language and culture material on its own website — GLOSS lessons,
HeadStart2, Language Survival Kits, Cultural Orientation, Countries in Perspective, and an online
diagnostic assessment
- In DLIFLC's own words, "the majority of DLIFLC products are publicly available through this
website"
- Go to dliflc.edu/elearning
and dliflc.edu/resources
Check the spelling of that web address. It is dliflc.edu — D-L-I-F-L-C. I have seen it
printed as "dlific.edu." That is not DLIFLC. Nothing of theirs is there.
Two different things, two different doors. The free self-study material above is open to the
public. DLIFLC's instructor-led continuing-education courses are a separate program for current
Department of Defense / Department of War and U.S. government personnel only — veterans are not a
listed eligible group. Use the free material. Do not spend weeks trying to enroll in the courses.
★ Free, public, no application.
Read this before you plan around it
Military OneSource — MilLife Learning
Free online courses on military-life and benefits topics. No foreign-language courses.
- MilLife Learning carries courses on military life and on benefits — including the Post-9/11 GI Bill,
DEA for survivors and dependents, and Veteran Readiness and Employment. It does not carry
foreign-language courses
- millifelearning.militaryonesource.mil
The time limit, stated correctly. For most separating members, Military OneSource access runs up
to 365 days past your retirement date, end of tour date, or discharge date.
That 365-day clock does not apply to everyone. Medically discharged wounded, ill or injured
service members and their Families, caregivers of wounded warriors, and survivors of deceased service
members keep access — and survivors have
no time limit at all. National Guard and Reserve members
are eligible regardless of activation status. If somebody told you that you aged out, check for yourself:
Military OneSource eligibility guide.
★ Do not assume you are locked out.
Straight talk
Foreign Service Institute (FSI) courses
This one is usually described wrong. Here is what is actually established.
- The State Department's Foreign Service Institute trains U.S. government employees with job-related
language needs —
state.gov/foreign-language-training
- Some older FSI course materials were produced by the U.S. government and are circulated by private
websites. The State Department does not operate those sites and does not publish the materials for
public download
- So treat any site offering "FSI courses" as an unofficial third-party copy — not an official page,
and not a government guarantee of anything
Watch the checkout. Some of those third-party sites are commercial and sell paid bundles. If a
site is not a .gov address, it is not the government, no matter whose course it is hosting.
★ Know whose website you are on.
Local and free
Your public library
Worth ten minutes of your time. The answer is local, not national.
- Library systems buy their own online databases, system by system. What your library offers — if
anything — depends entirely on your library. I am not going to name a product and have you show up
asking for something your branch does not carry
- Call your branch or open your library's "online resources" page and ask one question: do you have a
language-learning database free with a library card
- Do not have a library card, or do not know where your library is? Use the official finder:
usa.gov/libraries-and-archives
★ Ask your own branch. Free either way.
Money
Paying for a language program with VA education benefits
You may be able to. But the approval step is where people lose money.
- The specific program must be VA-approved — not just the school. A school can be approved and
the exact course you want can be unapproved. If it is not approved, VA does not pay and you do
- Check it in
VA's GI Bill Comparison Tool.
VA's own caution on that tool: "The GI Bill Comparison Tool will update its list of approved programs
quarterly. However, new information is added to the VA database every day," and "prospective students
should only use this as a planning tool"
- So confirm a second time with the school's VA certifying official — in writing — before you enroll
or pay a deposit
Entitlement you spend is generally gone. A short summer course still counts against your
36 months. VA restores entitlement only in the situations it lists — for example if your school closed
or your program was disapproved — and you have to apply for that restoration:
va.gov/education/request-education-benefit-entitlement-restoration.
Think hard before you burn months you will want for a degree.
★ Approved program, in writing, before you pay.
Money
The dollars nobody mentions
Four things that decide whether this costs you or not.
- Yellow Ribbon. It can cover tuition and fees above VA's annual cap at participating private
schools — but only if you qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill at the 100% benefit level and meet
one of VA's listed service conditions. Check the program and then check the school and program year on
VA's list:
Yellow Ribbon Program
and Find a Yellow Ribbon school
- Housing allowance and book stipend. Post-9/11 GI Bill enrollment can carry a monthly housing
allowance and a books-and-supplies stipend. If you train solely online, the housing allowance is
reduced — VA pays it "based on 50% of the national average." Rates change every 1 August, so I am not
printing a figure that will be stale. Read the current rate on VA's own page:
va.gov/education/benefit-rates/post-9-11-gi-bill-rates
- Room and board. At a residential immersion program the GI Bill pays tuition — you are still
responsible for room and board. Get that number before you commit
- Your route may not be the Post-9/11 GI Bill. VA's education page also lists Veteran Readiness
and Employment, the Yellow Ribbon Program and VET TEC 2.0, and survivors and dependents have their own
route through DEA. If you hold something other than Chapter 33, the door is not closed — start at
va.gov/education
★ Ask what it costs before you sign.
Protect yourself
Before you hand over money or personal information
Private companies advertise "free veterans language programs." Some are fine. Verify anyway.
- A company saying it is free for veterans on its own website is marketing, not a government program.
Ask who funds it, and get the answer in writing
- Before you pay or fill in an enrollment form, verify the school's VA approval and its
accreditation. The Comparison Tool above is where you start
- If a company sells you preparation for the Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) or the Oral
Proficiency Interview (OPI), stop and ask a harder question first: can you even sit the test? That
testing is arranged through DoD channels. If you are no longer serving and not in the Guard or Reserve,
confirm with DLIFLC whether any testing route is open to you before you pay anybody for test
prep — DLIFLC lists (831) 242-5119 and (831) 242-6912 for testing inquiries
★ Verify first. Pay second.