Long before his college graduation, Jack Clarke had his life mapped out: “I was going to be an Army officer and language capability would enhance my career.” Getting there was quite the adventure.His Spanish took him parachuting into countries on Special Forces mission. His German found him alone in the mountains of… North Carolina. And his French got him in trouble with an aging Jesuit priest from Belgium.

There are more languages—and more stories. Hear them in Episode 57 of the America the Bilingual podcast.