What It's Like To Be... with Dan Heath
Mar 24, 2026 · 35 min · 12 segments
Defusing a crisis after an ambassador hinted at a preemptive strike on Russia, delivering demarches in multiple languages, and surviving the frantic evacuation of the Kabul embassy with John Johnson…
John JohnsonGuest
Dan HeathHost
And before he would go to each country, he'd spend months and months learning the language.
French is six months because it's to be functionally fluent and to operate at sort of a meeting level, it's not terribly difficult.
Khmer was tough because it was completely different from anything I'd ever experienced before.
One of my parents was Latvian, but you have to consider how they do it, right? From the very first day, you don't have another job.
And so from the very first day you walk into class and they start speaking to you in that language and you do it five, six hours a day, plus two to three hours of homework every day.
So it's total and complete immersion for the six months, nine months, two years, whatever the language is.
There's a Foreign Service Institute where we teach the vast majority of our languages.
And before he would go to each country, he'd spend months and months learning the language.
French is six months because it's to be functionally fluent and to operate at sort of a meeting level, it's not terribly difficult.
Khmer was tough because it was completely different from anything I'd ever experienced before.
One of my parents was Latvian, but you have to consider how they do it, right? From the very first day, you don't have another job.
And so from the very first day you walk into class and they start speaking to you in that language and you do it five, six hours a day, plus two to three hours of homework every day.
So it's total and complete immersion for the six months, nine months, two years, whatever the language is.
There's a Foreign Service Institute where we teach the vast majority of our languages.
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3 of 12
Rescuing Women at Abbey Gate
The evacuation in Kabul became chaotic overnight
A Diplomatic Phrase Sparks Panic
Diplomatic language can carry enormous consequences worldwide
The Taliban Guarding the Gate
The airport escape created impossible moral contradictions
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