"He joined the Foreign Service, learned languages, won friends for America in distant places and made other people's hopes his own, " Clinton said.

CNN: Slain ambassador died 'trying to help build a better Libya'

There is active 3D television with goggles and loaner blu-ray discs, surround sound, multiple wireless tablets that control everything from lights to curtains to room service menus - in seven languages, internet radio with thousands of choices, free international phone calls, the list goes on and on.

FORBES: Peninsula, Hong Kong

Google Translate is a free Google service that translates between scores of languages almost as quickly as Google returns search results.

FORBES: Magazine Article

If they are lucky, countries have nationals in service with fluency in the right languages, but it's common for armed services to have to utilize local people, indeed raising issues of trust as well as cost and logistics.

CNN: Why it's good to speak Spanish in America

To help neo-literate police officers test their reading ability with informative and relevant material, UNESCO publishes a monthly newspaper, Khedmat (which means "service" in the Pashto and Dari languages).

UNESCO: EDUCATION

Canadian bureaucrats require an additional skill: almost half the jobs in the 200, 000-strong federal civil service demand someone who can obfuscate in two languages at once.

ECONOMIST: A tool for linguistically joined-up government

Should Americans enlist in the armed forces, join the foreign service, pay more taxes, do volunteer work, study foreign languages, travel to Muslim countries?

NEWYORKER: Coming Apart

Participants provide an hour of service to earn an hour of service in return, involving such services as tutoring students, teaching English or other languages, gardening and lawncare, housecleaning, helping the homeless and teaching them skills, rides for those without transportation (or for seniors who can no longer drive), respite care freeing caregivers for children with special needs, adults with disabilities, and aged seniors to take a break, and other services.

FORBES: Rethinking Money: The Rise Of Hayek's Private Competing Currencies