My friend Arla sent me an interesting article from the New York Times about a rabbi in Montana who is helping the local police force with their explosives dog who only understands Hebrew. It’s one of those stories that would seem too far-fetched if you had invented it, yet it’s true.
As an exercise:
What other language does your main character speak? Do they have some high school french? Did they pick up some spanish on their trip to Mexico? Did their family only speak italian at home?