The Foreign Service Institute developed a series of language-learning courses for use by the state department and other government agencies. These courses have been developed, tested by use, and improved over a period of many years. The Foreign Service Institute has created the largest body of complete courses for languages of the world available anywhere.

The foreign language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute have helped thousands of individuals from diverse backgrounds or interests including diplomatic, military, business, travel, and cultural concerns.  Many of these programs were originally developed by self instructional programs were originally produced by the National Foreign Affairs Training Center of the U.S. Department of State, the Defense Language Institute, the Center for the Advancement of Language Learning, and the Central Intelligence Agency. 

Basic Courses generally focus on the all essential grammar of a spoken language. These courses include samples of speech, explanations of basic language structure, and a wide range of practical exercises.

FAST (Familiarization and Short-Term Training) and HeadStart courses are designed to familiarize the student with everyday situations visitors will encounter and provide the needed language skills to handle common every day situations.