Personnel have to sometimes think before they speak - in this case, in Tagalog.
Captain Jules Tuazon always understood Tagalog from listening to his Filipino parents talk to each other, but speaking the language was another matter.
"I was able to hear it, translate it in my head and respond in English," Captain Tuazon said.
That was until the Army transport officer arrived in Manila as part of the Joint Australian Training Team - Philippines.
After five months, he's gone from not speaking Tagalog at all, to having conversations.
His biggest hurdle was thinking of what to say in English first, before saying it in Tagalog.
"Early on, someone described the way I would speak as sounding like a child, only because of how long it took me to get sentences out," he said.
"The accent, as well, gives away that I'm a foreigner, but conversations tend to flow a bit more freely now."
'You'll surprise yourself and develop a lot quicker than you think you would.'
This wasn't a problem for native Tagalog speaker Navy Petty Officer Rio Mateo.
The fellow training team member moved to Australia from the Philippines when she was nine, but continued speaking Tagalog with her parents.
"I'm very grateful that it's not something that I've lost," Petty Officer Mateo said.
Because of her Chinese heritage, Petty Officer Mateo said most locals weren't expecting a conversation in their language.
"For them, I don't look like the standard Filipino, so they definitely get shocked when I start speaking in Tagalog to them. You'll see their faces light up," she said.
But even Petty Officer Mateo has to stop and think about words she doesn't fully understand the meaning of, such as professional terms not often used between parents and children.
"I've gotten by way easier, but there are times where I have to think first before I say something.
"Before I use certain words, I'll think: Does this make sense?" she said.
Captain Tuazon believed his parents would be happily surprised with his new language skills, and encouraged other Tagalog speakers in Defence to nominate for the Philippines training team.
"There's probably a lot of people in the Army, like me, who can understand it pretty well, but because they were born and raised in Australia, their speaking skills aren't that great," Captain Tuazon said.
"You'll surprise yourself and develop a lot quicker than you think you would."
