With his partners, Blanchet, a genteel former Argentine diplomat, had built up a decent business in just three years, tapping into a lucrative market for well-heeled foreigners who wanted to send their kids to the United States to study English in Orlando.

After Sept. 11, "everything just shut down," Blanchet said. "Everybody just went home. We thought we were finished."

But in an odd twist, the same global events that had nearly killed Blanchet's business would instead bring the opportunity for its salvation.

With U.S. troops already on the ground in Afghanistan in 2002, and war in Iraq on the horizon, special-operations commanders looked to revamp the way their soldiers had been taught the new foreign languages that were now in greatest need. They decided to consolidate all of their language training under a single contract that would be set aside for a small business.

A year after the terrorist attacks, Blanchet's business, B.I.B. Consultants, won the five-year contract, worth up to $50 million, to provide all private foreign-language instruction to U.S. special-operations troops.

More than 12,000 of the military's 43,000 special-operations personnel are required to be proficient in a second language.

More than 3,000 U.S. troops already have been trained by Blanchet's instructors, most in intensive three-month courses taught by instructors based at Fort Bragg, N.C.

The training is based on the Berlitz principle, which focuses on learning to speak and communicate, rather than grammar and writing.

"With some other methods, you start out conjugating verbs," Blanchet said. "Berlitz gets you talking immediately."

That fit with the military's need, which was to make the special-operations soldiers proficient in conversation as soon as possible, to help them communicate with the foreign troops they work with closely.

The languages being taught, which include Arabic and several languages spoken in Afghanistan and Central Asia, are regarded as among the most difficult to learn for English speakers.

But after three months of intense eight-hour-a-day training, most of the soldiers can carry on a basic conversation, Blanchet said.

Because of the secretive nature of the work by the special-operations troops, some details of the language training aren't public.

"The military doesn't want us to talk too much about this contract," Blanchet said.

But one thing that is public is that Blanchet's firm won the contract even though he wasn't the low bidder.

A report by the General Accounting Office in 2003 found that some of B.I.B.'s contract costs are higher than in previous contracts but added, "[Special Operations] Command officials believe the improved quality and delivery of language training outweigh any increased cost."

The huge military contract has dramatically turned around Blanchet's business prospects. He is expanding the business now, moved to a new location off International Drive. He's pushing to cater to immigrants who need to study English and to local business owners who need Spanish. And he hopes to win government grants to teach English to growing numbers of immigrants.

Like them, Blanchet came to the United States looking for economic opportunities, after a career as a diplomat for his native Argentina that included 10 years in Vienna and Moscow.

He settled on language instruction partly because of his experience -- his diplomatic duties left him fluent in several languages. And also because he saw an opportunity in Orlando in the 1990s, with large numbers of immigrants and visiting students eager to study English to increase their earning potential.

And Central Florida, with its diverse population, was also ripe with native speakers of languages from around the world.

"In Orlando, you can find someone who speaks almost any language in the world," Blanchet said.

He and his partners won a franchise from Berlitz, and the business grew quickly until the Sept. 11 attacks.

Many of his best clients were the children of the wealthy who were willing to pay well to send their kids to study English in Orlando.

"There are parents, especially in Europe and eastern Europe, who want to send their kids here to study," Blanchet said. "And they have the money to do it. But after 9-11, it was very difficult to get a visa. Some of the parents would tell me: 'I'm not going to waste my time trying to get a visa to the U.S. I'll just send my child to Malta or to England to study.' "

While the military contract turned his company's fortunes around, it happened in a way Blanchet never expected. He never planned to create a business based on more than 100 instructors teaching soldiers at military bases hundreds of miles from his office.

And he never expected to be providing a critical skill for special-operations troops who are on the front lines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It's good to know that we're teaching them skills they need, that it's important work," Blanchet said.

But even three years later, Blanchet still marvels at the turnaround in his company's prospects.

Just when times looked most bleak, he said, "Here we are, given this wonderful opportunity."

Roger Roy can be reached at rroy@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5436.