A Failure to Communicate
The Pakistani media is reporting that US “nation building” in Central Asia is stalling because there are only 18 US State Department officers who are proficient in Pashto, the predominant language in Afghanistan and the tribal regions of Pakistan. This is in spite of eight years of emphasis on building a cadre in that language in the aftermath of 9/11. In fact, only 30% of State Department officers worldwide are proficient in the language of the country where they are stationed, which would include the Spanish speaking world and Western Europe.
Also, the concept of proficiency is in itself a bit slippery. It is not fluency. The US government generally rates language ability on five levels. A five is native fluency. An officer is considered proficient when he has a three, which permits general conversation in social settings but does not allow any discussion that is detailed or complicated in nature. Most language trained officers are threes, and frequently the threes are themselves somewhat bogus in that there is pressure in the system to rate officers proficient so as not to hurt their career prospects. In my experience, diplomats and intelligence officers from Europe and the former Soviet Union were nearly always much better prepared in languages than their American counterparts. Even diplomats from third world countries could often speak English and French fluently as well as the language of the country where they were posted. Part of the problem is that the only foreign language taught widely in the US is Spanish, often poorly. Many colleges no longer require a foreign language capability to graduate. Its tough to manage an empire without being able to speak to the peasants.
A foreign language requirement? College students can’t even master English grammar and composition.
When I lived overseas, school students in that country studied English beginning in third grade, then were required to study either French or German in 6th grade. Could this concept EVER be realized in our nativist country? Is there a backlash from all the immigrants that need to learn English?
My uncle is a retired State Department officer. He is native-level fluent in Spanish, worked in Peru as an agronomist for 5 years prior to joining State, his wife was formerly a Portuguese language expert for the British Foreign Office, also fluent in Spanish. When he joined State he was sent to ….. Turkey.
It seems to me an historical effect that those who belong to the dominant language groups in empires find it very difficult to learn other people’s languages. Partly it is an unconscious arrogance that obstructs their learning ability, and partly it is utilitarian: they don’t need to, because everyone else is stumbling along in the imperial language in which they are fluent. In the British empire only a few notable eccentrics learnt the local languages of the empire. The general approach was that if you shouted loudly and repetitively enough, the message would get through. I suspect the American approach to foreign politics might be similar. Certainly the Spanish like the English stand out in Europe for their inability to learn languages, and I suspect that if the Austrians had to undergo examinations in Slovak and Magyar there would be very few who would pass.
Danby’s uncle’s experience is typical. State is focused on the hot areas, and with a small budget and few officers to cover open posts, there aren’t many left to help train or get trained themselves.
There seem to be more pushtun and arabic speakers around, but they are fired from the armed forces because they are gay.
When I graduated from the University of Chicago in 1995, we were required to take a foreign language, or score high enough on a proficiency exam. I believe that has been made optional now. Growing up in Calcutta in the 1960s – my parents had to learn Bengali, English, and had to show proficiency in Hindi. My cousin’s husband, who is white, is anxious for their son to learn Bengali, as he correctly observes that the best age to learn multiple languages is when you are still learning to speak. Pretty much anyone outside the U.S. knows you need to learn at least one other language if you hope to have a future.
KXB-there is still a language requirement at the University of Chicago.