Here's a surprise: The State Dept. is critically short of people with adequate language skills to deal with the rest of the world
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Boy, if I was the Government Accountability Office, I'd be shivering in my boots--that is, if the Bush administration wasn't the second coming of Jimmy Breslin's famous "Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight."
Of course, maybe it really doesn't matter that the GAO keeps issuing one report after another documenting yet another aspect of the Bush administration's malfeasance. I expect that Karl Rove's attitude is that no "real" Americans give a damn about any goddamn GAO reports.
Latest up, as reported by Anushka Asthana in the Washington Post: "Nearly 30 percent of State Department employees based overseas in 'language-designated positions' are failing to speak and write the local language well enough to meet required levels," according to a GAO report. The Post story continues:
"We have a shortage of people with language skills in posts that need them," said John Brummet, assistant director for international affairs and trade at the GAO. "If people do not have the proper language skills, it is difficult to influence the people and government and to understand what they are thinking. It just doesn't get the job done."
Languages described as "superhard" by the report are proving particularly difficult. Four out of 10 workers in posts requiring Arabic, Chinese and Japanese fail to meet the requirements.
The levels are even higher in some critical postings. Sixty percent of State Department personnel in Sanaa, Yemen, and 59 percent in Cairo do not meet language requirements, the report said.
Even levels set by the department could be too low to do the jobs properly.
I suppose it would be a cheap shot to point out that this is an administration headed by a life form for which English is "superhard."
More to the point, to me this is just another all-too-predictable manifestation of the active hostility to knowledge that characterizes the people who have taken over the government. Knowledge is for elitists and homersectials. What real Americans have is ignorance. Why should we give a f--k what them damn furriners is yappin' about? If they got somethin' to say, let 'em say it in American.
By the way, the report says as well "that many posts, including some critical to anti-terrorism efforts, are vacant or filled by inexperienced workers. Brummet said shortages include 'visa officers, political officers, economic officers, substantive reporting and consular affairs.'"
Well, it's not as if the administration has any interest in terrorism--beyond terrorizing its own citizens, that is.
posted by KenInNY @ 6:25 AM
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16 Comments:
You know, it's not like we have people from every corner of the globe living here.
Give em' a break.
This sounds like a widespread and general personnel problem; one that likely did not start in the Bush administration.
I have a feeling that language-oriented State Dept. jobs are difficult to find qualified people for. As I understand it, it is policy that you have to move to a different country every few years(to ensure that you don't "go native"). Add to that that most people, even those that have language skills, don't want to move to a foreign country, especially places in the Middle east. When you would have to accept conditions like that, and you could make more money privately in the US with the same qualifications, you are going to have this kind of situation.
This is another example of how we, as Americans, are collectively bolstering the misperception that none of us give a damn about anything or anyone other than ourselves.
While there's plenty of room for disgust, perhaps we should focus on bringing positive change into Congress so that we can hopefully honestly evaluate ourselves and overcome our own arrogance.
> You know, it's not like we have people from
> every corner of the globe living here.
>
> Give em' a break.
True, but the article/post is about our folks who are in other countries for *diplomatic* purposes. There's a major difference between a government position whose job requirements include communicating with non-English speakers in their country and a position involving manual labor.
It doesn't seem even remotely unreasonable to me to require knowledge workers to posses the actual ability (the knowledge/skillset) necessary to do their job. Being fluent in multiple languages isn't necessary for farm work, but it's vital for positions wherein Americans are in other countries representing the interests of the United States.
Personally, If I were going to move to another country I'd do my damnedest to learn the common language there... so that I could communicate and participate in the culture. At least enough to find the great non-touristy places to visit and to eat. ;)
C'mon, the problem has less to do with finding people who speak the requisite languages than with finding people with the requiste pedigrees and resumes'. The State Dpartment has always been a full employment program for groomed preps from the right schools with the right connections.
If the US Army wasn't discharging gay linguists as fast as they are discovered, perhaps there would be some hope. I fear we are doomed.
In my opinion, the factors that have led to the U.S. State Department to be critically short of people with adequate language skills to deal with the rest of the world are as follows:
A- Most of the employees (FSO & GSO), stationed at the U.S. Embassies, are lazy when it comes to their improvment of the languages they have learned before heading out to their posts/assignments.
B- The majority of the U.S. State Department's employees, working overseas, feel it is much easier to converse in English with the host nation officials than with those critical languages.
C- The State Department does not test those employees on 2-year-basis so they can keep the qualified personnel rotating from job to job with those critical-language or bring them back to Washington D.C. for other jobs when they fail their language test.
D- The State Department should increase incentives and hiring points for qualified U.S. citizen applying for those criical-language jobs.
As a former high school language teacher, I can tell you part of the problem is that our culture simply does not honor language teaching enough. The typical high school (and ours was not typical, it was a excellent school in a Chicago suburb) honors football and band. We are largely a nation of yahoos.
Also, the state department tends to make it much more difficult for people who have spent time over-seas to get security clearance. Spending time with suspiscious foreigners makes you a security risk, I guess. But, the very long time it takes to get security clearance for a state department job (often nearly a year) is a significant deterent to anyone thinking about going in for one. There is a government sponsored scholarship program designed for people who study "critical" languages, but it's much smaller and less generous than it might be.
The State Dept. puts foreign service officers through a 6 month course in the language of the country to which they will be posted. Except for those gifted with language ability, this is not enough. A further problem is that American schools don't begin teaching students a foreign language until they are high school students, & that's too late. Language learning should begin in the first grade, when most children will pick it up lie a blotter picks up ink. * As for the poster who wrote that State Dept. jobs are given only to the elite, foreign service officers are selected on the basis of a series of examinations. Last I checked, only about one-tenth of one percent pass & are selected.
OK, enough nonsense from those "anonymous" folks who are merely going on speculation and hearsay. As a foreign service officer who grew up in a middle class suburb and went to an insignificant state college, I can tell you that the State Dept. is no longer solely the domain of "groomed preps from the right schools with the right connections." Our language training is typically 6 mos. for languages such as Spanish or French, but can go for one or two years for harder languages (such as Chinese). And it's complete bullshit to slam officers as "lazy" who have no interest in strengthening their language skills once posted overseas. Many spend hours of their own time taking extra lessons to sharpen their skills. All that said, the GAO report may well be true, as the State Dept. (like any other government agency) must compete for talent with the private sector. How many Americans are even interested in getting off their fat asses to really learn something about geography, let alone foreign affairs? How many are willing to live far from the comforts of home in hardship conditions? The real pity is that this administration seems hell-bent on staffing up our Mission in Iraq when conditions on the ground would typically warrant the kind of evacuation we've had when other places have gone to hell (like Beirut and other garden spots). There are rumors that ALL foreign service officers will be required to bid on Iraq jobs when it's time for them to transfer. So, beyond compelling officers to such places via "directed assignments," the Dept. may try to compel us via "directed bids." I predict a massive wave of resignations would result (mine included). Of course, there's little chance that any of those neocon bloggers and pundits would jump from the sidelines as BushCheney's cheerleaders and seize the "opportunity" to pursue their foolhardy, delusional foreign adventures by taking on such diplomatic assignments themselves. No, they'll just take more shots at us "weenies in striped pants" and blame those who have been putting our asses on the line day in and day out, even when we disagree strongly with the deception-based decisions made at the top. This administration will go down in history as the one that broke both the military AND the diplomatic corps. So much for conservative values.
OK, enough nonsense from those "anonymous" folks who are merely going on speculation and hearsay. As a foreign service officer who grew up in a middle class suburb and went to an insignificant state college, I can tell you that the State Dept. is no longer solely the domain of "groomed preps from the right schools with the right connections." Our language training is typically 6 mos. for languages such as Spanish or French, but can go for one or two years for harder languages (such as Chinese). And it's complete bullshit to slam officers as "lazy" who have no interest in strengthening their language skills once posted overseas. Many spend hours of their own time taking extra lessons to sharpen their skills. All that said, the GAO report may well be true, as the State Dept. (like any other government agency) must compete for talent with the private sector. How many Americans are even interested in getting off their fat asses to really learn something about geography, let alone foreign affairs? How many are willing to live far from the comforts of home in hardship conditions? The real pity is that this administration seems hell-bent on staffing up our Mission in Iraq when conditions on the ground would typically warrant the kind of evacuation we've had when other places have gone to hell (like Beirut and other garden spots). There are rumors that ALL foreign service officers will be required to bid on Iraq jobs when it's time for them to transfer. So, beyond compelling officers to such places via "directed assignments," the Dept. may try to compel us via "directed bids." I predict a massive wave of resignations would result (mine included). Of course, there's little chance that any of those neocon bloggers and pundits would jump from the sidelines as BushCheney's cheerleaders and seize the "opportunity" to pursue their foolhardy, delusional foreign adventures by taking on such diplomatic assignments themselves. No, they'll just take more shots at us "weenies in striped pants" and blame those who have been putting our asses on the line day in and day out, even when we disagree strongly with the deception-based decisions made at the top. This administration will go down in history as the one that broke both the military AND the diplomatic corps. So much for conservative values.
Thanks, eyes of the world, I really appreciated your inside perspective.
The fact is, most of us have very little idea how the Foreign Service actually works. I realized how little I know when I read Ambassador Joe Wilson's book, most of which is about his career there.
Ken
think of all the people who want to work those jobs if we had an administration that .... (sigh)
At 6:35 AM, jerryb said...
You know, it's not like we have people from every corner of the globe living here.
Give em' a break.
_______
Give them a break! This is about people's lives we are talking about here. Does Sibel Edmonds ring a bell to you? She is the one that the government keeps placing a gag order on because she was in interpreter that kept pointing out that interpreters were getting it wrong on the intelligence wires. Why is the government shutting her up. Incompetence by the administration has played a huge role in people dying in this country. They deserve no breaks because they have been given too damn many already!
>Brummet said shortages
>include 'visa officers, political
>officers, economic officers,
>substantive reporting and
>consular affairs.'
Political officers? Isn't that something they use in dictatorships such as the USSR, the Nazi regime, China, North Korea etc.
Having been a career Navy man, and having lived outside the US for 17 of my 20+ years in the navy, I learned the language in every country that I was stationed in. After retirement, I immigrated to Tahiti, where in order to get a residence card, I was required to learn French. I found out that the running joke in Tahiti, where most of the people speak at least 2 languages was the old saw...
What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages? Trilingual.
What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual.
What do you call a person who speaks only one language? An American!
I am now a French National, having asked for and being naturalized French. I am ashamed of the country of my birth, of it's government and the dummies that have taken over and made mediocrity
a way of life. I am not sure if I would ever want to be an american again... Your country sucks!!!
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