A REVIEW OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTS OF INTEREST TO AGENCY PERSONNEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-06217A000200010002-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2001
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 1, 1971
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release
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LANGUAGE
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRST ISSUE AUGUST 1971
PUBLISHED PERIODICALLY BY
THE LANGUAGE SCHOOL
OFFICE OF TRAINING
25X1A
25X1A
INQUIRIES, COMMENTS, AND CONTRIBUTIONS
SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE EDITOR,
EXTENSION 3271, ROOM 406,
BUILDING.
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CONTENTS
LANGUAGE INCENTIVE PROGRAM 1
ALl. LANGUAGES ARE EQUALLY DIFFICULT 3
TA!'ES .TAPES . TAPES
SELF STUDY MATERIALS
FOUR SPOTTERS ONLY
ARE WE LOSING OUR LANGUAGE
CAPABILITY?
BAHLT? BAHLT? WHAT MEANS BAHLT ?
KNOW YOUR IDIOMS
10
FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT STATE
11
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 C O N F I D E N T I A L
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25X1A
On 12 March 1971 a new Agency-wide program was initi-
ated to spur the development of proficiencies in languages
which the Agency has in short supply -- or for which a
future shortage is anticipated. This is not the first time,
of course, that the Agency has offered monetary awards for
language. proficiency. In 1957-63 over $765,000 was paid
out to personnel who could demonstrate through a proficiency
test that they had achieved or maintained reading or speak-
ing skills in a modern language. Perhaps the most benefi-
cial effect of that program was that we found out for the
first time how many people there were in the Agency who
had at ].east some foreign language proficiency.
we also learned that even though we have a good supply
of speak:ers of most languages, the employee with a language
skill i:: not always in the job that requires it. The pur-
pose of the new program, then, is not only to encourage
more people to study languages, but to get people to learn
specific languages to meet specific requirements in specific
components. The new program differs principally from the
old in that:
1. The new regulation does not provide cash
aw,srds for the maintenance o s ills that an employee
already has, but only for the achievement of new
skills.
2. The new program is not on a voluntary basis: to
be eligible for an award an individual must be
designated by his component to achieve specific skills
at the level of proficiency determined by the compo-
nent (which also provides the funds for the award).
Also different from the old program is the fact that
cash awards will not be paid for new skills in all lan-
guages. Each Directorate establishes its own list of
incentive languages, approved by the Deputy Director con-
cerned, according to needs reported by operating officials.
The lists are subject to constant review and revision, so
the be:;t source of information about the current list of
awardak~le languages in your Directorate is your Senior
Training Officer.
BE.cause languages differ, incentive languages have
been grouped into three categories, according to the
degree of difficulty each poses for the English-speaking
studeni~. The languages in Group III are considered the
most difficult far English-speakers to learn, and awards
for achievement of skills in them are the highest. Awards
are made in either the Specialized Program (e.g., Reading
only, or Speaking only) or the Comprehensive Program,
requiring competence in reading, speaking, and understand-
ing. .Awards in the Specialized Program are half those in
the Comprehensive. Following is the cash awards schedule
in the Comprehensive Program:
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 ILLEGIB
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 C O N F I D E N T I A L
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LANGUAGES ARE E9UALLY D~F1MT
There is practical, as well as
theoretical proof of the above state-
ment. 'Phe theoretical argument goes:
the more complex a language is, the
more useful it is to those who speak
it. The more distinctions a language
makes, the more you can say in that
language. But there is a limit --
the capacity of the human mind. Each
person develops his language to the
limit of his mental capacity; the
language of a genius is more complex,
grammatically as well as in its
vocabulary, than the language of a
moron. But this difference is merely
quantitative, whereas there is a
qualitative difference between lan-
guage and animal communication on the
level, for example, of dogs or crows.
The practical proof runs as
follows: if language A were actually
less difficult than language B, child-
ren would learn to speak it sooner
than children learning language B.
This does not happen. Children learn-
ing to speak any language acquire
grammatical mastery of it at about
the same age. Depending on the
definition of "grammatical mastery,"
this varies from five to seven years,
but it is the same for any language.
When we talk about "difficult
languages," we are talking about the
difficulty English speakers have in
learning them. This is, of course,
based on how different the language
is from English. The more similar a
language is to English, the easier it
is for English speakers to learn, and
vice versa.
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 STATINTL
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 "Probably not. And, Mr.
- do you have any idea
of 'your language aptitude?"
"That's a fair indication
of good aptitude. But what
I'm leading up to is that
the chances of your getting
anywhere with self-study in
Chinese are pretty slim. The
Agency does not have any
record of any student reach-
ing a useable proficiency in
Chinese in a part-time study
program at the Language
School, much less by self-
study."
"It depends on definitions,
of course. A useable pro-
ficiency is the 2-level in
reading and speaking, and the
estimated time it takes to
reach this level in Chinese
is 1500 hours of class work.
At nine hours a week, the
average part-time load, that
comes to 167 weeks, or close
to four years. And that is
still far short of full pro-
fe~;sional competence."
"We take them full time for
eleven months. At the end of
that time, they are at the 2-
level in speaking and 1+ in
reading. Then they get an-
otYier full year of full-time
training- At the
end of that time, they should
have reached full profession-
al competence."
"Most people don't realize
it. Of course, in a language
like Spanish or German, you
might expect to reach 2+ in
speaking and 3 in reading in
si:K or seven months of full-
liked that pretty well. I
guess that wasn't the inten-
sive method, though, was it?"
"Not really. I did pretty
well in my German course, and
as I say, I liked it."
"Oh, it can't be as bad as
that:"
"How does the Agency train
Chinese language people?"
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 App~?~~ ~ -.r ~ ~Qf~1~~~ , ~~~?k ~. , r0 '~Q2-2
"That's not necessarily
is ~ ue. You can lay a ~~~ery
u.ae'ul foundation in ::~art-
Lime study. Then when you
~i?oken you can really start
,~11= how much German could
you really speak after two
"? ~m afraid so. isvecial-
ly since there are no really
useable self-study marerials
in Chinese."
"There the picture is not
nearly so bleak. A r;erson
caho has had some language