VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE TRAINING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-06217A000200020018-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 13, 2001
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: September 9, 1966
• Content Type: MF

DD/S 66-4722
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0 S E P 7956'=-? .-
697
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT Vietnamese Language Training
1. This memorandum is for information. It responds to your request
(accompanying the attached note from Sherman Kent) to "find out how many
U. S. Government employees have been and are being taught Vietnamese."
2. The data needed for a complete response to your request are not
available. But we have obtained reports on the numbers of individuals who
have received instruction in Vietnamese through the Foreign Service Insti-
tute, the Defense Language Institute, and the CIA Language School, which,
as far as we can determine, have the only Government facilities engaged in
such training. Attachment B summarizes these reports. Missing is infor-
mation on the relatively few Government employees who have attended Berlitz
or other non-Government language schools and those who have acquired a
knowledge of Vietnamese while serving in South Vietnam.
3. As Attachment B reflects, very little Vietnamese language training
took place within the Government prior to 1 July 1962 when the military ser-
vices began a concerted effort in this respect. The build-up has continued
since that date, and plans for FY 1967 reflect still further increases, with
the Defense Language Institute, for example, projecting an enrollment of
3631. However, the preponderance of this instruction has been and still is
pitched at the lower proficiency levels, serving primarily for orientation
purposes.
4. To reach the "Elementary" proficiency level in spoken Vietnamese
(which linguists consider a language of "medium" difficulty- -comparable to,
say, Russian or Persian), most students need about three months of full-
time instruction. About six months are needed for the "Intermediate" level.
Thus far, only about 1000 individuals have completed enough instruction to
reach pie "Intermediate" level and another 215 are currently enrolled in
courses designed for this purpose.
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5. The relatively small numbers of Government personnel trained in
Vietnamese cannot be attributed to a shortage of facilities, apparently, since
the growth of facilities- -certainly at the CIA
Language School--have consistently kept pace with or out-stripped enroll-
ments. CIA's School, for instance, with its Vietnamese linguist, two native
speakers, and two additional native speakers in process, coulr_i --Cease en-
rollments substantially. And= which has been "importing" native speakers
directly from South Vietnam, expects by the end of this month to be able to
handle up to 35 sections of 4 to 5 students each in full-time training.
6. You may be aware that Ambassador Leonard A. Unger has expressed
concern over the small number of Government employees who can speak
Vietnamese. Last May he wrote the Chief, FE Division, suggesting the
formation of an inter-agency task force, which Unger would head, to stimu-
late additional training in this area. Two CIA officers, one from FE and
one from OTR, were named to the task force but as.yet it has not been
activated.
an
Deputy Director
for Support
2 Att s:
Att A: Memo dtd 7 Jul 66 to DCI fr Sherman
Kent, subj: "Vietnamese Linguists"
Att B;; "Vietnamese Language Training in
U. S. Government Facilities"
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>/S 1~5-f?
7 July 1966
SUBJECT: Vietnamese Linguists
1. What follows is not primarily Agency business.
It is national business. And probably the one officer
of government to do something about it is the President
of the United States.
2. How many trustworthy, competent, and well-educated
American citizens of the appropriate age group to serve in
Vietnam possess a fluency in the spoken and written Viet-
namese language? Without having made anything remotely
akin to a systematic census, my guess is that there are
appallingly few.
3. My concern in this matter has been triggered
entirely by intelligence considerations. To wit: the US
does not begin to have enough Vietnamese linguists in the
field to exploit captured documents or interrogate POWs,
deserters, chieu hoi folks, etc. The greater part of the
information avaL able to the analytical arms of US intelli-
gence from these two sources is that which has been produced
in the first x.nstance by Vietnamese nationals. The reasons
why this is a highly unsatisfactory way to proceed are
numerous and obvious.
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4. Whatever the claims of intelligence for Vietnamese
linguists, they must be far surpassed by the claims of the
American military authorities, the political and economic
officers of Embassy Saigon, the AID people, USIA, etc.
It is sobering indeed to realize how many of our war-time
troubles may be simply a function of blurred communication.
Suppose the present active military phase of the
war changes in the right direction, suppose even that it
comes to an end within the next year and a half, or two years.
The US presence required in Vietnam will probably have to be
very substantial for a far longer period --who knows, five,
ten, or fifteen years or more.
6.
Somebody ought to do something now and as I suggest
above, that somebody will probably have to be the President.
The something should proceed somewhat as follows. First,
a very quick canvass of the number of American citizens
willing and able to serve in Vietnam who right now possess
a proficiency in the language. Two, some rough and ready
estimates from the field as to how many linguists are required
for a more efficient operation of the multi-faceted US program
in Vietnam. Three, the laying on of as many language training
programs as are required. Surely the US effort should be
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commensurate to that which was made with respect to the
training of Japanese linguists in World War II.
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VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE TRAINING IN
U. S. GOVERNMENT FACILITIES
The following statistics are based on information obtained from the
Foreign Service Institute, the Defense Language Institute, and the CIA
Language School, and represent--so far as can be determined--the total
effort of these facilities in recent years in providing Vietnamese language
training. All figures reflect full-time training and were current as of
30 June 1966. With minor exceptions as noted, all training has taken place
since 1 July 1962.
Graduated Currently Enrolled
Type Course Length State Other State Other.
Regular (civilian only) 8 -12 weeks 0 40-50 0 0
Regular (civilian only) 20-48 weeks 34* 42 2 21
*five trained prior to 1961
Number Trained Including
Those Enrolled 30 June'66
Special ;;-military . nly)
Special (military only) 48 weeks 220
DEFENSE LANGUAGE INSTITUTE
The Presidio at Monterey, California
ype Course
Length
Number
Graduated
Currently
Enrolled
Special
5 weeks
39
0
Special
8 weeks
315
34
Special
12 weeks
1,387
232
Oral Comprehension
37 weeks
117
113
Basic
47 weeks
605
68
NOTE: Above totals include an estimated 10 civilians; remainder
yc all military personnel.
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29 Sept 1966
Our current program in Vietnamese language consists of
two types of courses:
a. Eight-week courses to provide minimal orientation
e_ n(-lam N
s f r
t
ermediate
,,b. 26-week courses designed to provide In
;0,
level proficiency.
As currently planned our program can produce approximately
~
week course and 20 people trained to the
60 people in the
Intermediate level before the end of Fiscal Year 1967.
Thus a doubling of our effort would produce approximately
120 minimally trained officers and approximately 40 officers
trained to the Intermediate level. Multiplying the currently
expected output by factors of 4 and 10 would produce correspond-
ingly greater numbers.
Alternatively, other cycling methods would produce
different results. One native instructor can teach 1 1/5
full-time courses. Given five instructors we can teach 6
SECRET
GROJP 1
Excluded from aatomatic
downgrading and
` dectaygifi,;;,~1,-iQn,
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classes simultaneously. Assuming six students per class (10
in orientation classes) the results for various cyclings
can be easily computed. If, for example, we concentrated
solely on the 26-week course we could produce approximately
officers trained to the Intermediate level in 1 year.
SECRET
CROUP 1
Exaloded from automatic
downgrading and
declaasificandn~
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