How Diplomats Learn Languages: An FSI Account

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In 2014, I invited Shawn Kobb to explain how diplomats learn languages at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute (FSI).

At the time, Shawn had been with the U.S. Foreign Service for nearly 10 years. He had served in Ukraine, The Bahamas, Washington, D.C. and Afghanistan, and was preparing for an assignment in Austria. Over to you, Shawn!

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Editor’s note: Shawn describes his FSI training as it worked in 2014. Course lengths, tests, staffing and promotion requirements can change. The current Foreign Affairs Manual says officer candidates must demonstrate proficiency in at least one foreign language before they can be commissioned, while the Department’s language-training policy aims for officers to reach S-3/R-3 in two languages before senior level. Treat the rest of this article as a first-person account of the method, not a guide to current policy.

Americans don’t have the strongest reputation for learning foreign languages, and we often expect the rest of the world to speak English. There are plenty of exceptions, of course. I’m an American diplomat, officially known as a Foreign Service Officer, and language ability is an important part of my job.

When I joined the service, diplomats weren’t required to speak another language before applying. Once we joined, though, foreign-language proficiency became part of our career development. We were expected to qualify in at least one language during our initial five-year appointment, and the Department’s broader objective was for officers to develop professional proficiency in two languages before senior level. Many colleagues picked up some ability in other languages as their assignments changed.

For a language lover, one of the biggest benefits of the U.S. Foreign Service is the chance to receive full-time language training and be paid while doing it. When I wrote this, I was preparing for my fourth overseas deployment. I was due to move to Vienna in the summer of 2014, and 100% of my working time was spent learning German.

The U.S. Department of State runs FSI as its in-house training centre for diplomats and other foreign-affairs professionals. It teaches subjects ranging from management and public speaking to consular work, while the School of Language Studies provides language and culture training.

FSI taught around 70 languages at the time, so walking through its halls felt like a whirlwind global tour. One classroom might have students speaking French or German, while the next had Mandarin, Norwegian, Georgian, Portuguese or Korean.

Most of the instructors I encountered were native speakers of the language they taught, and they brought cultural context into our lessons as well. Students might also come across celebrations and events marking Lunar New Year, Ramadan or Ukrainian Independence Day.

A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away with a native speaker for at least 15 minutes with the “Fluent in 3 Months” method. All it takes is 90 days. Tap this link to find out more.

Routine at the FSI

Each language department ran its programme a little differently, but this was the general routine I experienced in full-time language training.

We spent at least five hours a day in class, working on conversation, interviews, reading and presentations. After the first few weeks, almost all our classroom time was in the language we were learning. My classes rarely had more than four students per teacher, so there was nowhere to hide.

We also had access to language labs with vocabulary software, videos and other multimedia tools. I was a fan of Deutsche Welle’s German courses. I could record myself and, shudder, listen back later, while teachers were usually nearby when I had a question.

We generally had homework every day too. It gave me time to work through grammar, drill useful structures and review anything I had struggled with in class. I found conversation more useful, but the homework helped reinforce it.

Specific goals through examinations

Diplomats in language-designated assignments train towards a specific proficiency target. At the end of my training, I had to pass an FSI exam before leaving for my overseas assignment.

Everyday conversation mattered, but the test also required me to discuss demanding professional topics. I could be asked to talk at length about the environment, the U.S. political system, education, the military or another subject that would rarely come up in a casual chat.

My test included speaking and reading components. On the speaking side, I also had to interview a native speaker in German and then report back in English. That could be difficult because I needed to guide the conversation without letting it run beyond what I could follow. The reading component carried equal weight, so a beginner course by itself would not have been enough preparation.

The U.S. Foreign Service uses the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale. The target depends on the language and the position, but S-3/R-3, or level 3 in speaking and reading, was a common goal in my training. If you know the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, remember that ILR and CEFR measure proficiency differently, so any direct comparison is only approximate.

Course length varied enormously by language. For a rough sense of scale, the State Department’s published FSI training benchmarks list 24–30 weeks for languages such as Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese, about 36 weeks for German, 44 weeks for Russian and 88 weeks for Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Those figures describe typical time to reach S-3/R-3, not a promise for every student or assignment.

FSI prepared us for daily life as well as the exam. Some students also had the chance to take part in an immersion trip. In 2014, I hoped to spend a week in Germany using German from morning to night before moving to Vienna.

Independent learning is a must

The programme gave me a strong framework, but I still had to take responsibility for how I used it. The aim wasn’t to sound like a native speaker. It was to reach the professional level required for my assignment and be able to function at post.

I paid attention to what worked for me in class and then added my own techniques. I picked verbs I wanted to master, made cards with example sentences and deliberately used each verb several times that day. I found German articles that genuinely interested me, practised reading them and noted the vocabulary I wanted to reuse.

I also compared ideas with other learners and read practical guides such as Benny’s step-by-step guide to learning a language. Formal training gave me resources and expert feedback, but I got more from it when I arrived with questions and used the language for things I cared about.

It was my career and my education, so I didn’t want to sit passively and let the language wash over me. I needed to take action and make the programme work for me. And yes, I was getting paid while I did it!