Army Foreign Language Training
The United States Army prepares and supports foreign language specialists in order to effectively communicate on missions and other circumstances. The program began, officially, in 1941, and has expanded over the years as languages not previously on the national radar have become important to know. At present, more than 14,000 U.S. Army service members are trained linguists.
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Requirements
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Active members of the Army, Reserves and National Guard are eligible for foreign language training. Service members must be nominated by their appropriate superior officers in order to take language courses or test for proficiency, since the training is paid for by the government and intends to place successful candidates in language-related billets or jobs. All candidates are required to go through a background check for security clearance. Not all Army linguists must be trained by the Army; if a service member already possesses language skills through school study, foreign travel or in-home use, he can take the Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) for proficiency without taking a course.
Languages
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The Defense Foreign Institute is able to test proficiency in 57 distinct languages. Some of the Defense Language Proficiency Tests (DLPTs) only evaluate listening or reading skills for a language (for example, Hausa, Levantine and Amharic). Most DLPTs evaluate total proficiency. Language training with full exams include Albanian, Arabic, Burmese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Czech, Danish, Dari, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish-Sorani, Pashto, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese and Hebrew. For languages not already considered, the Institute offers oral proficiency interviews.
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Proficiency Levels
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Nominated personnel must test at a certain level (105 on the DLAB) in order to qualify for foreign language training. Once trained, language proficiency is re-evaluated annually. The DLPT offers four levels of difficulty. In order to remain efficient, personnel need a minimal score of 2/2. Soldiers who fail to meet minimum requirements can't graduate from the training and aren't posted in a new billet or job; soldiers who don't pass their annual re-evaluations have the option to repeat language training or simply change jobs.
Careers
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Interpreters, translators and cryptological linguists are the top language jobs in the Army. Currently, soldiers fluent in Arabic are high demand. Translators translate the written word, which includes newspapers and magazines (so the Army has an understanding of what a country is reading) and official documents. Translators might also translate radio broadcasts into a written transcript. Interpreters are translators too, but their job is to translate spoken language. Interpreters are used in a variety of situations, most often in foreign countries. A cryptological linguist uses signal equipment to detect, identify and interpret languages in intercepted foreign communications.
Benefits
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According to the U.S. Army, "linguists are paid Foreign Language Proficiency Pay (FLPP) as an incentive to maintain and improve their language skills. [They're] paid up to $400 for each language they demonstrate proficiency in up to $1,000 a month." This pay is in addition to regular base pay and benefits. Non-monetary benefits include greater ability to ascend the ranks more quickly, including holding top security clearance---an asset on a resume when a service member wants to make the transition from the Army to a civilian or governmental job.
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References
- Photo Credit army image by Katrina Miller from Fotolia.com
