THE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-06372A000100020001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 17
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 15, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 25, 1958
• Content Type: REPORT

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TRAINING
23 March 1958
TH1
L.,,4.NGUPGA DEVELOPMLNT
PROGRAM
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HANDBOOK
LANGUAGE DEVELOPM,&NT PROGRAM
CONTENTS
1, Introduction
2. Language Training
Kinds of Training
Courses for Voluntary Study
3. Language Development Awards
Types and Limitations
4. Awardable Languages
Clas sification
5. Levels and Types of Proficiency
6. Schedule of Awards
Application
. ligibility for Awards
Proficiency Tests
Certification for Awards
10. Samples of Forms
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INTRODUCTION
The Language Development Program is designed to promote
the development and maintenance of foreign language skills among
staff employees, thereby increasing personnel capabilities to
perform the -Agency's work.
This handbook supplements Regulation.nd explains
the nature, objectives and procedures of the program.
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LANGUAGE TRH
Knowledge of a foreign language may be required for a projected
assignment, or it may be necessary or desirable for the more effective
performance of current duties. In either case, a supervisor or head of
an office operating component or the head of a Career Service, may
direct an employee to study a foreign language during duty hours, as a
duty assignment. Normally, the individual will be enrolled in an appro-
priate language training program within or outside the Agency. His
achievement of language skill will be the result of the directed assignment.
Within the Language Development Program such activity is identified as
directed training.
On the other hand, for the majority of employees daily work pressures
preclude learning a language during duty-hours. Yet many wish to acquire
foreign language skills to broaden qualifications and to become presently
or potentially more useful to the Agency. Their interest is encouraged
most strongly. For these individuals, non-duty-hours training in which
studies may be pursued independently of daily work requirements is pro-
vided by the .Agency. The achievement of language knowledge on this
voluntary basis is identified within the Language Development Program
as voluntary trainin a
In some cases an individual may combine these two kinds of training.
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t,' oar example, after his interest and aptitude have been demonstrated
through voluntary study, he may be directed to pursue his studies more
intensively with a view to active use of the language at headquarters or
in the field; or he may supplement directed study by additional voluntary
efforts. In any of these situations a qualified staff employee may receive
training without cost to himself and may thus acquire various levels of
language skill and establish eligibility for language awards. For award
purposes, training under these combined circumstances will be considered
directed or voluntary according to the basis on which the majority)of time
was expended.
The Office of Training provides a comprehensive program of language
instruction, designed to serve the interests of all employees on either a
directed or voluntary basis. Full particulars concerning both on-duty and
non-duty-hours classes are published periodically in issuances of the Office
of Training. The staff employee who wishes to enroll in any class offered
internally, does so by submitting Form No. 7o, Request for Internal Train-
An & If the desired training is offered only outside the Agency, request is
made on Form No. 1,6, Request for External Training. In each case
signatures of approving officials are required, and the request should be
submitted through the appropriate Training Officer to the Registrar, Office
of Training.
Duty-hour courses are scheduled regularly and are announced in
advance as part of the continuing OTR curriculum. Non-duty-hours
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voluntary classes axe orgaiized as the need arises. A minimum number
of five requests is required for the formation of a non-duty-hours class.
when this number of requests is received, arrangements are made to start
a class at the beginning of a trimester.
In the voluntary program courses are conducted in 15-week trimesters.
The number of trimesters required to achieve an awardable level of pro-
ficiency will vary according to the difficulty of the language and the apti-
tude and industry of the student. For purposes of the awards phase of the
Program, languages are divided according to their relative difficulty into
three groups. Group I includes the more common, easily learned languages;
Group II, those of intermediate difficulty; and Group III those considered
to be most difficult.
The student in a non-duty-hours class is expected to devote 12 hours a
week to study. This includes 5 hours of formal instruction and 7 hours of
self-instruction, in the language laboratory or otherwise. The Office of
Training has two language laboratories, each equipped with semi- sound-
proofed 'booths where the student can work with recordings to supplement
his formal instruction. The laboratory located in Room 2132 1 Building is
open from 0700 to 2030 hours Monday through Friday, and from 1000 to
19;00 hours on Saturday. The laboratory in Room 2918, Quarters Eye is
open from 1700 to 2030 Monday through Friday. Foreign language books,
newspapers, records and tapes are available.
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LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AWARDS
The Language Development Program presumes that those who intend
to make a career in intelligence should have a working knowledge of at least
one foreign language, and that the aggregate of individual competencies should
constitute an Agency capability to meet present and foreseeable requirements.
The program provides an opportunity for all employees to acquire foreign
language competence and provides incentives in the form of language awards.
These awards are monetary benefits granted in recognition of individual
efforts to achieve and to maintain language proficiency at usable levels.
They are of two types, Achievement Awards and Maintenance Awards.
it is an achievement to acquire a usable knowledge of a foreign language
for the first time or to raise one's present knowledge to a higher level of
proficiency. The achievement may result from directed or voluntary study
either internally, or at a non-Agency facility. In any case, the achievement
of a demonstrably useful level of skill is rewardable. The reward is known
as an Achievement Award, granted when the individual achieves an awardable
level of proficiency. If the achievement is a result of voluntary study on
the individual's own time, the amount of the award is twice that which is
granted for the same accomplishment achieved during duty hours.
Language skill once achieved should not be allowed to deteriorate, else
it loses its value to the individual and to the Agency. To encourage indivi-
duals to put forth the effort necessary to maintain their language skills at
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intermediate or huh levels of proficiency, Maintenance i%wards are granted
annually, upon satisfactory evidence that the skill hay, in fact, been main-
tained. The Maintenance ? ward is payable on the anniversary of the date
when the individual completed the Language Data Record, or on the anni-
versary of the date on which he earned a:i Achieveme nt ':.ward.
A language award is not a bonus for possessing a foreign language
competence; it is a reward for the personal effort involved in achieving and
maintaining such a competence. Therefore no Achievement reward will be
granted to an employee for a proficiency which he possessed before 4
February l9-7, the date this program was inaugurated; or, for a proficiency
possessed by the individual when entering on duty in the ":.gency after 4
February 19:57, No Maintenance Award will be paid for a proficiency ac-
quired before employment with the Agency primarily through family associ-
ation or residence abroad and which may be maintained without appreciable
effort; nor for proficiency maintained through required use of a language in
performing duties of the assigned position and which may be maintained
without appreciable outside effort. Those individuals who are ineligible for
these reasons are encouraged to raise their current levels and types of
proficiency or to undertake the study of another awardable language. In
this way they may qualify for Achievement and Maintenance Awards.
1"VARDABLs: LANGUAGES
Thirty-nine foreign languages are considered at present to be of signi-
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ficant usefulness to the Agency and they have been designated as awardable
in the Language Development Program. This list will be reviewed from time
to time in the light of changing Agency requirements, and changes may be
made if necessary. If a student wishes to learn a language not on the list
he should consult with the Chief, Language and Area School. For purposes
of determining appropriate awards in each case, languages are grouped
according to their relative difficulty. Presently awardable languages, by
groups, are:
G
L
I
Language Grou Ii
Lange Group III
rou
anguage
Danish
Albanian
Nepali
Chinese
Dutch'
Amharic
Pashto
Japanese
French
.Arabic
Persian
Korean
German
Bulgarian
Polish
Italian
Burmese
Russian
Norwegian
Cambodian
Serbo- Croatian
Portuguese
Czech
Swahili
Romanian
Finnish
Thai
Spanish
Greek
Tibetan
Swedish
Hindi
Turkish
Hungarian
Urdu
Icelandic
Vietnamese
Indonesian
Malay
LEVELS OF PROFICIENCY
Five levels of proficiency are used for evaluating language skills. They
are Slight, Elementary, Intermediate, High and Native. Language awards,
however, are granted only at the elementary, intermediate and high levels.
No award is given for a slight knowledge nor is native proficiency awardable.
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If proficiency equal to that of a native should be attained by a person who
is not himself a native, the award for that achievement would be the amount
authorized for the high-comprehensive level.
Levels of proficiency:
Readip r:
Slight
Elementary:
Fair knowledge of the writing system; ability to read
only titles and the simplest texts, using the dictionary
constantly.
Adequate knowledge of the writing system; ability
sufficient for daily needs (public signs, etc.); ability
to read simple texts in colloquial style, using the
dictionary frequently.
Complete knowledge of the writing system; ability
to read most texts in colloquial style with fair ease;
ability to read texts of average difficulty in standard
written language (newspapers, etc.), using the dic-
tionary frequently.
High: Ability to read texts of most grades of difficulty, of
a general nature or in fields with which one is famil-
iar, with some understanding of subtleties of expression,
using the dictionary rarely.
Native: ,Ability to read texts of any difficulty and in any style,
of a general nature or in fields with which one is fa-
miliar, with understanding of subtleties of expression.
Writing:
Slight: Fair ability to use the writing system; ability to
communicate only the simplest ideas, with only partial
success, with continual errors, many of them serious,
and using the dictionary constantly.
Elementary: Ability to use the writing system adequately; ability to
write personal letters and similar simple material,
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Intermediate:
High:
Pronunciation:
Slight:
Elementary:
Intermediate:
High:
Native:
Speakin&:
Slight:
Elementary:
with reasonable success, but with many errors, some
of them serious, and using the dictionary frequently.
Ability to use the writing system correctly; ability
to write personal letters and similar, simple material,
with reasonable success, with only occasional minor
errors, but in obviously foreign style, using the
dictionary occasionally.
Ability to write personal letters and similar simple
material with complete success; ability to write
factual narrative and expository material with
reasonable clarity, with few grammatical errors, but
in a style which may not be entirely native, using the
dictionary rarely.
Ability to write personal letters and similar, simple
material with complete success, without using the
dictionary; ability to write factual narrative and
expository material with reasonable clarity, with very
few grammatical errors, in completely native style.
Poor pronunciation, frequently difficult to understand.
Fair pronunciation, sometimes difficult to understand.
Adequate pronunciation, obviously foreign, but almost
always understandable.
Excellent pronunciation, but not quite native.
Native pronunciation.
Ability restricted to the commonest conversational
phrases and patterns; communication is faulty, speech
is halting.
Sufficient ability to manage to get along in the most
common situations of daily life and travel; speech is
often slow.
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Intermediate: Ability to get along quite well in situations of daily
life and travel; ability to conduct routine business
in particular fields.
High: Ability to speak fluently and accurately in nearly
all practical and social situations; ability to converse
in most fields with which one is familiar; ability to
use popular sayings, literary references, and
common proverbs.
Native: Ability to speak fluently and accurately in all practi-
cal and social situations; ability to converse freely and
idiomatically in all fields with which one is familiar.
Understanding:
Slight: Ability to understand only the most common phrases
and the simplest conversation, often only after repetition,
Elementary: Ability to understand simple conversation, both face-
to-face and on the telephone, and some of what one
hears on the radio and at movies, plays and lectures.
Intermediate:
High:
Ability to understand nearly all conversation on topics
of daily life and travel, both face-to-face and on the tele-
phone, and much of what one hears on the radio and at
movies, plays and lectures.
Ability to understand non-technical conversation on
most subjects, both face-to-face and on the telephone,
and most of what one hears on the radio and at movies,
plays and lectures, including most jokes and puns.
Native: Ability to understand non-technical conversation on all
subjects, both face-td-face and on the telephone, and
all of what one hears o.i the radio and at movies, plays
and lectures.
TYPES OF PROFICIENCY
.Two types of proficiency are the bases for language development awards.
These are specialized proficiency and comprehensive proficiency.
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Specialized proficiency is a knowledge of one of the elements of reading,
writing or speaking a language. Pronunciation and understanding are
assumed to be elements within speaking.
Comprehensive proficiency, on the other hand, requires a knowledge
of reading. writing, speaking, pronunciation and understanding.
The goal for one who has a specialized proficiency at an awardable
level is an extension of his language skills to a level of comprehensive
knowledge.
SCHEDULE OF AWARDS
The amounts for achievement awards as outlined in the schedule are
payable for voluntary training: achievement awards for directed training
are one-half of the stated amount. Maintenance awards are granted in the
listed amounts.
PROFICIENCY (Type)
SPECIALIZED
COMPREHENSIVE
PROFICIENCY (Level)
ELEM
INTER
HIGH
ELEM
INTER
HIGH
ROUP I LANGUAGES
Achievement
$50
$100
$200
$100
$200
$400
Maintenance
None
$ 50
$100
None
$100
$200
ROUP U LANGUAGES
Achievement
$100
$200
$400
$200
$400
$800
Maintenance
None
$100
$200
None
$200
$400
GROUP III LANGUAGES
Achievement
$200
$400
$800
$300
$600
$1200
Maintenance
None
$200
$400
None
$300
$ 600
SCHEDULE OF AWARDS
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The largest award for any degree of language proficiency is $1200,
granted for the voluntary achievement of the highest level of comprehensive
proficiency in a Group III language. The lowest amount of an Achievement
Award is $25.00, granted for attainment of the elementary level of speci-
alized proficiency in a Group I language as a result of directed study. The
largest award for maintenance is $600; this for a. Group Il language. No
award is given for maintaining language knowledge at the elementary level.
The total amount for a series of Achievement Awards in a given lan-
guage will not exceed the amount awarded for achievement of the highest
level of proficiency in the language. In other words, the student who ad-
vances from no knowledge to elementary proficiency, to intermediate, and
then to high, will receive, in total, the amount awarded for the high level.
To illustrate: an individual who begins the voluntary study of French and
achieves elementary comprehensive proficiency becomes eligible for an
award of $100. If he continues his study and qualifies next at the intermedi-
ate level, he is eligible for another award of $100. If he then goes on to
high proficiency, comprehensive, he will receive an additional $200, thus
earning a total of $400 in Achievement Awards. If he maintains high com-
prehensive proficiency thereafter, he will be eligible for an annual
Maintenance Award of $200.
To encourage employees to strive for comprehensive proficiency,
certain limitations are placed on awards in the specialized categories.
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