The Glamorous Life of a Career Diplomat? (Languages & Work) Language Learning Forum

The Glamorous Life of a Career Diplomat?
Tags: Diplomacy \| Career \| United States \| FSI
Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work

haziz Bilingual Triglot Newbie United States Joined 3854 days ago 28 posts - 37 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian), English Studies: Spanish	Message 1 of 3 12 May 2014 at 4:28pm \| IP Logged
	You are a junior career diplomat in the US State Department. You finished a three year assignment at the US consulate in Marseille. You have been working back at the State Department in Washington DC for the last 1 1/2 years. For your next assignment your first choice of the consulate in Montreal has been denied and you have been assigned to the US Embassy in Quito but you do not have to start there for a few months. You studied Spanish in High School for two years but did not retain much; you are however hoping that your robust French will ease your second attempt at learning Spanish. Do they send you for the next 3-6 months to the Foreign Service Institute for full time instruction? Do they hand you a set of tapes the day before you fly to Quito and wish you luck? Do they give you a volume discount for Rosetta Stone? I hope not! If you are sent to the FSI, do you encounter the same 50 year old Spanish course or has it been updated? If it has been updated why is the updated version not available to the general public since taxpayers have effectively funded the creation of the course? While learning Spanish at the FSI, is that your full time job? Are you assigned fully to the FSI for 3-6 months or are you supposed to do it on the side while working full time at the State Department? Do you spend Monday to Wednesday of every week at the State Department but then spend Thursday and Friday working on your Spanish at the FSI? Edited by haziz on 12 May 2014 at 5:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful
Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6589 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, Finnish^C1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish	Message 2 of 3 12 May 2014 at 10:13pm \| IP Logged
	I don't know, but DLI publishes the lessons they develop at GLOSS. Amazing stuff, a lot more enjoyable than FSI. Lots of lessons for Spanish too. Nearly everything is based on native materials, with glossaries, recordings and exercises helping you to understand the content. Also, while the FSI courses are public domain, it's not obligatory to release them. In fact the existing ones have been published by private individuals having access to them, and not by FSI itself. 3 persons have voted this message useful
Duke100782 Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Philippines https://talktagalog.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4480 days ago 172 posts - 240 votes Speaks: English, Tagalog Studies: Spanish, Mandarin	Message 3 of 3 07 February 2015 at 4:37am \| IP Logged
	A career diplomat's life glamorous? Sometimes. But yes, being a career diplomat can open lots of doors for you which wouold be otherwised closed. My impression on U.S. career diplomats is that language-wise they are generally very well-prepared compared to their counterparts from other countries. 1 person has voted this message useful

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haziz Bilingual Triglot Newbie United States Joined 3854 days ago 28 posts - 37 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian), English Studies: Spanish	Message 1 of 3 12 May 2014 at 4:28pm \| IP Logged
	You are a junior career diplomat in the US State Department. You finished a three year assignment at the US consulate in Marseille. You have been working back at the State Department in Washington DC for the last 1 1/2 years. For your next assignment your first choice of the consulate in Montreal has been denied and you have been assigned to the US Embassy in Quito but you do not have to start there for a few months. You studied Spanish in High School for two years but did not retain much; you are however hoping that your robust French will ease your second attempt at learning Spanish. Do they send you for the next 3-6 months to the Foreign Service Institute for full time instruction? Do they hand you a set of tapes the day before you fly to Quito and wish you luck? Do they give you a volume discount for Rosetta Stone? I hope not! If you are sent to the FSI, do you encounter the same 50 year old Spanish course or has it been updated? If it has been updated why is the updated version not available to the general public since taxpayers have effectively funded the creation of the course? While learning Spanish at the FSI, is that your full time job? Are you assigned fully to the FSI for 3-6 months or are you supposed to do it on the side while working full time at the State Department? Do you spend Monday to Wednesday of every week at the State Department but then spend Thursday and Friday working on your Spanish at the FSI? Edited by haziz on 12 May 2014 at 5:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful
Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6589 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, Finnish^C1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish	Message 2 of 3 12 May 2014 at 10:13pm \| IP Logged
	I don't know, but DLI publishes the lessons they develop at GLOSS. Amazing stuff, a lot more enjoyable than FSI. Lots of lessons for Spanish too. Nearly everything is based on native materials, with glossaries, recordings and exercises helping you to understand the content. Also, while the FSI courses are public domain, it's not obligatory to release them. In fact the existing ones have been published by private individuals having access to them, and not by FSI itself. 3 persons have voted this message useful
Duke100782 Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Philippines https://talktagalog.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4480 days ago 172 posts - 240 votes Speaks: English, Tagalog Studies: Spanish, Mandarin	Message 3 of 3 07 February 2015 at 4:37am \| IP Logged
	A career diplomat's life glamorous? Sometimes. But yes, being a career diplomat can open lots of doors for you which wouold be otherwised closed. My impression on U.S. career diplomats is that language-wise they are generally very well-prepared compared to their counterparts from other countries. 1 person has voted this message useful