Thoughts on Language Training

Happy to report success in finishing Indonesian language training today.  It was more difficult than I was expecting but perhaps it was nervousness.  When I last tested in Mandarin, it seemed not nearly so nerve-wracking, but I think I had less on the line if I were not able to pass.  I now have the necessary language requirement completed to fulfill tenure and for my position in Indonesia.

Language at FSI is very well run and rigorous.  Despite however good the instruction is there though, it is necessary to anticipate dedicating a significant amount of time to self-study in order to really master the vocabulary.  The idea of learning an alternative word for every word one might have to be articulate in English is an intimidating task.

I think I now have a good foundation of the language but feel I will need much more in order to feel completely comfortable with it.  I fully plan on continuing studying the language and practicing as much as feasible when at post.  Trends indicate a significant role of Indonesia in Asia and becoming adept in the language and culture will only be useful. 

I'm happy to have completed language training and look forward to moving back into my role in international affairs.

Off to SE Asia!

Religion in International Relations with Sec. Clinton

Today, morning classes were replaced with a session on the influence of religion in international relations.  This event was hosted by an organization called the Appeal of Conscience Foundation with the FSI.  The Appeal of Conscience Foundation is an interfaith coalition working to increase dialogue and promote understanding among religions.  Evidently, this seminar has been an annual tradition for the past 30 years.  This session was entitled "Resurgence of Religion as a Factor in International Relations.

When I received notice a couple weeks ago that this event would take place, I wasn't sure what to expect or make of it.  The notice only really said "Appeal of Conscience" and I didn't understand what that was referring to and didn't investigate it further.  So when I arrived today to the event, I was greatly surprised to open the program and see Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the keynote speaker!  Moving up to the closest front row seat remaining, I eagerly anticipated the program start.

It was actually a very interesting seminar.  Religion plays a very important part of the lives of people who have faith and in order to fully understand the perspectives and situations in other countries, one has to be cognizant of religion.  In terms of fulfilling US objectives overseas regarding promotion of democracy, equality, trade, and many other aspects, religious leaders or the role religion is often very prominent.  Even in countries without official religions like China, religion still plays a major role as that will often will be the source of intolerance or oppression.  So US officials should really understand religion in their country of assignment in order to fully be effective in they reporting, negotiations, and programs.

A message that was often conveyed, even by Sec. Clinton, was that supporting religious freedom and combating intolerance should be on the agenda in every country of assignment.  I very much agree with this as every US foreign policy objective is supported by working with other countries that support openness and discussion.  If every country we worked with was an open and free democracy, US business abroad would be booming and we could expect economic growth for all (with the assumption that open and free democracies lead to economic prosperity).  South Korea was mentioned as case study for this theory.  Being that the peninsula of Korea was a very homogenous society but now has an arbitrary border separating the North and South, the evidence of economic growth in the south supports the theory that democracy is conducive to prosperity.  I suppose the argument could be made that privatization is the key but anyway..

One last point that I like about Clinton is that she has always been a strong advocate for the role of development and USAID in her tenure.  She consistently makes sure to mention the role of development in the US foreign policy strategy and I hope whoever follows her will be equally supportive and knowledgeable.

Following the presentation, I was warming up my lunch and overheard a couple talking about the presentation.  The wife was saying to her husband that she didn't agree with statements by some of the presenters that FSO's join to help humanity abroad.  This got me thinking about motivation.  The motivation to join the Foreign Service.  One's real motivation, not whatever one might have submitted in the Statement of Interest before taking the Oral Assessment.  But that will have to wait for another post.

Final Push Before the Language Test

In two weeks, I'll take my language assessment test in Indonesian completing my 5 months of language training.  This will be critical to pass in order for obtaining the necessary language ability for my assignment, but also for fulfilling a critical requirement in order to become tenure-eligible.  All FSO's must obtain proficiency in a foreign language.  I tested previously in Chinese but didn't quite hit the score needed, I received a 1+ and I needed a score of 2 (the scale is 1 to 5).  For Indonesian, I will only need to obtain a 2/2.

The language test consists of two components:  Speaking and Reading.  These two components are then composed of several subcomponents.

Speaking

• Conversation
• The test begins where you are to have a natural conversation with the testers.  You can ultimately talk about any subject and control the conversation to whatever you want.  The main point is to just keep the conversation going and to show your proficiency being able to naturally converse.
• Presentation/Speaking at Length
• In this section, you are able to select from several topics that are within the general categories such as Science&Techonology, Business&Economy, Administration&Government, Current Affairs, Culture, etc.  You then need to give basically a presentation on this topic showing knowledge and ability to use the pertinent vocabulary as well include factual information and personal opinions/observations.
• Interview/Comprehension
• In this section, you will be allowed to select a topic from one of the categories previously mentioned and will need to interview one of the testers on that topic.  Throughout the interview, you will need to report the information you find to the other tester.

 Reading

• Reading - Gist
• You get several articles (I believe 6) with just the headline and several paragraphs from each article.  You have to quickly skim them all and at the end of the time limit, then report to the testers what each one was about.
• Reading - In-Depth
• You get a long article and you have to read the article.  At the end of the time limit, you then explain what the article was about and the testers will ask follow-up detailed questions about the content.

Outside of this, I'm preoccupied elsewhere for preparing for my first TDY assignment, writing my employee statement and package for my annual evaluation, and planning my wedding.

Immersion Day - Food!

This week, the Indonesian class took an immersion trip to the Indonesian DCM's (Deputy Chief of Mission) home to learn about Indonesian food and cooking.  This experience was to allow us the opportunity to gain vocabulary on food and cooking.  That afternoon, we also had a music lesson with the traditional instrument, anklung.

Before where each team had to present the ingredients they were going to use and how to prepare their dish.

The after shot.

Our fried rice wins for style.

Lunch prepared by the Indonesian DCM's staff.

This is an angklung.  Each angklung plays a single note so many are needed to play a song.

Fundraiser Event

On Saturday, I attended a fundraiser event held by one of the Indonesian teachers.  This event was put on to raise funds for a Catholic group in Flores, Indonesia.

It was a fun event with great Indonesian food and fun exposure to Indonesian music.  All food was prepared by the hosts of the event rather than catered out and it was all very impressive.

These fried shrimp chips are called "kerupuk".  The same types of chips are found in many Chinese banquets and weddings.

The buffet!

This was just my first plate.

Indonesian Class Holiday Party

The setup the teachers used for their skits.

Today, my class had a holiday party instead of our typical class schedule (2 hours language, 1 hour lab, and another 2 hours language).  This was a fun break from the routine and was a fun time to practice Indonesian outside of the classroom context.

Each class group prepared presentations or skits for the day and the teachers performed skits with the objective for students to practice understanding the situations and the subjects of their conversations.

The food spread was also very nice.  Everyone brought in various dishes potluck style and the teachers purchased a traditional Indonesian dish which is composed of a mountain of rice surrounded by various side dishes.

The dish to the left is "nasi tumpeng".  The crock pot has meatballs and soup for the dish "bakso".

Yum!

Language Midpoint, CO Conference, Development

Language training continues.  Reached the mid-point of my training and everyone had their first progress test.  I'm doing well and on-track to finish in early February.  The test was similar to the final assessment in that there was a large speaking component and exercises in discussing at length various topics.  However, they also used a written test as well for the progress test, whereas in the final exam, there will only be speaking and reading components.

In December, I'm hoping to take a day off from training in order to attend the Controller/Contracting Officer Conference.  In this conference, Finance Officers and Contracting Officers will gather to attend sessions on the further execution of Procurement Reform and other pertinent topics related to our field.  I hope to gain some insight into the execution of direct government transfers as well as learn more about successfully awarding directly to small, local NGOs in the field.  Also, the conference should be a good opportunity to get to meet Officers from all over the world, particularly my future supervisors and colleagues with whom I'll be working with once I go to post.

Aside from the above, I've also been reading a lot of blogs on development work.  A lot of blogs on this area tends to be cynical of their work and its effects.  It has also made me consider my role in USAID as well as how development work is done.  I feel that, as an FSO, it's best to concentrate on the two main objectives of USAID being that, first and foremost, the work we do is to further the US's foreign policy, and second, to fulfill the humanitarian goals of the American people.  Foreign assistance will always have political undertones that mean to benefit the donor country, we just need to work hard to ensure it will always benefit the receiving country as well.  Thus by helping other countries, the US is also helping itself.

I also now tend to believe that real change really only comes through governmental reform.  Despite the efforts of for-profit development companies, international NGO's, or local NGO's, governmental change is the real key to creating sustainable, beneficial change for the citizens thereof.  I mean, in cases of societal dissatisfaction and bringing about change, the main objective is usually to bring about some governmental reform (either in governance/leadership, regulation, policy, etc). 

This leads me to believe that the priority of change agents for countries are (from greatest to least):
<< internal government reform - local NGO's - international NGO's - for-profit development companies >>
This priority listing can even be thought of the priority sourcing list the US government uses in the FAR for supplies and services being to first review internal agency capabilities, then other agencies, and so on until lastly, looking outside at commercial sources.  So really, in so many cases, are contractors the only source for the work they do (caveat, this hyperlink article is definitely written by a lobbyist) or is that just the nature of how government work is now so much contracted out?

So I think, that where possible, by providing direct investment into partner governments to bolster, say, education, this would have to greatest affect in improving that target area since the partner government will gain the ability and skill to manage these programs.  FSO's can then work directly with the receiving partner government to implement that program.

This model just sounds so much better than the continuous contracting to an expat organization to send so many people to that country to do some work, maybe hold a seminar or two and call that capacity building, and leave with no real sustainable change and half of the assistance funds going to those companies and not the societies USAID wants to impact.  It reminds me of the trickle-down theory whereas by giving money to the wealthy, it'll eventually reach the intended target.  It'll be interesting to get to the field and really start to see and understand how things work to then be able to begin pondering better ways that things can be done.

And yes, I hyper-linked an excessive amount in this posting on the development stuff but there was just a lot of interesting discussion out there on this subject.

6 Weeks in Language Training

About to complete the first 6 weeks of language training.  So far, things have been progressing well but considering I'm a 1/4 through my language training, I'm still nervous about reaching the level I need to complete it.

For Indonesian language, there were almost 30 people enrolled taking the class.  Two thirds of the students are State employees with USAID making the last third.  For the first 2 1/2 weeks of class, they had all students together in one big class to learn the fundamentals of the language and basic vocabulary.  After that, students were then split up into groups of four for the rest of the training.

One thing that I think is nice about learning Indonesian is that all the people in the class will be going to the same country, mostly all to the city of Jakarta with a smaller subset going to Surabaya.  This is different than languages such as French or Spanish where people will be put into countries all over the world where that language might be used.

So since we're all going to the same country, we have the opportunity to get to know the same people we will be working and living with in the embassy community next year.  It's a nice to already have a network established before even reaching the country!

Now, back to studying!

Indonesian Embassy Independence Day Celebration

The Indonesian Ambassador, his wife, and his DCM shook hands and greeted every attendee.

Yesterday, I attended the Indonesian Independence Day celebration at the Indonesian Embassy.  Indonesia declared independence on Aug. 17, 1945; however, they were only now celebrating their Independence Day due to last month being the month of Ramadan, in which a formal celebration would have been inappropriate.  Note, Indonesia is the most populated Muslim majority nation in the world.

The Indonesian Ambassador to the US, H.E. Dr. Dino Patti Djalal.

My Indonesian class was invited to attend by the Indonesian Embassy as we will all be working in Indonesia next year.  The event featured traditional Indonesian dance performances, speeches by the Indonesian Ambassador, and four officials from the US (Asia Bureau, Commerce, Education, and DoD).  I think the four speeches by the US was a bit too many and would have preferred just the Indonesian Ambassador speak and maybe one official from the US with just mention of other esteemed guests, but it was still all ok.

The Embassy served a variety of hors d'oeuvres and refreshments including wine and mixed drinks.  They also had a full meal served cocktail-style including Indonesian fried rice, salad, satay, and other Indonesian dishes.  I was too famished at the time and neglected to take a picture of the food spread :P.

The inside of the embassy was very impressive.  I think I may have come into the embassy during the Passport DC event earlier, but I'm not sure since I saw so many of them.  Would have taken more pictures but didn't want to appear too much of a tourist at my first representational event.

I'm very glad I was able to attend to the event and it was good inspiration for me to work to get my Indonesian to a level where I can capably converse!

Language Training Begins

I started this week at the Foreign Service Institute taking Indonesian.  I'll be attending classes here for the next 6 months (24 weeks) though I'm planning on beating that by testing out in 22 for personal reasons.

I was surprised at the large number of people they had starting classes this week.  I think the number 800 was put out there of students beginning language studies.  That number though includes FSOs, who make up the largest amount of that number, Eligible Family Members (spouses of FSOs, typically from State Dept., who are allowed to learn their post's language), and a handful of DoD and other agencies.

So far, I've been very impressed with the method of instruction and have good expectations for the future.  They push us at an aggressive pace to build our understanding of grammatical construction and vocabulary and the instructors are very personable and knowledgeable.

When contrasting it to my previous experiences in formal language training, I think this is the most impressive.  The teachers seem well-trained and quickly adapt to the needs of the students.  They also prepare much of their language materials and books themselves to specifically address the needs of the Foreign Affairs professionals which they mainly cater to.  I'll need to dedicate lots of time to studying..

Countdown to Language Training

Been out for a while due to laptop issues.  So, I tentatively have been assigned Indonesia for my directed assignment.  It's not completely formalized but confident enough that it will be the country of assignment that in two weeks, I'll be starting language training at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, VA  to learn Indonesian (Bahasa) for the next 6 months.

I'll also be taking the language examination for Mandarin in a couple weeks as I've had that test scheduled for 2 months now and I might as well see how I formally score.

I'm looking forward to this assignment and think it'll be great to learn a more obscure language.  I think both personally while navigating and living in the city and professionally while working with local officials and people, it will be invaluable to have the ability to communicate.  Not very many professions allow for the opportunity to learn something like Indonesian!

Week 1 Complete

Week 1 of the USAID orientation is complete.  As a summary, the week included much administrative in-processing and introductory lectures on the organization, the Development Leadership Initiative (the program I'm in), and Q&A sessions regarding how long we'll be in DC, when we will be posted, how assignments are determined, and how language training assignments are determined.  In this post, I'll answer those questions based off what I have learned.

How long will I be in DC?  When will I be posted?
Most likely, I will be in DC until about the Summer of 2012.  The average tour for new DLI's in DC typically averages about a year.  It varies depending on your functional backstop (position), and for mine, Contracting, they typically have the longest stays in DC.  However, for my incoming class, this length of stay will be for almost everyone due to the backlog in assignment availability.

How are assignments made?
There are various factors used in making assignments.  These are:
-Coach input (each function has their own assigned coach to help guide through the process as well as advise on where they should be posted for their development)
-Backstop Coordinator (this is the functional manager.  For example, it would be the equivalent of the M-Level Contracts Manager at Boeing that did most of the HR assignments and Core functional issues)
-Personal Preferences (On Tuesday, my personal preference form is due in which I list experiences and preference for assignment.  This form also includes personal information such as family status that would need to be taken into account in making assignments)
-Language abilities (They take into account what languages you currently know and what is needed by the organization)
-Posting Availability (This is the most important factor in the assignment process.  If there is no space at that post or no supervisors available for training incoming DLI's there, then they will not assign you there.  We are obviously limited to the supply available)

Lastly, everything is also influenced by the strategy of the organization.  USAID said in "USAID Forward" (the strategic plan forward for the agency which is available on their website) that the focus is now Africa, Asia, and the Middle-East.  So while positions in Latin America or Eastern Europe are still available, there is the overall push for the priority areas.

How are language assignments made?
There are two considerations for DLI's regarding language assignments.
1) Language Tenure Requirement
--All Foreign Service Officers are required to reach proficiency in at least one foreign language within 3-5 years of coming in order to reach tenure.  If they are unable to, then they would be released from service.  Typically, this requirement is usually not a major hurdle as most people interested in this career already have some language proficiency or at the very least an eagerness to learn one.  Additionally, the agency will do what they can to give that opportunity to learn one.
--Essentially, if you already have a language ability, REGARDLESS of it's relevancy to the agency or its missions, then you will be encouraged to take the proficiency test for that language to complete the tenure requirement.
2) Assignment Language Requirement
--Each assignment carries with it a required language ability in order to be placed there.  Some could have no language requirement.  But if the position you are assigned to requires a certain language, then you will have to go to language training to reach the needed proficiency.

So potentially, a person could fulfill the language requirement by testing out for tenure purposes but still need to go to language training to meet the requirements of their assignment.
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For my situation, I believe I may be assigned to a post without a language requirement.  However, I may also go to language training in order to "top off" my current proficiency in Mandarin in order to fulfill the tenuring requirement.  However, this is all guessing so I won't know for sure until later down the line.