Lateefah Simon: “we have the world's only Foreign Service with no language entry requirement, so it is particularly important that we…”

“we have the world's only Foreign Service with no language entry requirement, so it is particularly important that we encourage proficiency in languages among Foreign Service officers. I've put forward several measures in the authorization bill, and others in past years, with the object of raising language proficiency in the Foreign Service. I now offer another amendment, modestly designed to stimulate the assignment to our overseas posts of Foreign Service officers who speak and read the local language well. S4/R4--speaking:four/reading:four--is the score given to Foreign Service officers with so-called full professional proficiency in a language. This means real fluency, the ability to appear at a public meeting or be interviewed on television. Getting and keeping an S4/R4 takes hard work and talent. In comparison, S5/R5 is the score for an educated native-language speaker. Last year I consulted with numerous ambassadorial nominees, Foreign Service officers, who stressed the importance of having at least some staffers in their Embassies with full professional proficiency. But we have never, so far, accepted full professional proficiency as a requirement for any job in any of our Embassies overseas.”