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The Defense Department on Wednesday called for the creation of a senior-level federal position to oversee and coordinate the development of foreign language skills in the United States.

Pentagon officials issued a paper detailing the need for the ongoing promotion of foreign language study. The paper, "A Call to Action for National Foreign Language Capabilities," was the product of the National Language Conference held at the University of Maryland in June 2004.

Defense officials said the report "responds to the urgent need for a national strategy on foreign languages and cultural competency."

"We must identify the critical nodes in our culture that can be influenced most effectively, and we must identify the means to influence them to cause a shift, now," said David S. Chu, the Pentagon's undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. "We must find where and how we can best concentrate our effort in order to produce significant change."

Late last month, the Pentagon launched "a major initiative" to develop foreign language experts among the military's uniformed ranks and civilian workforce. That effort included a call to increase the Defense Department's Foreign Language Proficiency Pay and to establish a Defense Language Office in the Pentagon.

The white paper released Wednesday called for a broader effort across governmental, private and nonprofit organizations to boost foreign language study.

"No one sector - government, industry or academia - has all of the needs for language and cultural competency," the report said.

The paper did, however, call on the president and the federal government to lead other sectors of society in the effort to improve foreign language skills in the United States.

"This task requires guidance and incentives from the federal level," the report said. "It is urgently recommended that a national language authority be appointed by the president to serve as the principal adviser, advocate and coordinator in the federal government, and to collaborate with state and local governments, academia and the private sector for improving our national foreign language and cultural understanding capabilities."

According to the report, the language official would be responsible for developing a national strategy, establishing relationships among interested groups, and leading a public relations campaign stressing the importance of foreign language skills.

Marco A. Campos, director of the language program in The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, said the proposal was a good idea as long as the official is well qualified.

"I definitely think that's important," Campos said. "I think it's important to have somebody who has a professional background ... a person who may be able to identify needs, an expert in the field."

The paper also called for a National Foreign Language Coordination Council - to be led by the senior language official - that would be funded by Congress and would recommend policy and legislation.

COMMENTS

• HURRAY! FINALLY, the bell has rung! The white paper and scheduled conference are hitting the nail on the head. I was a product of the last language impetus resulting from Sputnik in 1957. Beginning in high school and through college, I took French, Russian, German, and Mandarin, and Linguistics. By the time I finished my programs in the early 70s, the focus on language was on the wane. In the ensuing decades, I have watched as US efforts on many global fronts have been hobbled back a lack of depth in other languages and cultures. I have been disappointed as the domestic orientation to this subject has, if anything, been confined to a preoccupation with political correctness rather than a genuine appreciation of varying perspectives and communication forms. It looks like this may begin to change. I agree with the former contributor that this could have an enriching effect (in more ways than one) on the education infrastructure. DoD - ya done good! DoD Employee, Linguaphile GovExec.com reader Posted April 28, 2005 2:17 PM
• Our strategic needs in foreign languages could provide a ready and easily defended justification for greater federal funds being spent on our public schools, especially at the elementary level (as language acquisition is best among the young, and gets more difficult with age). Even where federal funds spent on public schools does not produce a fully talented pool of second language speakers, shools with better funding produce graduates with a better and deeper appreciation for education, study habits, and education theory. THESE students will be better poised to acquire languages later in life. Shane F. Hockins Posted April 28, 2005 9:45 AM
• This country had a foreign language program once, and it didn't require federal $$ to make it go. What happened? When I was growing up, which admittedly was a long time ago (40 yrs+), if you wanted to go to college in anything but the sciences or business you had to have taken at least 2 years of foreign language in high school. The B.A. college degree also required an additional 4 semesters of foreign language. My family moved frequently, and I attended 2 different high schools in two different states, but both had a robust language program. The first HS had 4,000+ students, and offered four years of Spanish, French, German, Latin, and Russian, plus two years of Italian. The second HS had 1,600 students, and offered four years of Spanish, French, German, and Latin. Yes, this is needed. Allen Thuring Posted April 28, 2005 8:47 AM