India: Lessons in English for today's diplomats

[Francis Hult]

The Times of India

 

Lessons in English for today's diplomats

 

English may be the preferred language of international diplomacy, but one of the results of growing democratization is that some of the candidates who want to serve in India's missions overseas have entered after taking exams in regional languages - which means they need special language training in English apart from whichever foreign language they choose.

 

Out of the 19 IFS probationers of the 2008 batch, six had made it through the civil service exams with Hindi as their first language, answering their papers in Hindi. For the first time, arrangements had to be made to teach English to probationers who were weak in English. Senior foreign service officers are certainly not happy about the trend - "Imagine getting recruits who cannot even speak English!"

 

Full story:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lessons-in-English-for-todays-diplomats-/articleshow/5451928.cms

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