US: Lawmakers unveil bills to improve language proficiency

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Lawmakers unveil bills to improve language proficiency

By Brittany R. Ballenstedt bballenstedt at govexec.com

Legislation introduced Wednesday highlights the need for more multilingual
workers across the federal government to translate counterterrorism
intelligence. "It is troubling that five and a half years after September
11, the federal government still lacks a coordinated strategy and
leadership to increase the number of Americans who are proficient in
foreign languages,"  said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on the federal
workforce and sponsor of the Senate measure (S. 451).Rep. Brian Baird,
D-Wash., introduced a companion to the National Foreign Language
Coordination Act in the House (H.R. 747).

The 2000 Census found that only 9.3 percent of Americans speak both their
native language and another language fluently, compared with 56 percent of
people in the European Union. Additionally, the Iraq Study Group reported
last month that of the 1,000 American embassy workers employed in Baghdad,
only 33 speak Arabic. Of the 33, only six are fluent. The study group
recommended that the State and Defense secretaries, the Director of
National Intelligence and U.S.  officers and personnel about to be
assigned to Iraq give language proficiency and cultural training the
"highest possible priority."

The bills from Akaka and Baird would prompt the federal government to
collaborate with educators, state and local governments, foreign language
associations and the private sector to increase the number of Americans
who speak and understand foreign languages. The bill also would establish
a National Foreign Language Coordination Council within the Executive
Office of the President to develop and oversee the implementation of a
comprehensive American foreign language strategy. In addition, the measure
aims to integrate language training into career fields in the government
and private sector and increase the number of language-proficient
professionals. Akaka's subcommittee held a hearing last week on the
federal government's language strategy.

Dr. Diane Birckbichler, director of the Foreign Language Center and chair
of the departments of French and Italian at Ohio State University,
testified that "if there is a national language strategy, it isn't very
well known." Birckbichler further recommended that the government
establish a national language policy to create a language-ready workforce
for the future. "Just as I have advocated the need for deputy secretaries
for management at the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to
direct and sustain management leadership, I envision a national language
director to be responsible for maintaining and leading a cooperative
effort to strengthen our foreign language capabilities," Akaka said in a
statement.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0207/020107b2.htm

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