Author: Den Hoopingarner

I have not been writing very much here lately. It’s not because I haven’t been doing anything. It’s because I’ve been doing too much of something. That something is: studying Vietnamese.

I am in language class full-time, Monday through Friday. We typically have class for five hours a day. After that, we have a lot of homework to do. I regularly spend 3 to 4 hours per day outside of class working in various homework projects and language practice activity. Last weekend, we basically studied all day on Saturday and Sunday.

One of our classmates requested time to practice making sentences and work on the mechanics of the language. He thought we needed the opportunity to play around with the language, make sure that we could use what we were learning. The program director was very responsive and added 3 hours per week for that, on an optional basis. Being a bit masochistic, I take advantage of that opportunity, too. So, on many days, I am in language class for 6 hours a day.

Language study at the Foreign Service Institute is much more intense than other classroom learning. For one thing, we are in a small class of four students (which is actually large by FSI standards).

Also, we have three different teachers who rotate in and out throughout the day. Sometimes it feels like they are tag-teaming us. One teacher exhausts us, then she tags out and another teacher, fresh and rested, jumps into the classroom to work us over again. Sometimes I imagine them conspiring among each other. “Yes, I really confused the hell out of them with that grammar point. Their self-confidence is shaky now. They’re vulnerable. You can make them cry for sure if you make them practice it again.” Then the next teacher leaps into the classroom and makes us cry.

Several months ago, before I started language study, someone who has gone through the process already said that language study is like the movie “Groundhog Day.” Every day, he went to the same classroom with the same teachers and did the same thing. I had that feeling for the first time this past Tuesday. I woke up, looked at the class schedule for the day, and realized that I was going to be in the same classroom, with the same students and teachers, working on the same language, all day.

But this week was different. On Thursday and Friday this week, we had our first formal progress evaluation. We have been studying for eight weeks already. The expectation is that we have proficiency at level one on the ILR scale in speaking, listening and reading. That’s about the level that a college student would be expected to reach after two years of study.

If you compare the number of hours that we were in class with the number of hours that a college student would be in language class, I have already studied Vietnamese for more hours then a college student would study in an entire academic year. Crammed into eight weeks.

I’ll repeat myself: language study at the Foreign Service Institute is intense.

I stressed a bit about the test. After all, this is my job, and I want to perform well. Also, I have to admit that I am, like some of my coworkers, competitive and proud. A sizeable part of my self-worth is based on how smart I think I am. I’m not proud of that, I’m just being honest with myself.

My wife stressed more than I did. The stakes are a bit higher for her. If I don’t do well on the test, they will double down and work with me more. But her situation is different. She isn’t an officer. She is what is known as a “eligible family member.” The government will only allow her to continue to study if there is space in the class, and if she shows that she is making a good effort to learn. Since she wants to get a job at consulate in Vietnam, she knows that language skills are important, so she really wants to stay in the class.

The progress test was spaced out over two days. We did the reading part one day, and the speaking/listening part the second day. I have said before that I’m very impressed with the quality of language instruction here, and the testing program is equally impressive. They really know what they’re doing here.

We did well. The teachers gave us feedback on the spot, pointed out what we did well, and identified goals for us to work toward. Next week we will continue classes, and it will be another series of Groundhog Days until the next progress evaluation.

The words of Dale Cooper apply: “I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.”

If you see people walking around the grounds of the Foreign Service Institute this week with their heads bowed and muttering to themselves, don’t worry. They aren’t mentally disturbed. They are just preparing for their language tests.

My destination is far away, and in an unclear fog. An apt allegory for my current life.

They take language teaching at FSI very seriously. We spent much of our first day of class in orientation and pre-training. The director of FSI, reminded us that the taxpayers are spending a LOT of money to give us language, and that we have a big responsibility not to waste that. She also reminded us that we will have to work hard if we want to get higher than a basic level of proficiency. Language skills are another tool that diplomats use, and the better that we can speak our target languages, the better diplomats we will be.

We also took several diagnostic tests. One was the (in)famous Modern Language Aptitude Test, affectionately referred to as the MLAT. We also took a learning style diagnosis. As someone with a background in education and applied linguistics, I participated in these tests with good-faith seriousness, but with a grain of salt. The bottom line is that the students with a positive attitude and who work hard will succeed, and those who put in a half-hearted effort will not do well, regardless of our respective aptitudes. Nevertheless, it was a good start to this long-term learning effort.

After two weeks of training, we have a good grasp of the sound system, a working vocabulary of about 200 words, and some basic grammar. The textbook is organized by function. Every chapter centers on communicative functions, like greetings, introductions, and asking for information.

At the rate we’re going, we are getting the equivalent of a college semester every three weeks or so. I am scheduled to be in language for 39 weeks. The amount of instruction that I will get works out to be more than I would get in a four-year degree program.

It’s a lot of work. My wife and I put in at least three hours of homework every night, sometimes four hours a day. That’s after five hours of class instructional time. Our brains are worn out.

Lucky for us, we don’t have the distractions of a family life. We don’t have to get kids off to school, help them with their homework, attend PTA meetings, and deal with drama at home. I take my hat off to working parents who are going through this. One of my friends is especially amazing: a single parent with two young kids, learning another difficult Asian language. she is  amazingly smart, and I know that she will do great. But it can’t be easy. I salute you: A!

It’s nice to be a student again. But this is an intense experience.