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 FSI Language Courses Forum : Learning Languages : General Discussion
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sakhmet
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Quote sakhmet Replybullet Topic: FSI Rating System
    Posted: 02 May 2007 at 3:52am
I'm working my way through the Arabic language book and tapes, which are excellent, by the way, and in the preface it says:

After completion of the book, the student should have attained a 'working' proficiency in the language (approximately S-2 level by the FSI Rating System).

I've googled the FSI Rating System but to no avail. Can anyone shed light onto the rating system and what the levels are?


Edited by sakhmet - 02 May 2007 at 3:52am
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daristani
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Quote daristani Replybullet Posted: 02 May 2007 at 6:53am
The FSI rating system was a numerical scale to measure ability in the foreign language, and ranged from zero (i.e., no effective knowledge) to five,  (equivalent to an educated native speaker).  It was used to rate the ability of Foreign Service personnel to function in the countries of their assignments, with three, as I recall, defined as "minimal professional competence".  Foreign Service Officers would try to get scores of three, which would mean they could function in the language in question, but would not be qualified to serve as interpreters, etc.  "S-2" would stand for level-two ability in speaking.  (There were separate skills for reading (R), speaking (S), and understanding, since most people are better at one skill than another.)

The US government has since established the Interagency Language Roundtable, consisting of various agencies whose personnel need and/or deal with foreign languages, and the standards, testing procedures, etc., have been further elaborated.  You can find a history of the scaling system, as well as very detailed descriptions of the current standards, at this page:

http://www.govtilr.org/

Note that the FSI courses were developed to be utilized in intensive courses with instructors and lots of classroom work, as well as work with the tapes themselves, and so the goals for the materials were not predicated merely on working through the texts and drills.  In any event, "your mileage may vary" depending on general language aptitude, the amount of work you put into the courses, prior knowledge of the language in question, etc.  There's no guarantee that anyone will reach any particular level of fluency by using the courses, but the courses are a unique resource that provide, as far as I know, far more opportunity for actual listening and speaking than any other "stand-alone" materials out there.  In any event, good luck with you studies.
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daristani
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Quote daristani Replybullet Posted: 02 May 2007 at 9:00am
Further on the differences among the various levels of competency, here's an article that describes what one can do with different levels, specifically as related to Arabic:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/15/AR2005101500104.html
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sakhmet
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Quote sakhmet Replybullet Posted: 16 May 2007 at 4:35am
Thanks daristani, the links you provided were very helpful. That last one was interesting - I didn't realize there was such a dearth of Arabic speaking diplomats.

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