European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 25, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Not the russian course at the defense language Institute in Monterey calif., is the school s largest  out in russian it a the talk of military language schools by Susan Chira new York times in colder tenser years the Young soldiers who studied at the Pentagon a huge language school in Monterey calif., wore to shirts boasting Quot we learn russian so you Don t have  the end of the cold War has not Only smashed the Berlin Wall toppled Romania s dictatorship and convulsed the soviet Union a it has transformed the military s language training. Now american soldiers need to learn How to talk to russians not just spy on them. In language Boot Camp where soldiers do class work from 8 . To 3 p.m., sweat through an hour of physical fitness training and then clock another three to five hours of Homework there is a new emphasis on teaching How to speak foreign languages along with the Reading and listening skills that allow graduates to decode and eavesdrop. Quot we never had any Opportunity to speak one on one with russians Quot said sgt Paul Tellock. Quot in essence we have a new Job our speaking will have to be ten times one Hundred times what it  after a year that Shook the postwar world military linguists Are learning How to verify missile disarmament and make Small talk on the plane ride to the missile site How to escort a russian Sailor to Disneyland when his ship docks in san Diego How to explain the rules of racquetball Over lunch at a soviet mess Hall. As a result the american military is rethinking its russian czechoslovak polish and other Central european language courses and realizing its Young linguists will need better language speaking skills and a deeper appreciation of foreign cultures. Quot the linguistic requirements in this peace we re going into Are More stringent than we Ever had in the cold War Quot said army col. Donald c. Fischer jr., commandant of the defense language Institute where 4,500 students a year from All the armed forces study 40 languages in courses noted for their rigor and Speed. Fischer said the Pentagon had Given him a goal at least 80 percent of those in the Basic courses must graduate with enough proficiency to handle Long descriptions and explanations in at least two of three areas a Reading speaking and listening. The need for speaking proficiency is particularly urgent in russian. The course in russian is the institutes largest with More than 1,000 students. The new goal is called level 2. One russian instructor at the school who spoke on the condition he would not be identified said for the past few years teachers had been asked to conduct a worldwide search for soldiers who could speak russian at level 3 a making arguments backing them up and discussing hypothetical situations. They found very few people who could utter anything More than Short sentences. Before 1988, that proficiency in two of the three areas was the institutes goal for its graduates Quot in the past we emphasized listening and Reading Quot the instructor said. A speaking was just in Between whatever they could learn but now we re in a situation where everyone knows the students have to speak  last year 60 percent of russian language graduates attained level 2 proficiency in two of the three areas but Only 36 percent scored level 2 in speaking. That total has improved this year with 45 percent of students so far scoring level 2 in speaking the push to improve speaking skills extends from Basic russian to advanced courses designed to train soldiers verifying missile disarmament. In the past Fischer said Many graduates of the Basic course became Quot cryptology its Quot translating russian after codes had already been broken. Those students with better speaking ability who often received additional training became Quot human intelligence officers Quot or interrogators. Quot now we speak from Day one Quot said sgt. Joyce Hewitt a military language instructor and Institute graduate. In a recent verification class students stood behind their desks As they simultaneously translated from English to russian. Pretending bad weather had delayed flights to a missile verification site they had to get the information from their soviet counterparts translate it into English for higher ranking non russian speaking officers on the verification team and translate those officers comments Back to the soviets. The missile verification course Only in its third year has already been changed substantially. A when we started the course we were Given the treaty and asked to give the students the terminology a said Lyuba Solgalow director of one of the Institute s two russian schools referring to the intermediate Range nuclear forces treaty. Quot but after the actual inspections we realized they needed a lot of speaking Quot master sgt. Jerry Coffman one of the first graduates to work with the on site inspection Agency said he had been Able to identify missile parts Well but had had to struggle when soviet soldiers asked him to explain racquetball rules or when he escorted american j officers to an Art museum in Minsk and had to translate the guide s comments i Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes Friday May 25,1990