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Seselj,

The DLI Russian Basic Course was 47 training weeks long when I was there (although not for Russian). It might be a few weeks longer now -- it adds up to a whole year spent studying. It gets people to a basic level of proficiency, depending on their aptitude and motivation. You can converse on just about any subject, you can read most materials and understand them.

Most of the courses at DLI are aimed at providing reading and listening proficiency, rather than speaking and writing (which is tougher). There are specialty courses, say for interrogators, that stress the spoken language.

For civilians that want to learn a language, the best way (IMHO) is total immersion. Among schools & universities in the USA, Brigham Young University stands out, although the caffeine-free campus is a heavy cross to bear if you don't share their LDS faith.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

One thing I didn't mention, unlike university instructors, most DLI instructors are native speakers of the target language. That is a very important thing. During the 80s there were so many Russian classes that some of the Russian instructors were experienced military linguists.

Parents with service age, bright kids -- this is a good program. All four services send people here, albeit for different languages and different purposes. A majority of the graduates will work in some aspect of intelligence collection or analysis -- they might wind up with stories they can't tell the grandkids.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F