An old joke goes like this:
What do you call someone who speaks three languages?
Trilingual.
Two languages?
Bilingual.
One?
American.
Naturally as suave international diplomats we are expected to be slightly more worldly. The State Department requires that all FSOs become reasonably fluent in at least one foreign language within five years, and two languages at some point in their careers.
In the old days, of course, this was simple: all diplomatic communication was in French. As recently as the 1980s, the official complaint filed by the US government against Iran for the seizure of the US Embassy and staff in Tehran (in violation of the Vienna Convention) was written by the US in English and French, and the response from the Iranians in Farsi and French.
Now, people are expected to converse in each others' native tongue. Language classes are given at FSI and students are graded from 0 (no knowledge) to 5 (academic fluency).
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