MSI Press Blog

    DLIFLC Although the Defense Language Institute teaches German, I did not interact with the German faculty while there as a student in the 1970s. I did, however, elect to take the proficiency test, relying on my high school and university coursework (and, of course, German House). Apparently, that study met the gold standard: I scored 3/3, professional level proficiency, and the highest score allotted to non-native speakers at that time. Thirteen years later, I returned to the DLIFLC as Dean of the Slavic School and later served as Dean of the School of Central European Languages, of which German was one. So, I had the chance to revive rusty German through daily interactions with the faculty, as well as on an individual study basis thanks to one of the instructors kind enough to work with me an hour a week (that was actually enough to foster improved skills) on conversation and literary skills. DLIFLC also provided the first opportunity for me to actually plop down in...

    Die Alpen Johanna worked in Telfs, a mountain town 25 kilometers west of Innsbruck, nestled in the Tyrolean Alps on the Inn River. She taug ht German at the Bundesgymnasium (secondary school). That school made Telfs unusual compared to the smaller villages nearby, which only have primary or middle schools and send their older students into Innsbruck. Telfs was well connected by bus and train — daily commuting to Innsbruck was easy. Johanna would leave early, before I got up each morning, leaving Franz and me to put breakfast together for ourselves and giving me time to get to know Franza (and improve—and sometimes challenge—my German). She would return at 2:00, Austrian lunch time, and we would go into Altstadt for lunch. Franz, who left after breakfast to teach music classes at the university, would join us. My lectures were in the afternoon, so lunch was always a pleasant interlude, another piece of the easy-to-live Austrian lifestyle. One day school had vacation, ...