Meanwhile the Hindustan Times reported a while back that a group of budding candidates who wished to enter the diplomatic service took their exams in Hindi. With English not being their strong point the young Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Probationers were sent to the Foreign Service Institute in Delhi. Of the batch of 19, at least six were weak in English. “It is not up to the desired standard,” said the Institute’s Ajai Chaudhary. “for the External Affairs Ministry, English is the language through which we communicate to the outside world: the medium through which we conduct our foreign policy,” added Chaudhary, who grooms candidates.
Mr.Chaudhary said his institute was tipped off by the Mussoorie Academy that some fresh recruits lacked proficiency in the language. “We had been fore warned,” he said. The institute has since introduced regular classed for these probationers, who are now being taught how to ‘speak’ and ‘write’ in probationers the institute had to find an English eacher. Initially, a retired professor from the English and Foreign Languages University in Hyderabad was hired part-time before they decided to hire a full-time English teacher.
So budding diplomats, at the end of the day if you want to be a successful career diplomat who has to deal with tricky situations you’ll need ‘the gift of the gab’ in English!