Skip to main content

Diplomatic Service: Languages

Question for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

UIN 53224, tabled on 22 September 2021

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many (a) Pashto (b) Korean (c) Portuguese and (d) Telugu speakers have been trained for the diplomatic service by her Department in each of the last 5 years.

Answered on

18 October 2021

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has provided full time language training for officers in Pashto, Korean, and Portuguese as follows:

Pashto: fewer than ten officers between 2017 and 2021

Korean: fewer than ten officers between 2017 and 2021

Portuguese: fewer than forty officers between 2017 and 2021.

No officers have received full time language training in Telugu.