I graduated last year from undergrad, and have been thinking about enlisting in the Navy. I spent my junior year abroad in Beijing, and I came back this past August and have been here since. I've made a lot of progress with Mandarin, but it's very hard to rank one's own ability.
The prospect of DLI and studying a language is very appealing to me, which is why I've been considering the CTI rate. On the one hand, I would love the opportunity to learn a new language, and I am open to any of the options (Korean, Arabic, etc). On the other hand, I've invested so much into studying Chinese that being assigned another language and not being able to use Mandarin for 4+ years would be a shame.
I am wondering if anyone has insight or advice for this predicament.
I know about the DLPT, but the details are a bit fuzzy. If I take it and get a 3/3, do I completely skip DLI and start at the next stage of training?
And if I don't get the highest score, would I be assigned a new language, or still get slotted with Chinese and just start DLI somewhere in the middle?
I don't know about skipping all or part of DLI; I think it may only apply to native speakers, and sometimes not even then, since more happens at DLI than just basic language training (i.e. military training such as watchstanding, security clearance processing, specialized language training for various topics, etc.)
If you want to measure your Mandarin ability, try reading newspapers and watching television news programs in Mandarin. The DLPT is a test based around media written by and for native speakers of a target language, and your ability to absorb that relates to what score you can expect to receive on the test. For Mandarin specifically, try learning some traditional characters, since I hear those will be on the DLPT V.
If you arrive at DLI, even with enough skill to pass the DLPT, a lot of decisions regarding what you're talking about will still have to be made there, based on the needs of the Navy. You may get another language, you may do the whole Chinese course anyway, anything is possible but the one thing you can really count on is "needs of the Navy".
On the plus side, if you do get Chinese, prior experience will make your time at DLI a lot easier, and if you don't, scoring high enough on the DLPT in the language you get and Chinese means more FLPP pay.
From the viewpoint of somebody who is currently studying Mandarin at DLI, I can tell you that coming in with prior college experience helps a great deal. Depending on your level of proficiency, you may be assigned a Mandarin class anyway, but it would be mostly to learn the specialized vocabulary. There have been people who took the DLPT early and graduated. On the up side, depending on your teaching team, you wouldn't need to sit through bo po mo fo again. Incidentally, the DLPT5 is roughly half traditional characters, from what I'm told.
I can't say for sure about your options if you 3/3 as soon as you get here.
