The U.S. Department of State’s Corps of Student Interpreters

Following the examples of European nations, China and Japan, the United States Department of State established a Corps of Student Interpreters (1902– 1924) to provide in-country language training in China, Japan, and Turkey. This chapter discusses the program’s rationale, precursors and models, and factors impacting its establishment and implementation. Recruitment challenges, selection criteria, and the career progression of student interpreters are examined on the basis of program documentation. Excerpts of correspondence between senior diplomats provide insight into the program’s genesis, and the memoirs of student interpreters posted to China relate personal impressions of in-country experience. A possible precursor to the diplomatic interpreting of today, the Corps is situated in a broader framework of language training for interpreters and diplomats.