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Don Casteel was born in Wyoming, and raised
there and in Eastern Oregon. He graduated from the University of
Oregon with a degree in International Relations. While a student at the U of O,
he spent a year abroad at the Netherlands Institute for Foreign Trade (Nijenrode).
He also spent all of his summers working as a farm laborer. After graduation,
Don served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army, with tours of duty in
Vietnam and Germany A month after being discharged, Don entered the Foreign Service of the
United States. In addition to overseas assignments in Argentina, Mexico,
Ecuador, South Africa, Finland and Hong Kong, he served in Washington in such
diverse assignments as Intelligence and Research, Personnel, and
Counter-terrorism (with responsibility for Latin America). Since his retirement
from the Foreign Service, he has been working to help Americans acquire the
tools to deal more effectively with our neighbors in the Western
Hemisphere.
Don
has been tested at or above full professional proficiency level (see our proficiency chart)
in five languages (Spanish, Finnish, Swedish, Dutch and German); and has also
studied Russian (with Dutch as the instructional medium), as well as Cantonese
and Zulu while stationed where those languages are spoken.
He received a commendation from the Secretary of State (Henry Kissinger at the
time) for exceeding the Departments goal for Foreign Service officer language
proficiency.
To send Don
an e-mail, click here. A
message from Don about the program is here.
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Language
proficiency in the Foreign Service
The Department of State's goal for Foreign Service officers is at least
one Western European language at the "3" (full professional
proficiency) level, and one "hard" language (most non-Western
European languages) at least at the "2" level (partial
professional proficiency). Don has 4 Western European languages at
the "3" level or above (Dutch, German, Swedish and Spanish), and one "hard"
language (Finnish). |
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