During this training, "Naganuma's Standard Reader" was used as a text, and the officers were learning to read and write simultaneously while learning to speak the language. Officers with no previous training in the language, and Navy officers who had received very little training at the Navy School at Columbia University. An interesting and significant observation of the language experience of the officers was made by the Acting Commanding Officer, Colonel Boekel, in his weekly report to the Commander, Civil Affairs Division (CAD), dated 25 August 1944. He wrote, "I have made it a practice, whenever possible, to audit the language refresher conferences being conducted here under the supervision of the five language sergeants. I derived the very clear impression that the practical vocabularies of the CASA Officers and their ability to weave the spoken words into a simple sentence structure were woefully inadequate. I gained the impression too that the vocabulary thus far achieved had to do principally with the ordinary amenities of gracious living and that no special effort had been made thus far to teach Civil Affairs officers a vocabulary and language structure which would enable them to make practical applications thereof in simple Civil Affairs tasks. Motivated by the foregoing impressions, we prepared a questionnaire. Today one hour was devoted to the procurement of ninety-one (91) CASA officers' self-evaluation of their Area E linguistic ability. In addition, the five sergeant language instructors were directed to regard themselves as the average CASA linguist and, without consultation with each other, to furnish a rating of the average CASA officer in the same questionnaire...the more significant facts brought out in the questionnaire. The officers in rating themselves claimed a vocabulary which averaged 704 words, and asserted their ability to use 208 words fluently, 275 words fairly well and 192 with difficulty. The Japanese sergeant instructors, in rating the average CASA. officers, gave them credit for the retention of a 204 word vocabulary of which they could use 97 fluently, 70 fairly well, and 82 with difficulty. The answers to interrogatory 4 in the questionnaire (i.e., the Civil Affairs problem) indicate that 71% of the officers consider that they are not sufficiently qualified in the use of the language to accomplish the Civil Affairs mission therein stated. If of this percentage figure there is added the qualified "yes" answers, then only seven (7) officers or approximately 8% themselves equal to the questionnaire language task and 92% are unqualified. Four of the sergeant instructors stated emphatically and one of them qualified that the average CASA officer would not be able to handle the language part of the Civil Affairs mission in question.