The United States government has deemed Farsi as “critical...for a growing number of government jobs in intelligence and defense,” reported the Washington Post, yet "icy relations" make it very difficult for Farsi students to engage in academic exchanges with Iran in order to bolster their language skills:

Universities cannot buy journals or textbooks from Iran because of economic sanctions, and there are currently no exchange programs between the countries.

American students can travel to Iran on their own to study, although the State Department -- and many parents -- caution against it, citing that country's record of detaining Iranian American citizens and journalists.

In addition, the Post noted, “[s]tudents hoping to work for the U.S. government are discouraged from traveling to Iran at all, because it could put future security clearances at risk.” Thus, Farsi students are forced to look for alternative ways to improve their language skills, such as studying abroad in countries with Farsi-speaking communities, like Tajikistan, and practicing with Farsi-speaking communities in the United States.

Russian-language programs faced similar obstacles during the Cold War, said Dan Davidson, president of the American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS. Students were prohibited from traveling to the Soviet Union, so the U.S. government created intensive training programs in the United States, and "at least one university sent students to a Russian-speaking rural region in eastern Finland," Davidson said. And when relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union thawed in the early 1970s, language programs opened in Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).

Such overseas training paid huge dividends in the speaking ability and cultural insights of students of Russian entering the workforce, Davidson noted:

"There are limits on how much anything can grow in a hothouse. Sooner or later, the student has to break into the real world and the real culture," he said.

The Post reported that the U.S. government does offer grants to Americans pursuing language skills important to national security, "including full tuition fellowships for graduate students willing to work for the government for at least two years, particularly in the Defense, Homeland Security or State departments or any intelligence agency. Similar fellowships are available to students of Arabic, Korean, and Mandarin."