Overview
The Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) is a U.S. Department of Defense test of aptitude for learning a foreign language, not of a language you already speak. It is a gate for the Basic Program at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) in Monterey, California. The catalog used here is the 2019-2020 edition, so the language lists may have changed. The test's own format, timing and question count are not described in the sources read for this page.
Who can apply
DLIFLC admits members of the armed forces, DoD and other federal civilian employees, and in some cases adult family members of military students. Each student must be sponsored by a service or agency, and that sponsor decides the language. DLIFLC does not take registrations itself. Applicants to the Basic Program must be high school graduates and must have taken the DLAB. Service policy applies on top: the FAQ page says soldiers talk to a career counsellor and complete a cross-rate request, Marines contact the Marine Corps foreign language program, and Airmen submit a retraining package, each with the DLAB.
Marking and results
Each language belongs to a difficulty category, with a minimum DLAB score. These are the minimums in the 2019-2020 catalog.
| Category | Minimum DLAB score | Languages listed in the catalog |
|---|---|---|
| I | 95 | French, Spanish |
| II | 100 | Indonesian |
| III | 105 | Hebrew, Persian-Farsi, Russian, Tagalog, Urdu |
| IV | 110 | Modern Standard Arabic, Arabic-Egyptian, Arabic-Iraqi, Arabic-Levantine, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Pashto-Afghan |
Individual services may set their own requirements. Intermediate and advanced programmes do not use the DLAB; they depend on proficiency measured by the DLPT or an oral interview.
How to apply
The DLAB can be given at any military installation that has a test control officer. At Fort Drum, a soldier asks for testing on DA Form 4187 through the unit S-1. The form states that the soldier must not have taken the DLAB in the last six months and must not already hold a qualifying score. It also says a qualifying score is 95, 100, 105 or 110 for categories I to IV, and that soldiers who have already qualified may not retest. Other installations and services may have their own steps.
After the exam
A qualifying score makes you eligible for the language program in the matching category, subject to your service's needs and vacancies. A DLIFLC news item describes a newer version, DLAB2, introduced for trial at Military Entrance Processing Stations. It adds measures of working memory and inductive reasoning. The same item says about 24,000 DLABs were given a year at MEPS at the time. Ask your recruiter or test control officer which version you will take.
FAQs
Is the DLAB a language test?
No. It measures aptitude for learning a language, not knowledge of one, and the DLPT is the test used for proficiency.
Can I retake it?
Not if you already have a qualifying score, according to the Army form. Otherwise it requires at least six months since the last attempt.