conversant in Arabic

When you hear that an American diplomat is "conversant" in Arabic, it only means that he/she took years of Arabic but was can barely say "hi" and "goodbye" in Arabic--and is really corrupted pronunciation.  I call it the Jeffrey Feltman level of Arabic.  I am told that Feltman when he says "Marhaba" or "Shukran" in Arabic, people are often confused and ask him what he is saying because they can't decipher his few words of Arabic.