Language and Cultural Awareness Transformation

[Stan]

I have been in SF for a while now and with a few rare exceptions, the only guys I have known who had anything approaching fluency in anything other than English either A) had English as a second language or B) were married to someone who had English as a second language. As I stated there were a few exceptions but they are few and far between. I understand the desire for for more fluent speakers, I just haven't heard any workable plans to get significantly more people fluent.

Different regions, occupations and crowd I guess? Although I agree with version B, during my DAS days both here and in Africa, I knew many folks from the SF and Ranger crowd that spoke foreign languages and don't fit into either A or B. Other than the Army's FAO program and the DAS, I also have not seen any real attempts to get folks proficient.

I'm not sure what that has to do with Latin, which is what the original post that this was in response to was about.
SFC W

As opined below and echoed by others, my point was it has more to do with studying any foreign language at an early age, which provides a base for learning others. I don't think that's a generalization -- there's sufficient evidence to prove it among foreign language speakers from any culture.

... To learn any of these languages provides the same basis to have it easier learning others.

Regards, Stan

[sullygoarmy]

I'm pretty lucky in my wife is German. I know when I'm in trouble when I start getting yelled at in German!

I've tried doing the Rosetta Stone program which the Army touts as the be all end all answer to our need for langague adept soldiers. It wasn't a bad tool but in no way could compete with working with the locals. On my first advisor gig in 2004 (pre-Rosetta Stone), I worked not only with my interpreter to pick up a few additional Iraqi phrases a day but with the soldiers I interacted with daily. The soldiers did not need to know a word of english and I obviously didn't understand much Iraqi. However, by some simple friendly gestures, hand signs and repetition, I picked up numerous words and phrases from just trying to talk with the soldiers. I found they wanted to try and learn English just as much as I wanted to try and learn Arabic.

Having the background and experience (7 years of German in school and 7 years living in Germany) in another language definately helped me pick up more of the Arabic quicker than some of my peers who had no other langauge ability. However, being able to understand parts of a language (which I think is the most we can expect out of our soldiers and leaders) clearly does not equate to cultural awareness. Many people get the two confused...often with ugly results.

Thanks for all the testimony. I thought Tom's comments on what the presenter's language abilities actually are was very interesting to ponder.

[marct]

If anyone is going to the IUS Canada conference (RMC in Kingston, Nov 7-9th), there is going to be a workshop on cultural training in the military that will probably look at a lot of these problems (it's being organized by Kerry Fosher). There is also a largish session on the "Culture Turn" in military PME organized by John Hawkins (I'm in that one).

[William F. Owen]

I'm pretty lucky in my wife is German. I know when I'm in trouble when I start getting yelled at in German!

I've tried doing the Rosetta Stone program which the Army touts as the be all end all answer to our need for langague adept soldiers. It wasn't a bad tool but in no way could compete with working with the locals.

I can only dream of being yelled at in German! I get yelled at in both Hebrew and Arabic.

..but seriously. Rosetta Stone is good, if you can read the language. In Hebrew or Arabic, it's very hard going. In Spanish it's a doodle.

I think U-BOAT 509 has it right, when he says the language bit is over emphasised, and we need to go with what we've got.

My take is it that some folks naturally pick up languages. (eg: My mother spoke 5 fluently and another 3 to a workable degree.) These types should be put to the lead.

The rest of us morons should just learn how to gain and keep respect as concerns other cultures.

[Stan]

My take is it that some folks naturally pick up languages. (eg: My mother spoke 5 fluently and another 3 to a workable degree.) These types should be put to the lead.

The rest of us morons should just learn how to gain and keep respect as concerns other cultures.

Hey Wilf !
In my case I would agree, that some indeed are better and faster at picking up foreign languages. That however should not negate the need to improve where we can and definitely need to. There used to be a strange (fictitious) language aptitude test, which indicated the individual's ability to learn a foreign language. Years ago DIA administered it in order to determine if the individual was worth the time and money of being sent to DLI or FSI. Even then with 2 qualified languages under my belt, I failed the test

God, I hope they got rid of that test! Never tried Rosetta, probably too late