Language training and translators

One issue I’ve seen brought up time and again inside the military and out is the problem of language qualified personnel. It became quickly apparent that we didn’t have many who could speak fluent Arabic, Pashto, Dari or many other Middle Eastern languages. In Special Forces the mantra is that we all have at least two languages. But that’s not entirely true. Yes, we all are assigned a language during the Special Forces Qualification Course but the passing grade has been so low that you’re barely functional in that language when the course is complete.

It’s not for lack of students trying or teachers not teaching. You simply can’t learn a foreign language overnight. Traditionally the course at Ft. Bragg has been 4 – 6 months of language training and it’s a good start. DLI (Defense Language Institute) courses usually run a year or more. We call that the real language course.

At the end of the DLI course you’re pretty capable of translating and working in another language while all other courses I’ve seen are only a start.

The SF language training if fine as long as you continue the training later on (each group runs a command language program) and spend some time in the native environment to hear the language in its natural form. Over many years you may reach a level you can communicate effectively.

The Army has added the “Rosette Stone” online at the Army Knowledge Online (AKO) web site but it’s only online. You can’t download it so you must have an internet connection. This helps but is not the complete answer.

If you’re lucky enough to get stationed in the country of your target language you have a real advantage and will learn much faster.

Now mix that with the fact that you never completely know what area you’re going to be fighting in. How do you decide how many Arabic courses to run, how many Indonesian courses or Korean. It’s a constant battle.

So when you hear politician or Military leaders say they will or we need to train up more language speakers for any particular event, take it with a grain of salt. It really can’t be done quickly and generally doesn’t happen at all. In the mean time we will continue to rely on many local translators to get the job done.

What is important is that those translators close to the top levels of planning and operations need to be completely vetted and preferable US or NATO Citizens.