language training for 1st group

[frostfire]

http://www.groups.sfahq.com/1st/area_of_responsibility.htm
When assigned to the 1st group, does language training such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean come standard/mandatory or does it depend on DLAB score?

Also, does ethnicity play any role in group assignment?

Thanks

[The Reaper]

http://www.groups.sfahq.com/1st/area_of_responsibility.htm
When assigned to the 1st group, does language training such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean come standard/mandatory or does it depend on DLAB score?

Also, does ethnicity play any role in group assignment?

Thanks

Language training is initially provided in Phase V of the SFQC. Difficulty of languages offered may depend on your DLAB score and affect your Group assignment.

Groups have their own language sustainment programs.

SF soldiers receive language pay, which is higher for more difficult languages and higher proficiency.

Ethnicity would normally only play a part if a language is involved.

Good luck.

TR

[Go For Broke]

Took a small trip out to 1st Group recently (16 - 20 May)...was able to talk to the language manager have some good news and some bad news.

Good news is that the DLPT scores for CM are good...some guys are missing a 2 by one (1) question...in a CAT IV language...that is a tonal language with thousands of characters to represent words...not exactly the katakana / hiragana / hangul model. Congrats! :lifter

Now for the bad news...the Chain of Command is right there to observe the fine young gentlemen studying CM :D ...so if you are one of them, or will be one of them...remember that you are being assessed even there...:D

COL T. seems to take an interest...

On another note...the Language Lab does have SH 21-76 translated into Bahasa Indonesia, Tagalog, Kurdish, Iraqi Arabic, Dari, MSA, and working on a copy in Thai...use it...I find it a great reference even now to be able to learn the "unimportant words and subjects" that I was not taught like Raid, Ambush, Reconnaissance, etc... :D

V/R,

[sleepyhead4]

I don't know about how language training and sustainment works in 1st Group, but there's been some changes to language training at SWC.

The current Q Course has language training throughout the course following selection. This new training is a bit more difficult to learn the harder languages because you can go for months without reinforcing what you've learned. It also has an accelerated learning timeline which can be a bit overwhelming. However, majority of the language block is still after your MOS phase, prior to Sage.

Sleepy

[The Reaper]

I don't know about how language training and sustainment works in 1st Group, but there's been some changes to language training at SWC.

The current Q Course has language training throughout the course following selection. This new training is a bit more difficult to learn the harder languages because you can go for months without reinforcing what you've learned. It also has an accelerated learning timeline which can be a bit overwhelming. However, majority of the language block is still after your MOS phase, prior to Sage.

Sleepy

Well, Sleepy, thanks for the annual revival of this necropost.

We are well aware of the changes to the language training program since the question was answered initially in 2004.

A little reading of recent posts here will reveal that we have covered that adequately.

Thank you.

TR

[deanwells]

Gents,
If you are in the course and taking a language, it does not matter how the Q is structured for Language training. Col W. has made it very clear that you will at a minimum maintain a 1-1 in your target language. If you are taking a language that is spoken in Fayetteville say like Korean...then you better go out and find a new friend in that target language. We all know that the current program in place is ideal for everyday use in the target country, not so ideal for the DLPT...I recommend self-study because it's part of your job along with all the other mission critical skills that are not taught in the current day Q.
It can be done with some initative and motivation. I am confident that if you apply yourself...you can attain it. Tudoring is still provided after school is it not? I recommend it. :p

Sleepy since you are a native speaker in Korean why don't you test out and skip language school???

DW

[Surgicalcric]

...Sleepy since you are a native speaker in Korean why don't you test out and skip language school???

Sure wish I could test out of phrench... :lifter

I had a couple Spanish speakers in my PH-II class and both wanting 7th Group of course; they ended up in 5th Group speaking Farsi. Neither took the DLPT before SFAS though. I would take the DLPT, if you havent already, as soon as you can so you have a rating when you get to SFAS. This will increase your chances of getting 1st Group.

Crip

[The Reaper]

Sure wish I could test out of phrench... :lifter

I had a couple native Spanish speakers in my PH-II class, both had DLPT scores of 2+2+ prior to coming to SFAS wanting 7th Group of course and ended up in 5th Group speaking Farsi. Good luck with your desire to go to 1st Group.

Crip

Crip:

Korean is a harder language and there are a lot fewer in the Army and in SF than Spanish speakers. There is also a lot less concern about making a unit an ethnically imbalanced one since their numbers are much lower.

I would wager that half of the Hispanic, native Spanish speakers in SF are not in 7th Group. OTOH, I believe that most native Korean speakers in SF are in 1st.

TR

[Surgicalcric]

Crip:

Korean is a harder language and there are a lot fewer in the Army and in SF than Spanish speakers. There is also a lot less concern about making a unit an ethnically imbalanced one since their numbers are much lower.

TR

I guess I am having one of those days where I didnt quite get my thought into words well enough to convey said thought.

I totally agree with everything you said Sir and didnt mean my post to read otherwise.

Crip

[The Reaper]

I guess I am having one of those days where I didnt quite get my thought into words well enough to convey said thought.

I totally agree with everything you said Sir and didnt mean my post to read otherwise.

Crip

Don't be a suck-up, Crip.:D

Cowboy up and argue if you believe in your statements. After all, you are currently in the pipeline and have vastly more experience in that than I ever did. :munchin

TR

[Surgicalcric]

Don't be a suck-up, Crip.:D

Yeah; because I am so good at it. There are quite a few TAC's here at Dco who would argue the opposite Sir.

...After all, you are currently in the pipeline and have vastly more experience in that than I ever did. :munchin

TR

Ouch.

Oh I love to argue but it truly was that I was typing faster than I was thinking and didnt convey my thought well, on this occassion.

I edited my previous to hopefully clarify what I didnt seem to the first time.

Crip

[BMT (RIP)]

TR has a TO&E or TAD slot been established for SR. STUDENT?? CRIP has got to be first at something.

BMT

[sleepyhead4]

I apologize for being a retard and not reading the date on the previous posts. Situational Awareness...I can always work at it.

As for testing out...I wanted to test out but my instructor informed me that the DLPT got a lot harder since the last time I took it. Also, if I test out, then I am not guaranteed to leave Fayetteville early...just a lot of time to kill until Sage. So I'm planning to take the course and get better at my target language so that I can be more of an asset to my team as well as completing the SF Pipeline with my original SUT team. But taking the DLPT and testing out did sound tempting.

[deanwells]

Sleepyhead,
The DLPT has not gotten harder for native speakers. The format has changed not the material. Besides what do you have to lose by testing out? Since you are a native speaker, Can I assume you can read and write as well?

You're instructor is right in saying that you might not leave school early, but if you're timing is right you can and will leave early. If you want to improve than go and talk to one of the language teachers at the school house, I'm sure she will be more than happy to sit down with you during lunch and help you. Find Kim Sungsangneem...She'll help you...She loves to teach.

Good luck,

DW

[gtcrispy]

Talk to the teachers and ask for the DLI vocab lists. They contain more upper level vocab that will help you expand your vocabulary that you might not know.

I just took my 2nd DLPT today. I got a 1/1+ 35/37. I think I had a 37/38 when I took it May 06'. The refresher course that we just went though helped out some though I had to wait about 3.5 weeks from the completion to now to test again. The refresher will most likely not be happening in the near future or for years to come so it will definitely take some effort to keep my score up in the future.

[Go For Broke]

Gentlemen,

How many of you listen to you iPods or other MP3-type players in the car (passenger only :eek: ), waiting for the wife to finish shopping, sipping your latte over at Waller Hall :D, etc...

If I may make a suggestion, burn those language CDs (DLI / Living Language / In-Flight, Language/30 / Berlitz / Pimsleur / Instant Immersion / you get the picture) to MP3 format. Takes up little room on the player, and it is always available - plus you can label the tracks so you know what you are about to hear e.g., Greetings and Salutations, Numbers and Counting, etc...

I personally would not recommend it for when you are working out, but helps to kill a few hours on the flight from SEA to NRT / BKK / CMB or parts otherwise.

There is one company out there that markets a program specifically for the iPod Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, and Cantonese - but good luck finding other non-business oriented / CENTCOM languages.

Realize that this has also been brought up in other posts, but thought it worth reiterating the info.

Also, check out "odd places" like other have suggested - I managed to work my Bahasa Indonesia at a Thai restaurant in Tampa, FL during a TDY...go figure. What better way to practice than to use it / listen for it - which is how I was able to strike up the conversation with the waiter, they fell over themselves to work with me on my Bahasa Indonesia. Another place is the yahoo chat rooms - get a throw away account, and just observe for a while - you learn a lot of the colloquilisms / "bar (insert name of target language)", and the current trends in that country (to a much lesser extent, but helps you to establish rapport - who would have thought that a P-Pop version of Tom Jones' "Sex Bomb" would be popular in the Philippines...)

Just my humble $0.02

V/R,

[FearMonkey]

Here's a good resource:

Skype
http://www.skype.com/helloagain.html

Skype hosts international chat rooms (audio chat rooms) which are basically nothing more than worldwide conference calls. Do a search on their database for a chat room in your target language and in under 30 seconds you're chatting away with native speakers from all over the world in your target language. It can't get any easier than that. Oh, and it's totally free... Sha-wing!

Besides, it's over the internet so it's not nearly as embarrassing when they laugh at your stupid accent.

[sleepyhead4]

DeanWells and GtCrispy,

You're 100% correct about the test being the same. However, when I was thinking about testing out of Korean, I talked to my instructor about the DLI vocab list...well let me tell you...after looking at the vocab list for Korean, I'm surprised I can speak Korean at all. Out of the 1500 vocab words that they want you to know (most are sino korean and not spoken by younger generations), I know less than 20%. With that being said, even though I am a native speaker, my understanding of the language is at a 4th grade level. I can speak, read, write and understand Korean but not enough to carry on a intelligent and professional conversation with a Korean officer/NCO counterpart that I might have to deal with in the future. So I'm going to play it extra safe and learn whatever I can. Also, my fiance can't move to Ft. Lewis until after July because of work and school. So in the end, it worked out.

Sleepy

P.S. I received an email few days ago from 2nd BN/1st GRP S1 so at least I know which BN I'm headed to.

[deanwells]

Okay,

Have fun!!!!

[leif]

Fearmonkey, just got skype last night, and was chatting with a thai chick in no time, definetly a good program. Does anyone here happen to have any good advice for a thai student?

[Go For Broke]

Does anyone here happen to have any good advice for a thai student?

Make sure you understand that their is a difference between the way males talk and the way females talk...sounds like stupid advice, but there was one Thai class that graduated from SWC that talked like females (sawadee ka vs. sawadee khrup) :D There are also differences between the Bangkok Thai speakers and speakers from other, more agrarian regions - depends on what "accent" you wish to talk with.

Most importantly, don't worry about sounding foolish...they will correct you (especially if you ask them to) so you sound less foolish the next time. I personally am still working on my English :p

[leif]

thanks for the advice, seems like reading the text is what is really going to confuse me. I guess is like one QPs from my local recruiting station told me, there is always the long-haired dictionaries( in my case, hopefully a hot thai chick) that can teach you. Guess i need to find one. Thanks again.

[The Reaper]

Hey, the rule is don't ask, don't tell.

If language lab speakers come across like katoi, that is their business.:D

TR