View Full Version : Language
jwells78
01-11-2006, 23:23
I have a little bit of time before I leave A co. 19th Grp for the Q, so i'm going to try this new online Language training through rosetta stone... My question to the BTDT's- out of our target languages, I've been told that my best chance to pass the DLPT will be in Indonesian or Thai... Anybody care to share their experience with either? I thought about Mandarin, but that could be a longshot in 6 months... Any info is appreciated.
I was told by my recruiter, who was an 18D with the 7th Group, that it doesn't have to be a language that is common to the 19th's AOR. This may be incorrect, after all, he is a recruiter. If anyone know different, I would appreciate the correction (I may have wasted alot of time trying to learn German). When I spoke with him about the same subject, he told me that Tagalog would probably be the easiest of the languages for the 19th Groups AOR. I attempted it using an online program, but found the Asian dialects very difficult to get with out the help of someone who speaks it fluently. Hope this helps, and good luck at the Q.
To test out for language in 1/19th and 5/19th outside PACOM languages, your company commander has to bless off on it.
Last, I heard for 1/19th and 5/19th the languages are Indonesian, Thai, and Korean. When you get to SWC, the NG Liasion will tell you what languages are available.
Indonesian is the easiest and shortest out of the three.
jwells78
01-14-2006, 01:37
Roger that... thanks
magician
01-14-2006, 15:43
Learn Thai.
It has....applicability beyond work scenarios.
:)
My own lowly opinion..
Learn Korean.
It just may be the language the army will need the most of soon.
You can probably get the alphabet down in half a day. Awkward romanization will make you cringe but, basic phrases will stick pretty easily, even the weirder spelling rules will be fairly easy to remember.
NK went officially to only hangul characters a long time ago, so the tangos (except for their "pure" words), may be easier to follow than SK who are still slowly phasing out hanja/hanmun (chinese) characters. (Actually the NK still use a little Hanja here and there, but it is rare.)
Reading can happen quickly with practice, comprehension will take a little while longer though. ;) Understanding rapid native speakers can take quite a while, but gets easier with immersion and practice.
It can also be fun when you know Korean and eat at your local Japanese and Chinese restaurants. If you aren't near large military bases where Korean restaurants are common (and sometimes even when you are), you will probably find that many of your Japanese and Chinese places are, in fact, run by Koreans ;)
Learn Thai.
It has....applicability beyond work scenarios.
:)
español también
Doc
NousDefionsDoc
01-14-2006, 19:37
I would say Indonesian. There are Muslim terrorists there.
Baik titik. (Good point.)
Bahasa Indonesian is a modified form of Malay, but English, Dutch, and Javanese are also fairly common, especially Javanese (40+% of the ethnic population). I would assume that since Indonesia is a Muslim country (nearly 90%) that quite a few would probably know a bit of classic or modern standard Arabic, but the dialect would likely be difficult.
Definitely not a homogenous environment, and mastery of Indonesia as a target would probably include adding at least Javanese and Malay to the list of things to learn. Sounds like a great challenge, I like.. but maybe I am over-complicating, or at least coming up with a plausible excuse to train for and get paid for more than one language here ;) ...
As I said in my post above, my recruiter said that language school can be waived if you are some what fluent in any foreign language, even if it is not specific to the 19th's AOR. He is not a SF recruiter, but is former AD SF. Can anyone tell me if this is correct? I have been working on learning german because my intentions are to go AD after I fulfill my obligation to the WA NG and would like to get in with the 10th Group. If anyone could let me know if the language has to be specific to the 19th Group's AOR I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
What's a hard truth today may become completely outdated tomorrow. At times, scoring a 1/1 or above on a DLPT let you bypass basic language training and go right to an SFG. Sometimes, the language didn't have to match the Group's AOR; more often, it did. Next week, it may not matter what you score on a DLPT because USASFC & SWCS decided everyone will go to language training...who knows? There are no promises, and things may change on the fly; are you adaptable enough to meet whatever challenge arises, or do you require set, unwaivering standards and expectations with no variation? Wanna guess what type of man SF wants?
frostfire
01-14-2006, 21:56
Indonesian is the easiest and shortest out of the three.Having learnt 2 easten and 2 western languages, I have to agree with 18C4V. No past/present/future tenses, roman alphabet, and the accent is not that hard to imitate.
Baik titik. (Good point.)
Bahasa Indonesian is a modified form of Malay, but English, Dutch, and Javanese are also fairly common, especially Javanese (40+% of the ethnic population). I would assume that since Indonesia is a Muslim country (nearly 90%) that quite a few would probably know a bit of classic or modern standard Arabic, but the dialect would likely be difficult. .
wrong choice of word in that context, Phantom. Titik means a dot or period. Native speaker who don't understand English won't have a clue and may assume you mean "batik." That's one example of many cases where word-by-word translation do not work. Now if you smile, give a thumb up (not advised in Arab/middle east culture), and other hand gesture as you say the phrase, that's a whole different story...
If your interest is hunting terrorist in that archipelago, knowledge of Javanese dialect and Arabic will be helpful, especially when eavesdropping conversation in "pesantren" after prayer.
As I said in my post above, my recruiter said that language school can be waived if you are some what fluent in any foreign language, even if it is not specific to the 19th's AOR. He is not a SF recruiter, but is former AD SF. Can anyone tell me if this is correct? I have been working on learning german because my intentions are to go AD after I fulfill my obligation to the WA NG and would like to get in with the 10th Group. If anyone could let me know if the language has to be specific to the 19th Group's AOR I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
Did you read my post???????? Your company commander has to sign off on it if you belong to 1/19th or 5/19th and want to test out on a non PACOM language (1/1). I can't speak for 2/19th (different AOR) or for the 3 bns in 20th. So I say again. If you belong to 1/19th or 5/19th, YOUR COMPANY COMMANDER HAS TO SIGN OFF ON IT if you want to test out on a non PACOM language.
Sorry 18C4V, I must have missed that part. Thank you all for the info.
wrong choice of word in that context, Phantom. Titik means a dot or period. Native speaker who don't understand English won't have a clue and may assume you mean "batik." That's one example of many cases where word-by-word translation do not work. Now if you smile, give a thumb up (not advised in Arab/middle east culture), and other hand gesture as you say the phrase, that's a whole different story...
Thank you. A good reminder that an idiom is an idiom, even if it doesn't look or feel like one, and that idioms (from any language) rarely translate well. That's what I get for thinking in English and referencing a dictionary.
If your interest is hunting terrorist in that archipelago, knowledge of Javanese dialect and Arabic will be helpful, especially when eavesdropping conversation in "pesantren" after prayer.
Thank you, again. Glad to know that I was fairly on track here with my multiple language suggestion/senario.
As I said in my post above, my recruiter said that language school can be waived if you are some what fluent in any foreign language, even if it is not specific to the 19th's AOR. He is not a SF recruiter, but is former AD SF. Can anyone tell me if this is correct? I have been working on learning german because my intentions are to go AD after I fulfill my obligation to the WA NG and would like to get in with the 10th Group. If anyone could let me know if the language has to be specific to the 19th Group's AOR I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
Are you saying you don't care about 19th's mission requirements and that you are hoping to skate on mission requirements while wasting their budget (and WAARNG's) for training until you can blow them off and run off to Germany for babes and beer? Or are you too stuck on "when maybe 6-8 years from now?" that you just don't care about 2 years from now.. when you should be worried about 5 minutes from now, then tomorrow, then next week, then next month?
'Fulfilling your obligation' to the WAARNG (and 19th) would include doing what's right for the mission and unit, not trying to get away with the bare minimum or substituting what you want for what the team needs, compromising capability untill you can drag your ass out of there to whereever you think you might be happy. Do me a favor and leave 1-19th out of your plans, that way you don't screw them, the already 'sensitive' WA budget, and ME before I can make it there.
Surgicalcric
01-15-2006, 14:50
As I said in my post above, my recruiter said that language school can be waived if you are some what fluent in any foreign language, even if it is not specific to the 19th's AOR.
I can't speak for 2/19th (different AOR) or for the 3 bns in 20th.
Doubt it will happen with 1/20th. 3 guys were turned down this past week in their attempt to take a language outside our AO. One of which scored a 3+, 3+ in Russian...
Crip
Team Sergeant
01-15-2006, 17:23
Phantom and others.....
Unless you're SF, in the SF pipeline (or an SF intel support, cause they go through lots of language training) please refrain from answering questions posed to the Special Forces personnel...
Thank you.
Team Sergeant
Phantom.....as I stated in my post, I plan on FULFILLING by obligation to the 19th group if I get there, no skating, no wasting their money or time. If they won't except German, then I spend a little more time at language school, no skin off my nuts. Now as far as your hostile attitude and many ASSumptions, it sounds like you need to learn to know what you're aiming at before pulling the trigger!
Kyobanim
01-17-2006, 07:56
This topic isn't going to turn into a pissing contest. It needs to stop now.
Team Sergeant
01-17-2006, 08:10
Phantom.....as I stated in my post, I plan on FULFILLING by obligation to the 19th group if I get there, no skating, no wasting their money or time. If they won't except German, then I spend a little more time at language school, no skin off my nuts. Now as far as your hostile attitude and many ASSumptions, it sounds like you need to learn to know what you're aiming at before pulling the trigger!
Phantom is not a Special Forces soldier and will not, again, dispense advice on this board in the Special Forces forums.
just an additional thought on languages in SE Asia.
1. Mainland SE Asia. Thai is good because it is related to Lao and learning one has a high carryover into the other. Scripts are different and that take some adjustment. But 'most' mainland asian asian languages are tonal. Tonal languages take some getting used to for non- tonal speakers. The interesting thing is that the syntax for all asian languages tonal and non-tonal are almost identical. Thai and Lao script take some getting used to but one you learn them they are unabmiguous for sounds. One character / tone mark can only have one sound unlike english where one character can have multiple sounds.
2. The Malay language group - Bahasa Malay - Tagalog - Indonesian are non tonal and again from people that I know that learned one of the above, moving over to and adapting to another one was pretty fast. Scripts are roman letters which is usually easier than leaning sanscrit or other scripts.
3. Japanese, Korean are again non tonal. Character sets take some adapting to. No personal experience on this one...
Scorpion6
02-15-2006, 15:42
mind you i learned Chinese, of which was a real pain in my ass! seeing as it hasnt done too well for me in the sandbox, but i thought japanese and korean were tonal....I realize if your a 98G or some such thing, Chinese is useful, but does anyone else have a use for the language??? i realize it may eventually become useful, and i dont regret learning it in the slightest, just wondering if there is anything out there to look forward to with the language.