10th group languages

[SkiBumCFO]

WCH - I was using learning a new language as an excuse for destroying my brain i guess i will have to come up with another excuse

Originally Posted by SkiBumCFO

WCH - I was using learning a new language as an excuse for destroying my brain i guess i will have to come up with another excuse

Perhaps, it's the altitude in CO that did it!!

[SkiBumCFO]

Thanks WCH that will be my new excuse

[adagio]

My son just graduated on Friday and he's with 10th Group. His language was French. 10th Groups main focus is with Europe and North Africa where French is spoken. I don't think that Farsi would be a 10th Group language. I also don't think that the language you take is the thing to focus on. There are so many other aspects to the job to deal with. He was assigned French, he didn't request it, but that language seemed to orient him toward 10th group. He knew sometime during Q course that the odds were 90% he'd be with 10th group. His MOS is 18B.

[Stras]

Originally Posted by adagio

My son just graduated on Friday and he's with 10th Group. His language was French. 10th Groups main focus is with Europe and North Africa where French is spoken. I don't think that Farsi would be a 10th Group language. I also don't think that the language you take is the thing to focus on. There are so many other aspects to the job to deal with. He was assigned French, he didn't request it, but that language seemed to orient him toward 10th group. He knew sometime during Q course that the odds were 90% he'd be with 10th group. His MOS is 18B.

10th's focus shifted last year to Europe and all of Africa. Lots of oppurtunities for him to practice his French language skills there. Focus on the language that you were trained in, and learn new languages as things like Bosnia and Kosovo fade to OIF.

[ntuit1]

Language options sure have changed. As you all know, it used to be German, Russian, Polish, and Czech. Now it's Russian and ????

BTW, my oldest son is in his final month of Russian and then off to MPT (?) and the 18D course. Headed for 1/10.

[Buffalobob]

BTW, my oldest son is in his final month of Russian and then off to MPT (?) and the 18D course. Headed for 1/10.

How do you know he is headed to 1/10? Does he have orders? At what point in the process did he get orders assigning him?

[Bennett]

We all went through the language of the month times, I finally stuck with German and have used it everywhere I was deployed, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq as well as Africa and most of Europe, it’s the language of money/tourist. Like Stras said, 10th is now refocusing on Africa, which means French. Learn a language in the spare time you have before the Q, knowledge is never wasted. As for reading books on motivation, just look at the guy to your right and left and remind yourself that it sucks but it looks like it suck worst for them. Having been an instructor at MacKall for phase 1/3, what got most of them were injuries. Walk with a ruck over hilly terrain for long distances and time. Don’t run with that thing on your back only amateurs and officers do that, you’ll thank me when you get older

[Utah Bob]

Originally Posted by WCH

Perhaps, it's the altitude in CO that did it!!

There is no truth to the rumor that altitude affects brain func......

What were we talking about again?

[Sonic03svtCobra]

The two languages we have been putting alot of time in learning are, French and Arabic . Due to 3rd Batt. going to Africa, and 2nd Batt. still doing OIF rotations.
But as explained before it comes down to the numbers. Good luck

[DLS]

When I was at Devens and was doing a dog and pony show dress rehearsal for the Bn CO and XO, my spiel was something like "I am the junior medical sergeant, my duties are... and I have a working knowledge of German, Spanish, Hungarian and Texan." The CO got a good chuckle when I added "Texan" and the XO got a hemorrhoid. No sense of humor that guy.

The most helpful thing that I learned about languages is to pick one and learn it well, preferably German, Spanish or French. Many other languages will have similarities in syntax, word root, etc, and if you know one, it will be easier to pick another language up later. I discovered that when I would start one language and unconsciously insert a phrase or word from another, the person to whom I was speaking would often smile and say: "Is OK; I live in Spain (or Germany, Hungary, France, etc) 5 years, I understand what you say." It often formed a stronger bond with that person. One of my favorite examples was when a young lady at a safehouse came over to me and said: "I speak little English also. Do you know Elvis?"

One difference would be a language that doesn't use our alphabet (Chinese, Arabic), but similarities may still help. Once you condition your mind to realize that a ball point pen is also a "koogleschreiber" you'll find it easier to learn another word for it in a different language.

To echo an important point, don't focus on the language to go SF. Go SF and let the requisite language find you.

DOL

[ODA 226]

When I was in the 10th, most all of 1st and 2nd Bats learned German and 3rd learned the Slavic languages like Russian, Czech etc.

I was lucky enough to go to DLI for German and learned to speak Serbo-Croat during my 12 year stay in the former Jugoslavia.

I've got most of Northern and Eastern Europe covered except for Hungary which has it's own "special" language that no one can learn!

[Back211]

I played waterpolo with a couple Serbians, Polish, Ukrainians and Hungarians. They could all communicate with each other except the hungarians. They knew Croatian so it was fine but, Hungarian is its own special language that bears no similarities to another language.

[ntuit1]

Originally Posted by Buffalobob

How do you know he is headed to 1/10? Does he have orders? At what point in the process did he get orders assigning him?

I greased the skids with Sekelsky and my old team leader, BG Ken Tovo. No orders yet so we'll see what happens. Graduation is on 6 April 2012.

Rx

[ntuit1]

My oldest son (18D) ended up on ODA 012 - MTN TM.