Thread: Languages

Originally Posted by Longrange

I managed to keep from the Navy that I could speed French most of my time serving. The ship I was attached to was hooking up shore services at a port and I was having difficulty explaining what was need to the dock worker. He was supposed to be able to speak English fluently and we were getting nowhere, until I finally had enough. Unknown to me the C O was on the flying bridge just 30 feet from where we were when I started explaining to the worker what we were needing. When done he called to me and I knew I was caught.

After a quick conversation I had lunch with dignitaries and the C O for the next three weeks and no other duties while in France.

A bit of German, some Cherokee and Comanche as well.

The language skills never showed up in my Service Record.

Always liked that C O.

Interesting. Why would you keep your language skills hidden from your superiors?

Originally Posted by Bruno

Interesting. Why would you keep your language skills hidden from your superiors?

Because it can result in assignments one would rather not have!

When I enlisted in the USAF (oh, so many years ago) I was guaranteed placement in an electronics-related specialty. During basic training, I took the Defense Language Aptitude Battery test like everyone else. Two or three weeks later, they had me take it again. They explained that I had done well enough that they wanted to verify the score with a retest. Evidently, I'd scored just a couple of points off of the maximum and made those up on the retake. After that, I found myself in a personnel chief's office getting a lot of pressure to volunteer for a language specialty. I stuck to my guns and went into avionics.

I sometimes regret it, though...but just sometimes. While it would have been an experience and a half to attend the language institute, I could have wound up like my cousin. They made her a Russian cryptolinguist and she spent the remainder of her first (and only) enlistment at a remote listening post...hating every single minute of it.

I really need to work on my Deutsch. I was just getting fluent when my tour there was up.

That makes sense, especially if you have no say in your final assignment or which language you get to learn. Getting stuck at a remote listening station is not the most interesting thing probably, especially if you are at a place where you can't go out into the city or so.

Originally Posted by Bruno

...especially if you are at a place where you can't go out into the city or so.

Heh...what big city?

Originally Posted by PetersCreek

Heh...what big city?

wow
Yes, that's what I meant.
I am studying Japanese, and I would probably like getting a chance to go through a language academy and then be stationed in kyoto or someplace like that as a liaison. Getting stuck at a remote base and doing nothing but listening to crackling radio transmissions... not so much.

although I was a product of bi-lingual education in the 70's and early 80's thorughout elementary and middle school, I can only speak our version of english. Our school dsitrict at the time had the kids go through 3days english and 2 days spanish ( more like spanglish as it would be termed today. one week and 3 days spanish 2 days english next in rotation. All classess followed the language du jour. Once I got far enough along in school to choose, I chose to study French (instructor used northern dialect and there were differences from taht spoken by a good family friend from the south of France). I can read some French, but can not speak even conversationally. Spansih is all but gone.

Language skills too me are very important, but learning the way we did was a hindrance to our learnign all languages involved.

I grew up around a lot of immigrants from around the world and with few exceptions they prided themselves on making English their first language. I still feel like I want to learn a second language, but want to put it to use for other than choosing option 2 when I call to order something in the states.

My native language is Russian. I can speak, read and write in English, Belorussian, Hebrew.

Can anyone read Farsi?


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Fluent in English and French, languages are very interesting but really have no desire to learn another at this point in time in my life. Oz said it best when you can think the language in your mind you got it!

And by the way, since I encounter this many many times, learning a language for 2 to 3 years in High School doesn't make you fluent in that language. Fluent is read, write and speak.

English is my primary language and although Canada has been officially by lingual for a long time I know very little French. I can however swear in at least half a dozen different languages being lucky enough to grow up in a multi ethnic community. I also can get by in speaking German but the reading and writing of it is not there.

I think OZ is exactly right in that you know a language when you think in it before speaking rather than translating it in your mind first. That happens to me when I spend more than 2 weeks in Germany on a visit.

Unfortunately at this point in my life I have zero desire to learn another language.

Bob