Army Ramps Up Language Instruction as War in Afghanistan Winds Down
Thursday, August 30th, 2012, by Blake Farmer
Army installations around the country have doubled the number of troops trained to speak Dari and Pashto. Military officials hope soldiers will find opportunities in Afghanistan to use their words instead of their weapons and help stem a recent spate of “insider attacks.”
In a span of four months, Private 1st Class Timothy Griffin of the 101st Airborne Division has gotten pretty good at Pashto. Its alphabet of more than 40 letters kept his nose buried in a book for a few weeks. Now he’s moved beyond the basics to studying how to actually connect with Afghans. The cadence of conversation sounds a lot like the American South.
“You’re constantly asking them how they’re doing, how they’re family is doing, just anything, how’s your car?” Griffin says. “Then 10 minutes later you get to the main point, which is 30 seconds long. That’s a conversation.”
The language and culture crash course at Fort Campbell is replicated at Fort Drum in New York and Fort Carson in Colorado. Native Afghans spend weeks in the classroom drilling a handful of students. They lead larger groups in cultural activities.
http://wpln.org/?p=40806
Audio at link.
