Recent Federal Government Procurements for Farsi (Iranian) Language Services

[CorpGovActivist]

11/30/06, Department of the Army: http://www.fbo.gov/spg/USA/DABK/DABK01/W911SE-07-R-0005/SynopsisP.html

"Headquarters Forces Command (FORSCOM) U.S. Army Contracting Agency, Southern Region Contracting Center-East intends to issue a Solicitation for basic level language training/pre-deployment training and refresher training for one or more foreign langu ages to include but not limited to Arabic, Korean, Persian-Farsi, Russian and Spanish. These languages will be taught at Ft. Bragg, NC; Ft. Campbell, KY; Ft. Drum, NY; Ft. Polk, LA; Ft. Stewart, GA; Hunter Army Airfield, GA; Ft. Lewis, WA and Ft. Hood, TX; various U.S. Army Reserve Command (USARC) locations; as well as other supported customers with up to four (4) levels of difficulty per locality."

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12/01/06, Department of the Air Force: http://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFDW/11CONS/Reference-Number-F1AF296335A100/Combine%20Synopsis_Solicitation.html

"Critical Languages: Armenian, Azerbaijan, Mandarin, Dari, Farsi, Georgian, Indonesian, Iraqi Arabic, Korean, Modern Standard Arabic, Pashto, Punjabi, Tagalog, Turkmen, Russian, Sorani, Urdu."

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01/22/07, Department of the Air Force: http://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AMC/6CS/M6789807RCG8462MARCENT/Combine%20Synopsis_Solicitation.html

"REQUIREMENTS:
(4 ea) Rosetta Stone (Spanish) Level 1 (European),
(4 ea) Rosetta Stone (Spanish) Level 2 (European),
(1 ea) Rosetta Stone (German) Level 1,
(1 ea) Rosetta Stone (German) Level 2,
(8 ea) Rosetta Stone (Arabic) Level 1,
(1 ea) Rosetta Stone (Japanese) Level 1,
(1 ea) Rosetta Stone (Japanese) Level 2,
(1 ea) Rosetta Stone (Italian) Level 1,
(1 ea) Rosetta Stone (Italian) Level 2,
(6 ea) Rosetta Stone (Farsi) Level 1,
(2 ea) Rosetta Stone (French) Level 1,
(5 ea) Rosetta Stone (Arabic) Level 1 Workbook,
(5 ea) Rosetta Stone (Arabic) Level 1 Study Guide,
(5 ea) Rosetta Stone (French) Level 1 Workbook, and
(5 ea) Rosetta Stone (French) Level 1 Study Guide."
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It's kind of ironic that the Air Force needs Rosetta Stone software to teach Farsi:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=gay+farsi+linguists+don%27t+ask+tell

- Dave

[kineneb]

1. dude, the gov. tried to recruit my step-father!

They are desperate. They were looking for native Farsi/Dari speakers for translation. (Most Farsi speakers can understand Dari, which is the Afghan dialect.)

He is a naturalized US citizen, from Iran, age 65...politely told them he was a bit old, especially for, ahem, work in the field (apparently Afghanistan)... sheesh.

[CorpGovActivist]

2. You're Absolutely Right...

... about how critical their need is, caused in no small part by: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05299.pdf

- Dave

P.S. You could always tease your stepdad that he could be the Iranian James Bond/Sean Connery.

; )

[kineneb]

4. Don't think he wants to play spy

especially since he sort of "escaped" Iran (was on wrong side of political divide after the revolution and was married to an American).

I note they listed German...hmm, there still might be a future for that German minor I earned.

[CorpGovActivist]

5. What's His Take?

I'm glad he made it out; I've met some incredibly interesting expats. It'd be interesting to hear his take on the current state of affairs in Iran.

- Dave

P.S. Ich habe zwei Jahre Deutsch gestudiert.

[kineneb]

6. haven't talked politics lately

he voted for Bush and is still an R. Why, I have no clue. Which is why Mom, the Dem., was laughing when she told me about the attempt at recruitment.

We have had long talks about the history and religion of the region, which has given me a better understanding of the Persian thought process.

I have 3 years of high school German, 21 units of college German and sang with a German choir (w/many native speakers) for 10 years.
Never did get around to really learning Farsi and can't afford the Rosetta Stone series. There are not many good sources for learning Farsi.

[CorpGovActivist]

7. You Might Appreciate This

"Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth." - Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

He had a LOT to say about the German language, in fact: http://www.kombu.de/twain-3.htm

; )

- Dave

[CorpGovActivist]

3. GAO Report on State Department: "Foreign Language Shortfalls Persist"

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06894.pdf

"Although State’s main emphasis is on enhancing its foreign
language capability through training, it does have special mechanisms to
recruit personnel with foreign language skills. For example, applicants
who pass the oral assessment can raise their ranking by passing a language
test in any foreign language used by State. Additional credit is given to
candidates who pass a test in languages that State has deemed as critical
needs languages, including Arabic; Chinese; Korean; Russian; Turkic
languages (Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkish, Turkmen, and Uzbek);
Indic languages (Urdu, Hindi, Nepali, Bengali, Punjabi); and Iranian
languages (Farsi/Persian, Tajiki, Pashto). Officers hired under this
initiative must serve in a post that requires the language for which they
were recruited, for their first or second tour."

Dari is also mentioned in the report.

- Dave

[Bluebear]

8. "No homosexuals need apply"

Thought I would save some the bother.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Quick! How do you say "Put down that illegal nuclear device!" in Farsi? n/t