US: Fort Lewis soldiers learn Arabic to better prepare for war

[Harold Schiffman]

Forwarded From: edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu


The Seattle Times



Fort Lewis soldiers learn Arabic to better prepare for war



Kelmanskiy and 125 other soldiers assigned to Fort Lewis' newest
Stryker Brigade Combat Team are part of a new program to teach
soldiers rudimentary Arabic. The idea is that once deployed to Iraq,
they'll be able to communicate with local Iraqis to help their units
better distinguish between allies and enemies. "It's a tough
language," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Neumann, the battalion commander for
the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat
Team, 2nd Infantry Division. "I can introduce myself [in Arabic] and
give a couple greetings, but after that, I'm pretty much out of
steam." Two groups of soldiers already have graduated from the class
that teaches Modern Standard Arabic. Another group will graduate
Friday. Graduates typically have the verbal and written skills of a
fourth- or fifth-grade Arab child.



Full story:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008076838_arabic28m.html





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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone: (215) 898-7475
Fax: (215) 573-2138

Email: haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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