Army tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't translate

Sat May 26 04:57:14 UTC 2007

The initial post complained that  Americans are increasingly monolinguistic,
and don't trust anyone who doesn't  speak English; and gives that as a reason
for the Army's difficulty in finding  good linguists of various sorts, most
notably Arabic.  I beg to  differ.

Americans are not distrustful; rather, we have been robbed.   Whenever a
school district decides to cut financial corners, foreign languages  classes are
the first to go - despite the fact that many of its students will  eventually
travel abroad.  Next is music - even though most of them will  someday attend
at least one concert!  Then driver's ed, of all  things.  Hello, virtually 100%
of your graduates will someday drive a  car, Mr. Superintendent!    Next
under the axe is usually  aides and equipment for specials-needs children.  Words
fail  me.

When times are a little more flush and money can be restored to the  budget,
it all too often is not restored to the things it was taken  from.  Rather,
recent requirements in my own school district include  installing a $3000 heart
defibrillator in each school, even though there has  only been one heart
attack in a school building in the entire school  district during at least the 35
years I've lived here.  Changing all  middle school athletic fields to meet
high school athletic field standards, at  a cost of hundreds of thousands, a
requirement that puzzles even the phys ed  instructors with its pointlessness.
And paying for the increasingly  higher education required of teachers, even
though most of us have to pay for  our own master's degrees.

So you have a public education that does not adequately address the  basics
to blame for Americans' increasing reliance on English.   Unfortunately, for a
huge majority, it's literally all they've ever  known.

Rosemarie

The best auto  safety device is a rearview mirror with a police car in it!

.....<< section truncated due to space constraints  >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
>  >
> > >From: Dennis Baron <debaron at UIUC.EDU>
>  > >Reply-To: American Dialect Society  <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >To:  ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > >Subject: Army tells gay translators:  don't tell, or don't translate
> > >Date: Fri, 25 May 2007  13:45:49 -0500
> > >
> > >----------------------  Information from the mail header
> >  >-----------------------
> > >Sender:     American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  > >Poster:       Dennis Baron  <debaron at UIUC.EDU>
> > >Subject:      Army  tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't
>translate
>  >
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  > >
> > >There's a new post on Web of Language:
>  > >
> > >Army tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't  translate
> > >
> > >According to the Houston  Chronicle, the U.S. army has kicked out as =20
> > >many as 58  Arabic translators recently because they were gay.  40 =20
> >  >members of the House of Representatives want to know why, when the  =20
> > >army is so short on troops that it=92s issuing what it  calls =93moral
>=20=
> > >
> > >waivers=94  that allow convicted felons, drug users, and those who  fail
>=20=
> > >
> > >to meet the army=92s  educational standards all to join up, it can =20
> > >afford to  dismiss soldiers with language skills that are actually =20
> >  >critical for pursuing the war on terror....
> > >
>  > >Not only is it difficult for the military to train compulsively  =20
> > >monolingual Americans to speak Arabic, it=92s also  tough for the =20
> > >Pentagon to find Arab American soldiers  for that job: American troops
>=20=
> > >
> >  >speaking Arabic as their first language often can=92t pass the  security
> > >=20=
> > >
> >  >clearance.  And even if they do, they may be regarded with  suspicion
>=20
> > >by their superiors.  Since 2001,  several heritage-language =20
> > >translators with top security  ratings have been arrested on suspicion
>=20=
> >  >
> > >of espionage, though, to date, there have been no  translators
>convicted.
> > >
> > >As for  those Iraqi Arab-speakers attached to the American  occupation
>=20
> > >forces, they are frequently  assassinated by their countrymen for =20
> > >consorting with  the enemy.  Translation is risky business in a war =20
> >  >zone, and it should also come as no surprise that many Iraqis  don=92t
>=20=
> > >
> > >trust anyone who  speaks English.
> > >
> > >Secretary of Defense Bob  Gates sees no irony in the fact that the =20
> > >military finds  convicted felons and illiterates less morally =20
> >  >problematic than well-educated homosexuals without so much as a  =20
> > >parking ticket on their records who might actually be  able to =20
> > >understand what the enemy is talking about (not  to mention what our =20
> > >Iraqi =93allies=94 are really  saying).  Gates insists that in drumming
>=20=
> >  >
> > >out the translators, the army is simply following the  law, a law =20
> > >which he has no intention of  reviewing.
> > >
> > >And perhaps we shouldn=92t be  surprised at this latest military catch
>=20=
> >  >
> > >22: the army needs a few good translators, and when it  finds them, it
>=20=
> > >
> > >gets rid of  them.  It=92s just a version of the bigger American =20
> >  >monolingual catch 22:
> > >
> > >Americans,  whatever their origins, don=92t study foreign languages  all
>=20=
> > >
> > >that much -- we don=92t  even study our heritage languages.  We are a
>=20
> >  >nation forged from many ethnicities, and while Teddy Roosevelt once  =20
> > >warned that the United States could become a polyglot  boarding house,
>=20=
> > >
> > >we have  become instead a monolingual nation, one that doesn=92t  trust
>=20=
> > >
> > >speakers of any  language except English.
> > >   ....
> >  >read the whole post on the
> > >Web of Language
> >  >
> > >
> > >
> > >db
> >  >
> > >
> > >
> > >Dennis  Baron
> > >Professor of English and Linguistics
> >  >Department of English
> > >University of Illinois
>  > >608 S. Wright St.
> > >Urbana, IL 61801
> >  >
> > >office: 217-244-0568
> > >fax:  217-333-4321
> > >
> >  >www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron
> > >
> > >read the  Web of Language:
> > >www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>  > >
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