Army tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't translate
Kevin Birge
kevin at FRONTSTRETCH.COM
Mon May 28 18:41:04 UTC 2007
I used to be a Thai linguist when I was in the Air Force. Learning the
alphabet for Thai really wasn't that hard really. The first few weeks of
classes involved using a kind of phonetic spelling until the student was
able to easily read the Thai alphabet. Since Thai is a phonetic alphabet
with about 80 characters (it's been over 20 years, I can't remember the
exact number and don't want to look it up,) it wasn't that difficult to
learn and was definitely needed in order to fully understand the language.
The only thing that I noticed after learning Thai and using it every day for
three years was that my English spelling skills suffered horribly.
Fortunately, spell check was just a couple of years away, and all was right
with the world again!
I knew a couple of Farsi linguists at the time, and from what I remember,
learning the alphabet wasn't the difficult part there either. They'd
already taken tests to show that they had a talent for learning languages so
learning however many symbols they needed to learn the language came easy.
Not so much for the Chinese linguists, but for languages with an alphabet,
not a big issue.
Like Wilson said though, given the investment that the government has to put
into these soldiers, it seems foolish to kick out a herd of them just
because they choose a lifestyle that can no longer be used as a tool in
blackmail. I do remember that once you got on the job, the linguist were
punished more severely for things that might have been either overlooked or
handled verbally. I don't know for sure why that is, but I suspect that
they don't do enough stupid things that start out with the phrase "Hey.
watch this!" to get them into trouble that they early 80's standard airman
might do. I could be wrong though. It's just a theory.
Kevin
On 5/25/07, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: Army tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't
> translate
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >Besides, of what use would a person be in Iraq, if he couldn't also read
> >and write Arabic?
>
> Soldiers could use truespel phonetics in a communications cheat
> sheet. Give
> them a small book with words or phrases first in English tradspel, under
> that Arabic tradspel, then the truespel phonetics under that. The
> soldiers
> will be able to speak it using the truespel. They could practice Arabic.
>
> I'm thinking truespel would be good for training varioius languages. It
> need be developed to spell other sounds. This would be much more user
> friendly to learn for English native speakers. There's a lot of work
> here.
>
> Truespel is mature and very user friendly for Englsih speaking kids. The
> teaching of reading is changing for kids. This fall, England is going to
> "synthetic phonics" first and fast for kids before actual reading
> training.
> This could and should be instead phonetics with truespel rather than
> phonics. Then truespel continues as their dictionary key (It already
> exists
> for the VOA simplified English in truespel book 3 and a larger dictionary
> in
> book 2), then for translation guides. This is a first time integration
> that
> can't be done with academic phonetics. Note that "synthetic phonics" lets
> boys catch up to girls in reading - an unexpected result found in testing
> k-1 kids.
>
> I'd be glad to work with the military on this and work with anyone on
> expanding the truespel phoneme set for other languages.
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
> See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at
> authorhouse.com.
>
>
>
>
>
> >From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >Subject: Re: Army tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't translate
> >Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 21:42:39 -0400
> >
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >Subject: Re: Army tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't
> >translate
>
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >That would be a god idea, Tom, except that, in the military,
> >interpretation and translation are an essential part of the espionage
> >apparatus. That's the real reason that booting out "linguists," as we
> >styled ourselves in the old U.S. Army Security Agency, borders on
> >insanity. In my day, if you didn't qualify for the highest level of
> >security clearance, called "top-secret/crypto" at that time, you
> >couldn't gain admission into the U.S. Army Language School. And you
> >had to be an ALS grad, even if your job was merely to listen to police
> >calls and jot them down. Besides, of what use would a person be in
> >Iraq, if he couldn't also read and write Arabic?
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >On 5/25/07, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> > > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster: Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject: Re: Army tells gay translators: don't tell, or don't
> >translate
> > >
>
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > The army should be using truespel phonetic spelling for training
> troops
> >for
> > > reading other languages, perhaps from a phrase book for quick
> >application in
> > > the field. Truespel is English friendly and can be learned by English
> > > literates in 15 minutes, with an hour practice for basic proficiency.
> >The
> > > free truespel converter can always be used to show English conversion
> >for
> > > practice. The entire web can be converted using the URL converter at
> > > truespel.com and used for practice and teaching.
> > >
> > > Truespel book one showed that for 13 languages other than English, 95%
> >of
> > > the phonemes for 60 popular phrases/words were the same as for
> English,
> >but
> > > the phoneme set need be extended from 40 to 50 phonemes. Swahili had
> >the
> > > least different phoeneme set, French the most.
> > >
> > > Soldiers may not be able to read other languages, but it's simple for
> >them
> > > to read them phonetically using an English friendly phonetic spelling
> >like
> > > truespel. I'd be happy to work on this with the military. There is
> no
> > > other English friendly pronunciation guide spelling than truespel,
> which
> >is
> > > now mature for USA English.
> > >
> > > Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
> > > See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems"
> at
> > > authorhouse.com.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > >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
> > > >
> > > >------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
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> >
> >
> >--
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> >-----
> > -Sam'l Clemens
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
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>
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