Russia and Georgia

[Robert Lawless]

As also a DLI graduate, I can second this correction. There was, indeed, 
an emphasis on military terms but certainly the vocabulary was not 
"mostly army," which would make for very brief conversations. The 
education in Russian was widespread from movies to music to cuisine.

interpreterman at aol.com wrote:
> A response from a DLI grad, in the comments section following the article:
>
> As a graduate of the Defense Language Institute, I can assure you that 
> your assertions about our curricula are completely incorrect. Now, 
> while I am fully capable of discussing the immense problems that the 
> former Soviet Union has given the world due to their inability to 
> control countless amounts of nuclear fissile material following their 
> collapse at the end of the 1980s and into the 90s, I am equally adept 
> at discussing my recipe for chicken parmigiana or my favorite new movie.
> Thanks for perpetuating ignorance.
> --end quote
>
>
> Dan V, 11A5SLA
> Taipei, Taiwan
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Siegel, Jason F. <siegeljf at indiana.edu>
> To: lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
> Sent: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:09 am
> Subject: Re: Russia and Georgia
>
> Briefly: 
>  
> Source: http://blog.nj.com/njv_jim_dooley/2008/08/russia_and_georgia.html 
>  
> Relevance to language policy: The quote below discusses the 
> implications of implementing a policy toward another country when few 
> know how to speak its language (and therefore understand the discourse 
> of the nation). It also criticizes language education focus at an 
> educational institution run by the federal government. 
>  
> "Look, this is a part of the world that not ma[n]y of us beltway folk 
> know too much about, and it's complicated. There are about 5 people in 
> this city that speak the Georgian language and not many more who speak 
> Russian. The people who speak Russian don't count because they learned 
> to speak the language in the Defense Language Institute where the 
> vocabulary was mostly army, regiment, battalion, bomb, and despite 
> appearances, we don't think that this is the language which is likely 
> to defuse this situation which is troubling, if far from threatening 
> to our national security." 
> -- 
> Jason F. Siegel 
> Ph.D. Student, Linguistics & French Linguistics 
> Department of French & Italian 
> Ballantine Hall 642 
> 1020 East Kirkwood Avenue 
> Indiana University 
> Bloomington, IN 47405-7103 
> USA 
> siegeljf at indiana.edu <mailto:siegeljf at indiana.edu> 
>  
> Quoting interpreterman at aol.com <mailto:interpreterman at aol.com>: 
>  
> > 
> > Author? 
> > Relevance to language stuff? 
> > --Strikes me as more of the same tired "George Bush is a moron 
> > criminal genius who causes hurricanes" stuff. 
> > 
> > Color me Confused, please. 
> > 
> > Dan V. 
> > 
> > 
> > Taipei, Taiwan 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -----Original Message----- 
> > From: Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp at gmail.com <mailto:hfsclpp at gmail.com>> 
> > To: lp <lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu 
> <mailto:lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>> 
> > Sent: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 8:50 am 
> > Subject: Russia and Georgia 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Russia and Georgia 
> > August 17, 2008 4:26PM 
> > 
> > 
> > Ineptitude in response to reality is anything but singular in 
> > Washington these past years, especially when reality has shown the 
> > unpleasant side of its face. Would that dismal failure were a one off 
> > kind of thing, but in government one stupid move always begets 
> > another, the other yet another, and pretty soon you wind up back where 
> > some of us began, facing off with a country that really does have what 
> > Bush nomenclature calls weapons of mass destruction. 
> > 
> > Even so, Washington's belated response to the events of the last 10 
> > days in Georgia struck me as particularly absurd, even for Washington. 
> > The decision to send humanitarian aid to Georgia in military transport 
> > accomplishes almost nothing good and a lot bad. To the Georgians it 
> > will come as an impotent gesture arriving too late with the wrong 
> > stuff. To Russians it will be perceived as more of the same American 
> > military posturing on its borders which has been going on for 10 
> > years, provoking them finally into doing what they are doing, now with 
> > vengeance. Nor will the Russians fail to note the hypocrisy of what 
> > has become the characteristic American touch, gunboat foreign aid. The 
> > soldier delivering the medicine never goes home. Considering that we 
> > have been bollixing up the world in so many ways these past 15 years, 
> > I for one would like to think that a response something along these 
> > lines would have been considered. 
> > 
> > Look, this is a part of the world that not may of us beltway folk know 
> > too much about, and it's complicated. There are about 5 people in this 
> > city that speak the Georgian language and not many more who speak 
> > Russian. The people who speak Russian don't count because they learned 
> > to speak the language in the Defense Language Institute where the 
> > vocabulary was mostly army, regiment, battalion, bomb, and despite 
> > appearances, we don't think that this is the language which is likely 
> > to defuse this situation which is troubling, if far from threatening 
> > to our national security. 
> > 
> > How did it all go down? The President of Georgia did a stint here in 
> > our ivy league which not surprisingly left him delusional. Take a look 
> > around down here DC side if you have any trouble understanding me on 
> > this score. Putin. Well, Putin is Putin. Putin is going to do what he 
> > thinks is in the best interests of Russia, we know that now. We tried 
> > to get him to be an American but for some odd reason he didn't want 
> > any part of that. We even offered to let Russia be like America, you 
> > know, be like us or else, but he we couldn't budge the buggers, 
> > especially after they started to reap the rewards from taking back 
> > their oil companies from the Russian wannabe Rockefellers who hadn't 
> > the good sense to give back 10% of what they were stealing. 
> > 
> > So our policy on this latest crisis may surprise some of you people 
> > out there in the malls of America, still doing your best to keep on 
> > shopping just as I wanted you to do after the tragic events of 9/11. I 
> > know it has been tough doing what you are doing without any money, and 
> > your ingenuity in this regard frankly has been amazing. I know that 
> > you would prefer that I unleash our Generals and get America moving 
> > again. But the fact of the matter is we are stuck. We are stuck in 
> > Iraq. We are stuck in Afghanistan. We are stuck period, just like you 
> > are stuck in the mall without any money. We have sucked up all the 
> > credit and the well is dry. It's probably a good thing too, because 
> > thermo-nuclear wars can get ugly, very ugly. 
> > 
> > Our new policy is that we are going to stay home, shut up, and let the 
> > Georgians and the Russians work this one out between themselves. Too 
> > much to hope for? In Megalomaniaville, you bet it is. 
> > 
> > -- 
> > ************************************** 
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> > its members 
> > and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner 
> > or sponsor of 
> > the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who 
> > disagree with a 
> > message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator) 
> > ******************************************* 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
>  
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> It's time to go back to school! Get the latest trends and gadgets that 
> make the grade on AOL Shopping 
> <http://shopping.aol.com/back-to-school?ncid=aolins00050000000007>.

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