Russia and Georgia

Mon Aug 18 20:24:46 UTC 2008

All:

I apologize for the original message. I didn't read it carefully enough
before sending it, and
I also didn't include the url.

HS

On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 1:40 PM, Robert Lawless
<robert.lawless at wichita.edu>wrote:

> 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. > > -- >
>> ************************************** > N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list
>> is merely intended as a service to > 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>.
>>
>
>

-- 
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

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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