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http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2006/06/19/1641452.html
What would we as a military do if this happens?
What would we as a military do if this happens?
Is Canada Going To Lose It's Interpreters?
- Thread starter military granny
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we had one almost get killed when he went home, a few more were threatened and/or attacked. None quit. They make more money in a week than most Afghans do in a year, and many are there because they genuinely understand what we're trying to accomplish and want to help.
I don't see it as anything but a way for someone to get a by-line.
I don't see it as anything but a way for someone to get a by-line.
T
TMM
Guest
Arabic wouldn't be understood by most Afghanis. The most common languages are Pashtun and Dari/Farsi.
http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/languages.html
http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/languages.html
KevinB
Army.ca Relic
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It would take a major upswing in violence to get those guys to quit -- the avg monthly wage in Kabul is $90USD a month - down to $30USD in the provinces...
Police and Mil here are targeted way more than the 'terps - and they make a lot less in monetary renumeration.
Police and Mil here are targeted way more than the 'terps - and they make a lot less in monetary renumeration.
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There is nothing new about people threatening our interpreters: all baddies figure out pretty quickly how much we depend on them. In Croatia, I had a young Serb female interpreter. She worked under a considerable amount of stress: local Serb a**holes regularly threatened her as a "traitor" (especially once we started weapons confiscation, etc), and the Croats had a standing threat that they would arrest any UN Serb interpreters who came on their side of the line.
IMHO it isn't realistic to think that we can train all our troops, every six months, to speak whatever the dominant language/dialect of the operational area of the day happens to be. Where we are engaged long term, as we seem to be in Afgh, it might be reasonable to try to establish a survival capability throughout the Army, but realistically it is up to an individual to learn a language, and they have to practice it regularly or it fades away. I think we'll always depend on interpreters, who also bring important local and cultural understandings that we just will never have, unless we live in the region for years.
Cheers
IMHO it isn't realistic to think that we can train all our troops, every six months, to speak whatever the dominant language/dialect of the operational area of the day happens to be. Where we are engaged long term, as we seem to be in Afgh, it might be reasonable to try to establish a survival capability throughout the Army, but realistically it is up to an individual to learn a language, and they have to practice it regularly or it fades away. I think we'll always depend on interpreters, who also bring important local and cultural understandings that we just will never have, unless we live in the region for years.
Cheers
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