Students learn to be culturally aware and astute

USASOC

March 31, 2011

Army special operations Soldiers conduct complex, high-risk missions around the world. Working in small teams in remote areas, these men and women must work with foreign forces and civilians in order to accomplish their mission and get home safely. They aren’t just strong; they’re smart.

Which is why at Special Warfare Center and Schools you’ll find future special-operations Soldiers sitting in classrooms that, at first glance, might be for kindergartners. Hanging on the walls are bright posters filled with cartoons and extra-large text listing the days of the week and the colors of the rainbow.

One key difference: these posters aren’t written in English, but in any one of 17 core languages taught to members of the special operations community: Spanish, French, Indonesian, Chinese, Russian, Thai, Tagalog, Korean, Dari, Pashto, Arabic, Persian-Farsi, Urdu, Polish, Turkish, Czech or Hungarian.

“To these Soldiers, language is a survival tool,” said Maqbool Hassain, a Pashto instructor.
“Without knowing the language, it’s like walking blinding in the dark. To be language-blind, so to speak, is a great handicap. Language and cultural understanding is like adding eye-glasses to sharpen the scope to the situations they will face.”

Last year, more than 2,000 civil affairs, military information support operations and Special Forces Soldiers of various ranks studied a specific region’s language and culture at SWCS during their qualification course training.

Early into each of the three branches’ qualification courses, each Soldier must spend 18 to 24 weeks in language training, depending on the difficulty of their assigned region. This training is coordinated by SWCS’ Directorate of Regional Studies and Education.

The knowledge and understanding of how to deal with different cultures could save lives, said Hakim Rahimi, a Dari, Pashto, and Persian instructor.

“This ability to speak formally and informally with a broad range of vocabulary builds Soldiers’ ability to communicate with anyone, from improvised rural villagers to high ranking leaders,” he said.

“In four months, we’ve gone from speaking our names to expressing ideas clearly,” said Sgt. Anthony Hernandez, a French student.

By combining language and cultural training, students learn to communicate within the context of a region’s customs and traditions. Language and regional studies education at SWCS focuses on socio-linguistic and cultural competency.

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