| A former employee of a contractor providing military | | | | spoken in a wide variety of dialects and often by |
| translation and interpreting services to the US army in | | | | people whose accents are a far cry from the model |
| Afghanistan has turned whistleblower with the claim | | | | speech of a classroom environment. |
| that the armed forces are being diddled by workers | | | | If you are operating in any foreign culture, and |
| who are not properly fluent in the Afghan languages | | | | particularly as the armed forces are in Afghanistan, |
| they profess to specialise in, and who are hiring | | | | where the war has been described as an attempt to |
| stand-ins to pass telephone examinations. | | | | conquer ‘hearts and minds' as well as a |
| However, the contractor firmly denies these claims, | | | | common enemy, proper language training is essential. |
| which it says are being made to influence the | | | | The problems with hiring translators and interpreters |
| outcome of an ongoing Court case. Even if the | | | | directly from the field of operations are not just |
| allegations were true, it is unlikely that MEP, the | | | | confined to issues with being able to assess their |
| contractor, is the sole source of the languages fiasco. | | | | competency properly. |
| The US army has been described as lacking in the | | | | There must also be questions of loyalty and security |
| provision of adequate language training for military | | | | to consider. Previously and properly trained linguists |
| personnel in languages critical to its campaigns by a | | | | who are prepared for the rigours of the battlefield |
| number of American watchdogs recently. | | | | would surely be more beneficial to the US army? |
| It has been suggested that top American brass does | | | | Clear communication is vital to the success of any |
| not see language training as ‘mission critical' to its | | | | interaction with another culture, and in a time of war, |
| personnel, and certainly the various languages (Dari, | | | | where simple misunderstandings can lead to |
| Farsi, and notably Pashto) spoken by the Taliban and | | | | complicated and dangerous situations, might not |
| in the south of Afghanistan are not easy for | | | | many lives also be saved by a few words in the right |
| Americans to learn. This is partly because they are | | | | place? |