I just got off the phone with one of my sweet, smart, gorgeous nieces (the sweet, smart, gorgeous niece currently attending Notre Dame). Her boyfriend of several years, himself a Notre Dame gradute, joined the Navy not too long ago. He is currently stationed in Monterey where, due to his receiving the highest score ever on the language aptitude test, he is learning Chinese. Once he completes the course he will be stationed in Hawai'i for the next three years. Rough duty.
I wonder, though, about the bigger implications. Here is an incredibly bright young man, very linguistically agile (he already knows those highly useful languages Latin and ancient Greek) and the direction they go with him is Chinese. With our current conflicts I would have expected a focus on one of the Middle Eastern dialects. Perhaps we are flush with Arabic interpreters already...
Is the military seeing a potential problem with China in the future (something my ex has been predicting for years) or do they just like to have a well rounded group and Chinese is where they are lacking? Just wondering.
Posted by Vox at May 24, 2004 01:13 PM | familyI think it is because that is one of the harder languages to learn like Japanese so we probably don't have enough translators in that language. Hawaii eh? They will love it! I use to live there when my Dad was stationed there.
Posted by: Lori at May 24, 2004 05:02 PMRemember the incident a few years back where a Chinese jet ran into a US surveillance plane? They kept the flight crew for a week or so, sort of flexing their muscles and pushing the US around.
Doesn't hurt to be prepared.
Posted by: Michael at May 24, 2004 09:41 PMthats about IT but gives you an idea...
Posted by: Wickld at May 24, 2004 09:45 PM