Posted on 02/08/2011 12:21:42 PM PST by Dubya
The Defense Language Institute provides for the linguistic studies needs of the Armed Forces. The problem is not in the availability, but in the selection of personnel. A HUGE problem I have been facing is that the federal government wants “native speakers,” rather than needing to train non-native speakers in a language. The fact that I grew up in the Middle East and had at least a little experience with Arabic has been of no help, because I am not a “native speaker.”
THAT is what needs to change.
Oh my. Thanks for the clarification. MY BIL may have even stated it like that but it was years ago and I could be misremembering. How long have they wanted natives? The problem with that seems so obvious I’m not sure it’s actually necessary to voice it.
I honestly don’t know all the details, being that I am not in yet. But I do know that the jobs I had my eye on are not available to me for the reason I explained above. It’s nonsense. Both my parents went to Monterey to study at the DLI, and now I can’t because of some ill conceived notion of inclusion. Maybe it will change, maybe not.
At least I have other MOS’s I’m interested in, so I’m not totally locked out.
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