Defence Minister announces new Official Languages Plan

[spqr]

I am another soon to be officer candidate and my interviewer CFRC Calgary said that my trade (infantry) training will be a priority over my language training.  He said that in all likelihood I would wind up doing IAP/BOTP, then CAP, then the DP serials, then get my first posting in an English battalion, and then do my language training after my first deployment.  That seems reasonable to me and a lot like what the news release seems to be beating around the bush to say.

Since the interview everything I have read says that the SLT will be after BOTC so I am prepared for that too.  I don't care either way, the language training was a big bonus to the job, but like xmarkx said - I joined for the muddy stuff.

 

[josh]

National Defence Official Languages Program
Transformation Model - 25 October 2006

http://www.forces.gc.ca/hr/dol/Engraph/TransModel_TOC_e.asp

 

[GUNS]

I'll offer some advice here, in 1968 I was posted to Valcartier, I am from Newfoundland. At that time in order to qualify for language training you have to be a Bdr/Cpl or higher, I was in the Army for less than two years.

After a few months there I really started to enjoy my posting but was not comfortable with not being able to apply for language training. I submitted my name on a monthly bases for language training but was rejected. I really wanted to speak French.

I was in a Catch-22 situation, you had to be a Bdr/Cpl or above to qualify for language training and I would never be promoted because I could not speak French.

My advice is, if there is an opportunity to learn a second language, go for it. If that opportunity was offered to me, my military life would have changed drastically and on civvy street afterwards. How can anyone make an argument out of not wanting to improve themselves.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Hmmmm, somewhere in one of the boxes in the basement is a plaque, given to me on promotion to LCol a few decades back; it says:

Merit means never having to say you're bilingual







It's a takeoff on a line from a (then) well known chick-flick.

 

[Magravan]

My advice is, if there is an opportunity to learn a second language, go for it. If that opportunity was offered to me, my military life would have changed drastically and on civvy street afterwards. How can anyone make an argument out of not wanting to improve themselves.

I don't think that they are making a case for not improving themselves. I believe they just have a different direction that they want to improve themselves...

 

[glenndon]

And most of you people are just talking about the officer world. . .  here in the NCM world, from my perspective it seems much easier for a francophone to get english training then the opposite.  And from what I understand, they are moving towards the senior NCM ranks requiring a french profile, which would mean getting SLT out of the way at some point for many.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Steve Staples smells a Conservative plot:

Military changing approach to bilingualism
Only those in leadership roles will need language training
By CHRIS LAMBIE Staff Reporter, Halifax ChronicleHerald
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/544462.html

...
One defence analyst questioned whether the military is taking advantage of the fact that there is a Conservative government in power to make the changes.

"There is no doubt there is an anti-Quebec odour to a lot of their support base," said Steve Staples, of the left-leaning Polaris Institute, based in Ottawa.

He also wondered how the new language policy will impact the military’s operational capability.

"Could we see a situation where soldiers in the field are unable to communicate with other members of the Canadian Forces, perhaps in a combat situation where communication is crucial?" Mr. Staples said...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Edward
I love your banner!!

 

[George Wallace]

Looks like we now have two topics mirroring each other.  Bilingualism levels at defence HQ 'insufficient,' audit says

 

[Infanteer]

I don't know about others, but having finished the 33-week course as a subbie, I can appreciate the skill sets that were given to me in learning the other language of my country.  Don't get caught up in the policies and politics; use it as a tool it is.  My buddy (ex-CF) is an NCO in the US Special Forces and, just as young officers in the CF, he was pulled out of his tactical training to go to language training.  Yes, it was part of his Q-Course to learn a South-East Asian language that he may never use operationally (especially when you consider that all the work right now is in the Sandbox).  However, the tool is there, like it is for those who go on SLT.  Now, having picked up some new approaches to learning, I've begun to learn some other languages as well.

Consider this - English is pretty much the international language right now, while French is spoken in the Carribean, much of Africa and throughout parts of South-East Asia as well.  Having both these languages is a useful skill indeed.  Considering that in today's conflicts dealing with locals is probably the key to winning, I would argue that language skills are just as important as tactics for young leaders who may, as junior leaders, one day find utility in their ability to communicate with others.

The only problem I have with SLT is the way the course is structured.  33-weeks is too long; maybe they could break it up and have you do training in between (like leadership training, maybe even a bit in your other language?).  by the 7th month, the Don't-Give-A-Fuck factor was pretty high.  As well, the SLT learning environment is quite civilianized, and the notion of being in the military pretty much goes out the door (8 months and I never once did drill).  Some of the guys, coming right from CFLRS, are just cut loose with no real idea on how to conduct themselves as CF members.  The fitness level slides for many.  Some of the civilian instructors, quite honestly, have no idea of the system they are in which can cause some problems from time to time.  SLT would probably have been more enjoyable had it been on a real military base, included some military activities from time to time (morning PT maybe?) and had a break in between in order to get the students out of a small classroom environment.