Language Proficiency?
 

How proficient do you become in your language? My son has been given Mandarin Chinese to learn and the task of learning all the characters/alphabet plus the tones for the different combinations seems like a pretty daunting task. Fortunately he has a good ear for music so he'll hear the tones. How long will he be given to learn Mandarin? His MOS is communications. He definitely has his work cut out for him!

Good enough to converse with the people (Host Nation) you work with in military and non-military situations. We practiced a lot on the Teams with each other and completed language lab training before we deployed.

The Host Nation personnel see that you are trying and offer assistance too when you're deployed. Think about someone from another country trying to speak english here in America. You were happy to help someone trying to learn your language.

There are a lot of funny moments trying to converse in a foreign language. What's important is that you try.

Doc

i was conversant in German, enough so to communicate points and concepts involving politics and weapons...in French, i was able to communicate PSYOP programs and other operational issues with the French in Xoddur and the Canadians in Belet Weyne...my Italian was good to take care of administrative issues while at Alpini School and good enough to convince an Italian security detail that stopping at an intersection during a firefight wasn't a very good idea...my Czech never amounted to much (i was not formally trained in Czech, Italian or German) and attempts to learn Arabic went for nought...

some would say my English ain't never been nuthin' to right home about neither... :D

Ma'am - Meaning no disrespect to his mother, the standard response to your question is "That poor bastard". Seriously, proficiency is not something he (or any of us) will pick up in school. The only way to truly learn a language is to immerse yourself in the culture and live it. As long as he learns enough basics to build a foundation, he'll have the tools to continue learning in the real world after he gets to his unit. Unfortunately he'll have a slightly more difficult time getting access to the mainland Chinese to immerse himself in their culture. Congratulations to him for succeeding to this point and remind him not to get frustrated with the occasional setbacks - they will happen and he still has a long road to go before he achieves his goal. FWIW - Peregrino

Ma'am,
Another thing that may be of help to your son, after he finishes his language training, is that he try to learn the colloquialisms of the language as well. This can also go a long way in helping to establish rapport. Best place for him to learn this, barring moving to China / Taiwan, is to visit the "Chinatowns", and interact with the shop merchants and restaurants. They are pretty good about knowing the most current "slang" words, and the informal methods of addressing people...especially with the Chinese culture and mindset. This also has the bonus in that if he is observant, he may be able to pick up some of the body language and social taboos as well. I have found, in my limited experience in Asia, that there are certain taboos that you do not do...things which we were never taught in language school (and would not normally consider a taboo to the "Western mindset") but rather learned from the more experienced team members.

V/R,

I love speaking Chinese.

I hate writing Chinese.

I try to speak it whenever I can to people in restaurants or whereever. I find this helps quite a bit.

Having two lecturers and one tutor who come from differant parts of China doesn't help matters, though.

Thank you all for your replies. Your information has been helpful.

Blue Star Mom

I found a website with the Bible in MP3, in many languages:
http://familyweb.familyradio.org/mp3/

Could be useful to load on your MP3 player while training, or just when driving.

Watch your favorite movies in another language, Very helpful when learning new languages.