ROTC receives language grant to train cadets

The National Security Education Program has given the IU Reserve Officer Training Corps a two-year grant for an initiative that will teach cadets the languages and cultures of countries where they could be stationed in the future. \nThe grant translates into $481,630 in scholarships that 25 ROTC cadets have received to study nine languages ranging from Pashto, a language spoken in Pakistan and Afghanistan, to Tajik, the language of Tajikistan. \nThe languages will be taught in “intensive summer workshops” that will last eight to nine weeks, according to a press release. \nGene Coyle is the director of the program and a member of the program’s Strategic Languages and Cultures Task Force, Coyle said that scholarship recipients will begin arriving from all over the country June 10. \nEight cadets in the program are from IU, and the rest will be coming from as far away as Oregon and Arizona. Coyle said that the program may push cadets outside of their comfort zones.\n“It’s easier for cadets to take languages like German or Spanish, which are fine languages,” he said. “But (the program) encourages students to take a language they may have never heard of.”\nDespite being offered languages such as Uzbek and Kazakh, the respective languages of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, 11 cadets will be studying Russian, 11 will be studying Arabic and three will be studying Pashto.\nSophomore Jim Hodges chose Pashto from the list of languages. Hodges anticipates being in the area in the future, and believes that Pashto will give him the most versatility in speaking and understanding related languages.\n“(Pashto is) the closest language to Farsi, which is what they speak in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” he said.\nCoyle, an adjunct professor for both SPEA and the Arts and Sciences Global Village, said that Americans tend to adopt the mindset of “mirror-imaging”: they think others in the world view things as they do. He believes cadets who complete the program may have an easier time overcoming “mirror-imaging” tendencies.\n“Officers come away with an appreciation of cultures” after they learn about the languages and cultures of places they may be sent to, Coyle said. He added that officers will also have less of a chance of accidentally insulting someone or being involved in other misunderstandings overseas.\nKirk White, an Indiana National Guardsman and a member of the Strategic Languages and Cultures Task Force, was in Afghanistan in 2004 and 2005 for active duty. He said that he would have had more of an advantage if he had learned the country’s language and culture.\n“Our education was limited – we had to depend on interpreters, which isn’t such a good thing,” White said. “That’s why the defense department is interested in encouraging ROTC cadets to learn these languages.”\nWhite said that the grant allows for seminars and added supports for ROTC cadets.\n“We have people scheduled to speak who have actual experience, and will not just be speaking about hypothetical circumstances,” he said.\nCoyle said that the schedule for each day will include grammar from 8 to 12 p.m., while conversation classes and lectures will be in the afternoons.\n“We’re trying to make it an enjoyable experience,” he said. \nWhen the grant’s two-year lease is nearly up, Coyle said that the defense department will receive a report on how the program is doing and will decide whether the program should continue. Coyle has high hopes. White is glad for the opportunity to introduce the initiative. \n“It’s something Indiana University can be proud of,” White said. “It gives IU a chance to contribute to the nation’s defense.”