Bagram language Dari or Pashto?

[kalikraven]

What language is best to learn if going to Bagram? And what is the best way to learn it?

[Voodoochild]

Research the area that Bagram is in and you will find out that Tajiks are around 71% of the population and make up the majority in the province, and Pashtuns are around 29%. So whatever the Tajiks speak learn it. But to be honest learn every language you can whiel you are there.

I am sure there are places and people there that offer language classes.

[kalikraven]

Thanks Wiki says Dari for the Tajiks. I want to get boots on the ground feedback on this because both languages are spoken in Afganistan and learning one language is challenging enuff.

I did some internet reseach a few weeks ago and came to the same conclusion, but like I said somebody's personal experience is better than just looking it up.


Well this thread got moved to General Discussion and now I can no longer post in it. I have been a member here since December 2007 and while I have not made over 200 post, the ones that I have are not spam or news.:(

[variablebinary]

Are you military?

They've been asking my unit for volunteers to learn Pashtu for the past few months?

Though, you have to have a certain DLPT score on a in a foreign language, and be willing to attend DLI

[Fyrhazzrd]

Well this thread got moved to General Discussion and now I can no longer post in it. I have been a member here since December 2007 and while I have not made over 200 post, the ones that I have are not spam or news.:(

Wow you got a raw deal there. That is kind of crappy. Create a thread then move it to a section that you can't post in. :(

[TOrrock]

I've moved this to Field Craft, that should help you out as far as being able to post.

[kalikraven]

Thanks for moving it back. :)

I'm Air Guard and therefore I'm in a information vacuum for 28 days a month. Variable Binary reminded me in a PM about AKO. I used to have an account when I was active army but it's gone now... However I can create an account so maybe I'll be able to get some free lessons from Rosetta Stone. I called them about 3 weeks ago and found out that they don't do Dari but do have Pashto. Right now I'm doing a Pimsleur Dari course and it's going along OK. I'm slowly getting to where I can speak some of it, but still struggle sometimes with remembering words while speaking. However if I hear a conversation I have no problem translating it. I have a little while before deployment and allot can happen between now and then. I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't wasting my time trying to learn the wrong language for the area that I'll be deployed in.

The big reason why I want to learn is because I don't know how much I can really trust a terp. I've heard storys of Afgan elders talking for five minutes and the terp just saying that everything is fine.

[Smuckatelli]

What language is best to learn if going to Bagram? And what is the best way to learn it?

Go to:

http://support.tacticallanguage.com/

Get an account, and download the Dari software. The skillbuilder teaches you the language, the mission teaches you to use the language with avatars that speak the language. There is a speech recognizer built into the software, you'll need a headset with microphone.

This software is free to members of the Armed Forces, I manage the contract for the Marine Corps. You'll need a .mil address to varify your military background. If you do not have a .mil; reference me in your request. the company will send me the request and I will authorize it.

[kalikraven]

Thanks. The hardest part was figureing out how to access my .mil email from home. A quick call to my unit fixed that and now I'm downloading the software. :)

[TehLlama]

Agreed, Dari is your best bet. You'll still be learning in basic transliterated phrases without a lot of the rudimental grammar to make really novel sentences, but it will be enough to handle niceties.

Dari is easier than Pashto/Pakhto for some of the easier stuff, and if you're not leaving Bagram then you'll never run into any Pashtuns that don't also speak Dari.


As far as the proper Pashto classes - the AFPAK program exists (a 16wk basic course designed to get you to a 1/1/1 ILR roughly), but slots aren't given on the most logical fashion (one battalion just turned down convertible middle east linguists to send a bunch of idiots who heard it was a fun place to be).

The Rosetta Stone through AKO/MarineNet is okay, but not great. The start guides are okay, but you honestly need somebody who speaks the language to walk you through the alphabet so that you can at least properly pronounce the words and phrases you have mastered.
RapidRote and some of the immersive software programs can help, but generally speaking for no-shiite conversational Dari you'll be next to worthless. Even though I'll probably squeak a 2/2+/2 from the current Pashto course I'm in, I'll still try and go back for a tactical/refresher/intermediate course prior to shipping out - there's a lot of difficulty involved.