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MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. – Marines are stationed and deployed in “every clime and place,” so they have to be ready to encounter the civilian populace wherever they go.
Cherry Point has several resources to help service members and their families learn languages for deployments, exercises and duty stations outside the U.S.
The training and education building and station library each have tools to help educate the Cherry Point community in languages and cultures of foreign countries.
The training and education building’s language center can be used by service members to learn four languages; Dari, Pashto, Iraqi Arabic and French. The center is also capable of distance learning through satellite uplink where students can talk to people from the area to help learn the language, culture and current events of countries where Marines could be deployed.
“It’s preparing you for going overseas,” said Cole E. Wylie, the site system engineer. “We have six dishboxes in each room that have the local channels of whatever country you’re going to and you can study the current events that are going on there.”
If a full classroom of Marines sign up for a class, we can get an instructor, rather than learning it on your own by Rosetta Stone or MarineNet without instruction.”
Marines who have been deployed before believe that this training is useful preparation.
“If I could translate, it could help me communicate from the local person to my fellow Marines information like what’s going on, what they’re trying to say and what needs to be done,” said Lance Cpl. Andre Gordon an aircraft rescue firefighter from Marine Wing Support Squadron 274, who was deployed for seven months earlier this year. “If there is a conflict between the locals and the Marines, we can better communicate to ask them, ‘What can we do to make the situation better?’”
While the training and education building’s language center is geared to accommodate service members planning to deploy, the air station library offers a variety of resources for Marines and their family members. The library’s resources include access to MarineNet, Rosetta Stone, and audio CDs and books in foreign languages. The library has recently added online training through Mango Languages courses.
Mango is an online, interactive language teaching system, explained Suzanne Shell, director of the library. The program teaches new languages through different scenarios, for instance a street in Paris where a student is required to ask questions and speak the language in “real-life” situations.
Mango is paid for by Headquarters Marine Corps so it is completely free to Marines and their families, according to Shell. Currently, there are twelve basic level languages available through Mango and more may be added in the future. Mango also has four different programs for people wanting to improve their English as a second language. If someone primarily speaks Japanese, Spanish, Arabic or Korean they can learn English as their second language through these programs.
Anyone with access to the library is welcome to use these resources. Library hours are Monday – Thursday 9 a.m. to 9:45 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. to 8:45 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. and Sundays 1 to 8:45 p.m.
Marines who want to take advantage of the training and education building’s language center should contact Training and Education at 466-3964. To schedule an instructor for a unit, e-mail Steve Wilson at swilson@prosol1.com.
| Date Taken: | 11.18.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 11.18.2010 16:18 |
| Story ID: | 60426 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 140 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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