I would be interested in your opinions on how effective is was (or wasn't): For my first three deployments (All to Iraq) we received cursory language and culture training. This was before the MTT concept was really "a thing", and so nobody gave much thought to that kind of training. Before I headed to Afghanistan in 2012, I spent my own money to learn Farsi from a local language school for about 4 or 5 months, which helped tremendously. Because I was training to advise ANA troops, I was sent (along with a few other Marines) to a course on Pendleton called "Foreign Advisers - Gold". It was approximately four months long, and incorporated some significant cultural training, some basic language training, and comprehensive tactical training. The cultural training paid dividends, but the language training was not enough to be terribly useful.
Difficulties in learning the language: Grammar and syntax with Farsi/Dari is not very difficult, but listening and reading proved to be challenging. Even though they are Indo-European languages, Farsi and Dari are difficult to listen to for most American ears. So attuning your ears to that particular linguistic style was a challenge. The alphabet proved to be another challenge. There's only two vowels in the language, and most of the time they are implied rather than explicitly written out. Even though we received some training in how to read, I was the only one who could do it (Because of the individual schooling I had taken).
While most of the Marines wanted to be a part of the team, there was a general apathy to language learning. It was a sense of "we are going to be talking through interpreters. Why learn the language?". This came back to bite us when we received a new interpreter mid-way through the deployment who, I noticed, was absolutely terrible at translating Dari. He was a native pashto speaker, but deliberately oversold his Dari capabilities in order to get hired. We ended up firing him and getting a new interpreter who was much better.
What you think would have been a better approach: Perhaps designate one guy from each team to receive really comprehensive language training. We found that knowing the language is a HUGE rapport builder, especially in Afghanistan, and not to toot my own horn but my knowledge of the language made me a very effective trainer. I wasn't fluent, of course, but I knew enough to carry on conversations and could conduct tactical translation when it was needed. I made a lot of friends with the Afghans and their officers, and was able to leverage that to get them to listen to the other trainers who maybe weren't as effective.
I know this isn't the most practical solution, but a guy with good language-learning capability can get to 2/2/2 level in under 3 months. Perhaps future teams could take a guy and send him through either a DoD or university language course. He might miss out on some other stuff, but if he's already spun up on how to drive a HMMWV or shoot, then it's easier to focus on the soft skills.
Did knowledge of a foreign language make your job easier? Absolutely. See above.
