I am an Army wife and very interested in learning the language my husband is assigned during SFQC if he ends up making it through. Does anybody have any advice on how to best go about doing this? Is there support for family members to try to keep pace with their husband's language training?
Language phase of SFQC
- Thread starter Jane
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Depending on the language that he is assigned and the category of difficulty you might be able to use the Rosetta Stone training that is available on AKO to get you started. It may not be as immersive or extensive as the training that he will receive, but it will be a starting point and allow you some interaction using that language to possibly help him increase his proficiency. You could also look into checking out some of the audio material for that language from the base library, or use the DLI Familiarization Modules. Hopefully someone with a bit more insight with the whole process can provide better assistance.
Did he get selected and if so, what Group and langauge did he get? If he hasn't been to SFAS yet, then you just have to wait and see.
As for support groups, single guys did the study hall or study with friends, and married guys went home and studied with the help of their family (or locked themselves in a room without the kids bothering them). Back when I went though language, you could get one day pass if your GPA was high and I took advantage of that one day pass and added that to a weekend to make it a 3 dayer. My caveat was that I had Indonesian which is easy compared to Korean, Mandarin Chinese, etc.
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This is a great aid.. Again depending on what your Husband gets, might be lucky that livemocha has.. This site is mostly free and use reciprocal language learning. I am studying Arabic and it is very helpful.
https://www.livemocha.com/static/post_login.html?redir=/sihp
https://www.livemocha.com/static/post_login.html?redir=/sihp
SFAS for my husband hasn't ended yet so I don't know if he will be selected or not yet. I am just trying to do some research early on regarding the language phase since I am personally interested in learning another language and this seems like a decent time to do that. Has anybody taken a course through SOFTS? I just found it through somebody else's posts and apparently it is not normally for spouses but they will occasionally let a wife audit the class if there is room. I will also look into livemocha.com, thank you.
Texas_Medic
Verified SOF
Depending upon his learning style it may be helpful for him to teach you as a method of learning reinforcement. That and lots of sticky notes posted on every object in the house to increase vocabulary. Also, his language instructor should give him supplemental CD's/ audio snippets that you can play at home. That being said, one step at a time. SFAS is the very first step there will be many more tests, assessments and obstacles to overcome.
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I'm using flashcards also... Put 5-10 (or more/less) flashcards in 7 envelopes marked Monday-Sunday. On Monday while studying the Monday cards and you are unsure of one or two, place them cards into the Tues envelopes and go over them (on Tues) again until you know them and again for Wednesday, Thursday Etc.. until you know the words.
Its also a good to put link words of the target language into this system to speed up speaking...
Texas_Medic
Verified SOF
Doh!
I totally forgot about flashcards! There is a program I used during language called Byki that is a computerized version of flashcards plus a few others. You can self create as many as you'd like and the program shuffles through them. I would suggest Irish's method of 5-10 words per flashcard stack at a single sitting as that is typically the "best" method of learning anything new instead of the mega 100+ flashcard stack I have seen guys try to use. The hardest part for a lot of the younger guys, especially the ones without a higher education, was learning "how" to learn. Andragogy or the science of adult learning is something that is becoming a bigger part of the course.
I totally forgot about flashcards! There is a program I used during language called Byki that is a computerized version of flashcards plus a few others. You can self create as many as you'd like and the program shuffles through them. I would suggest Irish's method of 5-10 words per flashcard stack at a single sitting as that is typically the "best" method of learning anything new instead of the mega 100+ flashcard stack I have seen guys try to use. The hardest part for a lot of the younger guys, especially the ones without a higher education, was learning "how" to learn. Andragogy or the science of adult learning is something that is becoming a bigger part of the course.
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Doh!
I've used Byki too, very good.. They have a smart phone version( Iphone & Android) but its a fee.. not much IIRC, about $5-8..
Brill
SOF Support
Question on SFQC and you moved it HERE?
It is a general question on languages and learning them, not SFQC, from a spouse whose husband hasn't even completed Selection.
Anki is a similar program to this, except it allows you to search for user-created flash card decks, some of which can be in excess of 6000 cards. And its free on the computer! There is a version available on iTunes but its something like 20$. Great app which helped me learn Farsi and Dari prior to and during this last deployment.
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