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Heh. I WAS around 20 years ago...I was a student at DLI, in fact. Seems like things are a lot worse than they were back then, though.
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Jul 31, 2012 17:29
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GreenMeat posted:Heh. I WAS around 20 years ago...I was a student at DLI, in fact. Seems like things are a lot worse than they were back then, though. Really? I was in F Co in 92-93
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Jul 31, 2012 20:09
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:Really? I was in F Co in 92-93 I was leaving A Co just as you got there, most likely. It was my second of three stints at language school.
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Jul 31, 2012 23:53
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faddypaddy posted:It depends. How far are you in the course? What language? It took me a while before I found a study strategy that worked. As far as actually raising you GPA maybe maybe not but if you show decent improvement and start getting good grades on test then you can easily get put in for a recycle. About 22 weeks in. Arabic. I'm still working out how to study with literally no time to do it without losing sleep. VideoTapir posted:What kind of trouble are you having, in terms of getting it? Thank you, I'll try that. And listening is killing me. I have a strategy ready and then test time. Boom. There it goes and I have no idea what's going on.
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Aug 1, 2012 01:52
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AchmedTheSnake posted:And listening is killing me. I have a strategy ready and then test time. Boom. There it goes and I have no idea what's going on. a) Read the question and the answers before the passage starts. Listen specifically for what they were asking about, don't try to translate everything as it goes. b) See if you can build a couple-second buffer in your brain. If you didn't get the answer the first time through, try to run over it again in your mind... BUT! c) If you miss something and you can't get it the second run-through, and there are other questions for this passage, accept that you probably missed it and start listening for the answers to the other questions. d) If you don't know the right answer, try to figure out what the most Arabic/Korean/whatever culturally-appropriate answer is. This is more effective than it should be. e) Take each question or set of questions on its own. Don't get overconfident if you think you are doing well, and don't get frustrated if you think you are doing poorly.
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Aug 1, 2012 18:05
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Step d) is amazingly effective and saved my rear end a couple of times. Knowing the culture will help in the long run as well.
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Aug 1, 2012 18:54
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Achmed if you are interested in some help let me know and I will pass on my email and we can link up. I should be able to help you out.
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Aug 1, 2012 20:51
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motoeisen posted:Obviously everyone is different, but here are some broadly-applicable things that helped me when I was at DLI. #1 has helped me immensely in my six years of taking the DLPT, and is also paying off so far in the Levantine basic course. Knowing exactly what you are listening for helps tremendously, especially when the answers don't always come in the same order that they are listed on the paper. Also I would add WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING YOU HEAR. I'm not sure if it is just my teaching team, but a lot of the students in my class are getting away with murder because they'll hear the word for blonde, or some bullshit and write it down, not saying "blonde hair" etc and they'll get a point. The guy taking the Unit 2 test sitting next to me yesterday literally had a paragraph of short answers written down and he got it. Some teaching teams may mark it wrong if you have more than one definite answer down (I would) but it never hurts to try if you are unsure of the question. But always write down everything you hear! Making small notes could help you if you are sure of one answer but not the other one or two. The notes could help in context so do that. On the computerized tests, obviously note taking isn't a possibility so go to option D above.
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Aug 2, 2012 05:12
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Okay, I never went to DLI but I did take the DLPT 5 for Turkish in May and got a 3/3. Here's what I think. 1) As mentioned previously, READ THE QUESTION AND THE ANSWERS before you listen to the passage during the listening section. For the first 10 or so passages I didn't bother because I'm fluent and gently caress that poo poo, but once they started talking about geothermal vents and women's suffrage in Ottoman Turkey, I started paying the gently caress attention. The learning curve is very, very steep on the test and it will quickly decipher where you reside on said curve. 2) This one is hard to prepare for, but colloquialisms. The DLPT 5 will include a lot of idioms and colloquialisms that are region-specific. I can't say "brush up on these" because that's not realistic, but that's the kind of thing they test to. They're not just looking to see if you understand sentence after sentence, they want to know that you can read between the lines and decipher all of the "figures of speech" that are utilized in each passage. I can't really throw too many more "lessons learned" at you except by saying: read at least one to two newspapers in your language, per day. Granted, I am pretty fluent (more fluent than the test would lead you to believe, but it's not an academia-oriented test, it's a DoD-centric test so the notions of fluency are far more rigorous), BUT, you'd be surprised how quickly your vocabulary will expand if you're able to read newspapers without having to look up more than half a dozen words or so. Oh, and by the way...if/when you take the OPI portion of the DLPT (the spoken interview portion) use EVERY chance you have to ask questions. Yes, you're speaking, but as soon as there is the slightest hint of a lull in conversation, ask the 'tester' a question. Drive the conversation. I talked to my dude about everything from where I went to college to the best vacation I ever took, but we just generally chatted. He brought up a couple current events but once I chit-chatted about those for a few sentences, I started asking him questions. If you can get to this point, exploit it. buttplug fucked around with this message at 13:47 on Aug 2, 2012 |
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Aug 2, 2012 13:44
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Under whaat circumstances would an officer go to DLI?
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Aug 6, 2012 16:49
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Bright Eyes posted:Under whaat circumstances would an officer go to DLI? If one were slated to be a foreign area officer, or if one were assigned as cadre in a unit there.
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Aug 6, 2012 17:56
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Does every branch have FAO? I remember hearing about Army's but none others. That starts at 0-4, correct?
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Aug 6, 2012 19:37
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Bright Eyes posted:Does every branch have FAO? I remember hearing about Army's but none others. That starts at 0-4, correct? Marines have them.
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Aug 6, 2012 19:48
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All branches have them but they work a little differently. Army and Navy pull guys out of their previous career tracks and make them a full-time FAO. Air Force and Marines are FAO for a while, then go back to a regular career. In all services you can begin the screening/selection process as a senior O-3. A lot of them put on O-4 while at DLI or NPS (most do both back to back).* There are also a poo poo-ton of personnel exchange program billets that need to be filled, and most of them require a stint at DLI. Attaches, Olmsted scholars, foreign military sales, filling gaps between orders, SOCOM sends officers through...there's really a whole lot of different ways for officers to end up there. *Funny thing going to NPS and DLI one after the other. Most folks do DLI first now, because depending on the language and degree it is often the more difficult program. It definitely requires more of a time commitment because there's really no other way to learn a language than to put in the time. There was a rash of officers getting into trouble because they were bombing at DLI. There's also the fact that you get treated like a senior officer AND a college student at NPS, and a weird mix of a JO and IET at DLI. It is culturally quite the shift. Geizkragen fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Aug 6, 2012 |
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Aug 6, 2012 20:04
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To toss in my lovely cents about DLI, I was there from July 07-Dec 08. I was straight out of high school and figured college would be a waste with my 2.3 GPA, telling me that I was going to waste a lot of money on something I wasn't interested in (more school). So naturally let's join the military and go to a year and a half school why the gently caress not. I had Mandarin and I actually cared for the first third of the class. Did really well. Then the second third kicked in and the vocabulary requires ramped up ridiculously and I couldn't be bothered to care. Also e/n first time babby left home, poo poo like that. I must have made an impression on the teachers who wanted to keep me in because I failed about six tests and still graduated the class. Got a 1+ across the board, I was maybe the second or third class to test on the DLPT-5. The military side didn't care to waiver it and I didn't care to keep doing it but I wasn't a shitbird so I went to comm instead. Thank god. Granted I was pretty much a burnout for the first year and a half, but I got better. I was a shut-in so I didn't really get out and enjoy the area. Sat in my room and played video games. I'm now slightly less of a shut-in so maybe it would be a different story now. SO to those who graduate, congratulations. To those who don't and get a decent job, congratulations.
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Aug 7, 2012 05:41
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I failed out of my language and got reclassed into something not intel. What are my options for getting a better choice from needs of the army? Or am I stuck. For example. I won't be able to leave to the next AIT that I have orders for because of injuries/profile and being unable to take a PT test. So I can't leave here yet regardless of the orders because I have to test out first. Does that affect the MOS I've been assigned to, or will I simply be rolled back to another class later on? What I'm wondering is, is it possible to be given another "needs of the Army" mos crapshoot a month from now when I miss that shipdate?
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Aug 12, 2012 08:54
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Geizkragen posted:Air Force and Marines are FAO for a while, then go back to a regular career. This is sort of right for the USAF...the Politico-Military Affairs guys do the one and done thing (but they generally don't have any language requirements), but the FAO (they're called Regional Affairs Strategist) is actually a dual-track career: once you complete your education/training requirements (regionally focused Master's, language training, and 6 month immersion in the region) you basically alternate back and forth between assignments in your primary job and RAS assignments for the remainder of your time in the military. iyaayas01 fucked around with this message at 09:24 on Aug 12, 2012 |
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Aug 12, 2012 09:20
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Bellum posted:I failed out of my language and got reclassed into something not intel. A buddy of mine is in the same position as you minus the whole profile bit. He was told by his PSG that the only people getting intel slots right now are people who graduated their course but failed the DLPT. Gooble Gobble fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Feb 9, 2014 |
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Aug 12, 2012 10:57
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So this is pretty accurate then, huh?Duffel Blog posted:DLI Students Compete for Nerd of the Quarter Crown http://www.duffelblog.com/2012/08/dli-students-compete-for-nerd-of-the-quarter-crown/
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Aug 12, 2012 16:52
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Nerds as a whole are usually too squirrely to do something like this out in a place with sunlight. Otherwise, fairly accurate.
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Aug 13, 2012 06:53
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Hell Diver posted:So this is pretty accurate then, huh? ...Is this satire? I legitimately can see this happening.
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Aug 13, 2012 07:33
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ryan_woody posted:...Is this satire? I legitimately can see this happening. Duffle Blog is like The Onion for the military.
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Aug 13, 2012 08:47
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iyaayas01 posted:Duffle Blog is like The Onion for the military. Got it. Is it sad that until the poster before me implied it wasn't legit that I totally thought that this was a thing?
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Aug 13, 2012 18:05
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Duffel Blog is wonderful
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Aug 13, 2012 19:23
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ok so did the chair force thing actually happen or not?
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Aug 16, 2012 01:15
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Are there any goons which are currently at the DLI and enrolled in Persian Farsi? I'm hoping someone could burn a CD with the PDFs and audio of the Farsi curriculum and mail it to me. If anyone can help me out, please message me.
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Aug 19, 2012 04:26
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Mujahid posted:Are there any goons which are currently at the DLI and enrolled in Persian Farsi? I'm hoping someone could burn a CD with the PDFs and audio of the Farsi curriculum and mail it to me. If anyone can help me out, please message me.
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Aug 19, 2012 18:46
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Spockly posted:I have some voa stuff I swiped that's PDFs and audio if you would be interested What is voa? I never actually took Farsi. I studied Arabic. What I am looking for mainly is audio files ranging from the 0+ to 3 level, just so I can transcribe anything and everything. PDFs with pertinent vocab and/or transcripts are a plus.
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Aug 19, 2012 18:58
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I've got the curriculum which is current as of late 2010. PM me and I'll get a copy to you.
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Aug 19, 2012 19:25
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Oh good stuff on the Persian/Farsi. I'm also taking some classes through work, but no one in hell I'll get a year off to go to DLI or FSI. Been taking it after work for the past year and a half which is an absolute killer. Probably a 1/1 now, hoping for a 2/2 or 2+/2+ this time next year. If anyone else has any Persian stuff that'd be great. Any vocab stuff would be fantastic as well. I'm doing it with flashcards right now, but would be great to load some words up on my android smartphone.
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Aug 20, 2012 03:47
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Happydayz posted:Oh good stuff on the Persian/Farsi.
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Aug 21, 2012 19:18
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Happydayz posted:Oh good stuff on the Persian/Farsi. Anki is the very best flashcard vocabulary program I've used. The only bad part is that there's like one Farsi card deck among thousands of Jspanese/Chinese decks. Stil, it's free and works super good. https://www.ankisrs.net
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Aug 22, 2012 11:40
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I am shooting a video promo for my airsoft field, and for it I need a couple lines in farsi or arabic, or something that sounds 'talibanish'. Is there anyone who has access to a half decent microphone who could record a few lines for me?
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Aug 23, 2012 15:16
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Elendil004 posted:I am shooting a video promo for my airsoft field, and for it I need a couple lines in farsi or arabic, or something that sounds 'talibanish'. Is there anyone who has access to a half decent microphone who could record a few lines for me? You might be able to do it yourself, honestly. Just say "Ani ghabi. Ada'i on ani shurti federali lakin koont fi quwat haris alsuwahil fugat." REAL HAJJI TAWK BRO
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Aug 23, 2012 22:47
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Elendil004 posted:I am shooting a video promo for my airsoft field, and for it I need a couple lines in farsi or arabic, or something that sounds 'talibanish'. Is there anyone who has access to a half decent microphone who could record a few lines for me?  I think this is all you need bro.
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Aug 23, 2012 22:51
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TheUnhorse posted:You might be able to do it yourself, honestly. Just say "Ani ghabi. Ada'i on ani shurti federali lakin koont fi quwat haris alsuwahil fugat." REAL HAJJI TAWK BRO I'm looking for 'some' authenticity in terms of pronunciation.
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Aug 24, 2012 02:25
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Elendil004 posted:I'm looking for 'some' authenticity in terms of pronunciation. Youtube video of real jihadis?
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Aug 24, 2012 03:45
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Trabisnikof posted:Youtube video of real jihadis? This just pull up a video and rip the sound, I bet there are even mp3 files out there for you to download. Here is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kq3npTXtzY
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Aug 25, 2012 05:14
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The Blessed Gods of Instructor Favortism have smiled upon me. I knew that O's got the royal treatment at DLI. Our class leader, a Major in my Spanish class couldn't get through his introductions after 24 weeks without stuttering and butchering his speech, yet he came out of there with a 2 in speaking. Now, I'm the class leader, as a lowly E-5, and I was abso-loving-lutely sure I bombed the FLO portion of the Unit test yesterday. We did the reading in the morning, and went over it before lunch and I had a perfect score on it. The listening portion in the afternoon, we took that and I felt pretty positive about that. So I was riding high going into the last portion, the FLO...which I hate. Started it up, and it's like every student's worst nightmare. You know the idea of the phrase, and if you were translating it into English, you know what to put down, not exactly, but you got the main idea...but what you're hearing, when you transcribe it on paper...it doesn't make sense. But I couldn't get anything else out of it. No matter if I slowed the audio way down, looped certain parts, etc...nothing made sense. This part of the test was out of 30 points, so I was absolutely sure I had butchered the entire passage and missed out on 5 or 6 points on the first phrase. That meant back to seventh hour which meant I might as well just phone it in and quit because that's worse than failing. We did the review...somehow, some loving way...even though it clearly says "POINTS WILL BE DEDUCTED FOR IMPROPER SPELLING" at the very top of the page, I only missed one point because I didn't put the plural of "price". Then for the next page I misspelled the past tense of a word. Kept an Alif in front...got credit for that. I asked the instructor about why I got the points, and she said that she took the points from the extra credit passage on the listening test and applied them to the FLO. Shady, but I'll take it. Better to be lucky than good any day of the week.
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Aug 25, 2012 17:01
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Yeah it's weird how that happens. I took the unit 4 test and my instructor pulled me aside and was like you failed listening by one point. So I am going to give you that point because you don't want to be on SA. I was like okay I'll take it without asking any questions. A week later I got a grade run from the MLI and I had a B in the listening. That was one hell of a point.
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Aug 25, 2012 22:26
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