24 August 2007

Language Barriers, or why I miss JJ

Obviously, there is a language barrier out here. Local Iraqis usually have some English, but nowhere near enough to converse with us. It’s mostly phonetic stuff and really common phrases. My guys, some more than others, have about the same grasp of Arabic. Hence the terps. We had a great interpreter, named JJ, up until a couple days ago. He doesn’t want to work with any other platoon, and wants to go back to college (finish up his fourth year), so to make sure he doesn’t get stuff here after we leave, he quit early. This was fine with us because JJ was a great terp – he almost never complained, was always up to work, had a very good grasp of both English and Arabic and was truly enthusiastic about the mission and working with people – also a mean dominos player. JJ, a pseudonym we used when talking with him in front of other Iraqis, put himself in a very dangerous situation on a regular basis – the standard danger that every one of us faces out here, plus the danger of being recognized on the street (though he is from a different area of Iraq than Baqubah) and having his family targeted and the possibility that someone might recognize him after he quits working as a terp and goes back to a normal life.

However it necessitated us using a new terp that we had not worked with before. This new terp, like many, is from the north or Iraq, or as he calls it Kurdistan, and so Arabic is not his native language. Neither is English, and it shows. Now, obviously, his Arabic skills far outshine mine, or those of any of my men. However, it made it very difficult to communicate difficult or complex concepts the people we were trying to talk to. Our new terp’s, shall we say communicative difficulties, doubled the length of any conversation and led to a great deal of frustration on both sides of every conversation. Having been so lucky with JJ in my previous months, I hadn’t really realized how difficult it could be to conduct otherwise simple business with Iraqis. I’m definitely thankful for JJ now, and I guess I’ve come to appreciate more the difficult job terps have out here.

posted by Interested Soldier @ 05:21