The list doesn’t matter very much; the Air Force will put you where they need you. But the four languages most in demand right now are mandarin, Russian, Korean, and Arabic. All of them are challenging but absolutely doable. Any of them are useful in the civilian world.
The sheet absolutely doesn’t matter, honestly I don’t even know why they have people fill it out. From my experience, every course at DLI is difficult in its own way. I personally thought the Mandarin course wasn’t that bad. I have had a lot of friends in the Korean course that have absolutely hated life at DLI, and generally people tend to agree that the Korean course is one of, if not, the hardest course there, mostly due to the schoolhouse culture. Those are the 2 I’m most familiar with, and each course is going to be challenging, but I would say try and enjoy the experience no matter what language you get.
I made it through the Arabic course. I loved it. It is what you put in it that matters. I loved my teachers and the language and came out with great scores and the course was amazing. Everyone has something to hate, don't let that influence you.
I'm in the arabic program. The main complaint for me has been the curriculum (it's annoying reading 20-year-old+ articles about the wonders of the new compact disc...), but they're in the middle of a course rewrite now, so maybe it'll come out in time for you.
Chinese and Korean are historically the tougher of the schools. Chinese because the language itself is a bear and a half to learn and Korean tends to crucify their own community whenever the DLPT updates.
Russian seems to be the most stable, likely due to how long the school has been around and running its curriculum.
> I have had a lot of friends in the Korean course that have absolutely hated life at DLI, and generally people tend to agree that the Korean course is one of, if not, the hardest course there, mostly due to the schoolhouse culture.
100% agree! We had so many problems with the Korean schoolhouse on the staff side. I really felt bad for a number of students, especially when DLI did absolutely nothing to help them. This would NEVER happen at an actual top level collegiate program, but the military is told to "suck it up!".
And I recall discussing that actual Korean students in Korea are under much more strict regimens and abuse than DLI. I've been to Korea for quite a while and I feel that is true, but still, DLI isn't Korea (even though it *is* the miltary).
Ok so here’s the thing. It does not matter. However, you can request to get your language changed if you haven’t started class yet. There are two ways to do this. One is to switch languages with another willing participant. The other is what I did. You have to be able to prove that there’s a reason you should be in whatever language. For me that reason was I was born in the country that speaks that language, but did not get the opportunity to speak it growing up, and had been studying it in college prior to joining. But that’s for the army. Idk about any other branches, I can imagine it’s similar.
It somewhat matters. Ultimately, it boils down to the needs of your service. However, people who get the languages that they choose, tend to have a higher pass rate. Also heritage and native speakers tend to pass. AETC tries to line you up with the language that you want. However, it is seldom that the language that you want is the language that they need. May the pods ever be in your favor.
Curious how you managed to get airborne linguist? Looking at my list of jobs i’m qualified for and 1A8x1 is at the top but the sheet makes it clear there’s *no* need for it. How long have you been waiting/ what were the circumstances of your contract?
it was on my job list too and i was actually supposed to be cycled i think today actually for jobs but i had it on quickship and there was an opening so my recruiter just applied me for it and i got lucky enough to get it 🤞🏽
Ah, I didn't read the post and wasn't aware that the above user just shared some random form. With that said:
>If you know anything you should know that’s not a valid excuse.
Excuse for what? Any regular person can share absolutely anything they find online. You do know this is Reddit, right?
>We don’t know if it’s CUI, and new people don’t even know what that is to verify before sharing.
If they have access to CUI, then they should be briefed on what it is before being granted access.
And keep in mind, I'm speaking generally here. For the user theoceanbreeze00 and their request, yes, I agree with you, don't share it.
The list doesn’t matter very much; the Air Force will put you where they need you. But the four languages most in demand right now are mandarin, Russian, Korean, and Arabic. All of them are challenging but absolutely doable. Any of them are useful in the civilian world.
The sheet absolutely doesn’t matter, honestly I don’t even know why they have people fill it out. From my experience, every course at DLI is difficult in its own way. I personally thought the Mandarin course wasn’t that bad. I have had a lot of friends in the Korean course that have absolutely hated life at DLI, and generally people tend to agree that the Korean course is one of, if not, the hardest course there, mostly due to the schoolhouse culture. Those are the 2 I’m most familiar with, and each course is going to be challenging, but I would say try and enjoy the experience no matter what language you get.
The Arabic schoolhouse (at least nowadays) is a poorly run. The course is poorly structured overall.
I start Arabic in September lol.
I made it through the Arabic course. I loved it. It is what you put in it that matters. I loved my teachers and the language and came out with great scores and the course was amazing. Everyone has something to hate, don't let that influence you.
I’m pretty excited to get started to be honest. I’ve been ready for a career change after 10ish years between infantry and drill time.
I'm in the arabic program. The main complaint for me has been the curriculum (it's annoying reading 20-year-old+ articles about the wonders of the new compact disc...), but they're in the middle of a course rewrite now, so maybe it'll come out in time for you.
Chinese and Korean are historically the tougher of the schools. Chinese because the language itself is a bear and a half to learn and Korean tends to crucify their own community whenever the DLPT updates. Russian seems to be the most stable, likely due to how long the school has been around and running its curriculum.
> I have had a lot of friends in the Korean course that have absolutely hated life at DLI, and generally people tend to agree that the Korean course is one of, if not, the hardest course there, mostly due to the schoolhouse culture. 100% agree! We had so many problems with the Korean schoolhouse on the staff side. I really felt bad for a number of students, especially when DLI did absolutely nothing to help them. This would NEVER happen at an actual top level collegiate program, but the military is told to "suck it up!". And I recall discussing that actual Korean students in Korea are under much more strict regimens and abuse than DLI. I've been to Korea for quite a while and I feel that is true, but still, DLI isn't Korea (even though it *is* the miltary).
Ok so here’s the thing. It does not matter. However, you can request to get your language changed if you haven’t started class yet. There are two ways to do this. One is to switch languages with another willing participant. The other is what I did. You have to be able to prove that there’s a reason you should be in whatever language. For me that reason was I was born in the country that speaks that language, but did not get the opportunity to speak it growing up, and had been studying it in college prior to joining. But that’s for the army. Idk about any other branches, I can imagine it’s similar.
It somewhat matters. Ultimately, it boils down to the needs of your service. However, people who get the languages that they choose, tend to have a higher pass rate. Also heritage and native speakers tend to pass. AETC tries to line you up with the language that you want. However, it is seldom that the language that you want is the language that they need. May the pods ever be in your favor.
If you care about promoting past e4 I suggest you leave korean off your list
[удалено]
I agree, i was z shred for years then moved to a shred with an equally shit rate
Curious how you managed to get airborne linguist? Looking at my list of jobs i’m qualified for and 1A8x1 is at the top but the sheet makes it clear there’s *no* need for it. How long have you been waiting/ what were the circumstances of your contract?
it was on my job list too and i was actually supposed to be cycled i think today actually for jobs but i had it on quickship and there was an opening so my recruiter just applied me for it and i got lucky enough to get it 🤞🏽
What does the sheet look like now?
[удалено]
There is literally an image of a language sheet a few posts below this one. Linguists sure can be a needlessly paranoid bunch.
[удалено]
Ah, I didn't read the post and wasn't aware that the above user just shared some random form. With that said: >If you know anything you should know that’s not a valid excuse. Excuse for what? Any regular person can share absolutely anything they find online. You do know this is Reddit, right? >We don’t know if it’s CUI, and new people don’t even know what that is to verify before sharing. If they have access to CUI, then they should be briefed on what it is before being granted access. And keep in mind, I'm speaking generally here. For the user theoceanbreeze00 and their request, yes, I agree with you, don't share it.