Corey asked in Politics & GovernmentMilitary · 1 decade ago

Can i become a translator in the airforce with a tech job?

Im stupid when it comes to how translators work. i know the army needs them obviously to communicate on the field but as a pc tech would there be a purpose of being a translator?


reason i was wondering is because i figured if there was some tech work needed at a base in a foreign country i could know the language. alwaysthought learning russian or german would be cool

2 Answers

  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Hello Corey.

    NO. Translators are a specific military job. People who take a sample language test and pass it with high marks are sent to the Defense Language Institute (DLI) at Monterey, California where they spend 1 year learning a needed foreign language for the military.

    People who do technical jobs of any kind do not get to go to learn a foreign language.

    The DLI trains all military personnel no matter what service branch they are in and also civilians for other government positions to learn a foreign language.

    When a person is selected for DLI and they arrive they are never spoken to in English again. It is called the "immersion method" and one begins to learn the language just like they were children being taught by their mothers. And it still takes a year!

    Best wishes,

    Larry Smith

    Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Ret.)

    First Sergeant

    Source(s): Previous military experience of 27 years: 1861 - 1989.
  • HDH
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    Linguist is its own separate AFSC, 1N3X1. You could try to take the DLAB before you go and see if they'll let you try for that instead of pc tech, but it's one or the other. Language school is a lot of fun, though the course is a year and half now instead of just a year. And the NCOs in charge of you will speak English even if you never hear a word of it at school all day.

    Linguists work on computers these days, but they are more into breaking the equipment for the maintainers to fix. We had a lot of friendly operator-versus-maintainer rivalry in the Army, not sure if that's how it goes in the Air Force. We'd accidentally run over a fancy antenna with a Humvee or drop it out of a helicopter or whatever, and then take it in to the maintainers and ask if they could fix it. So they'd wrap the thing up with duct tape and bring it back, swearing it was good to go. Good times. ;)

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