Ok. So I’m desperate to be a translator, or in any linguistic MOS, in the Marine Corps. Only thing is you don’t get to choose your language–and I really want to deploy to Afghanistan, thus I don’t wanna get Chinese or Japanese or something. I don’t even want Korean. I want Farsi, Dari/Persian or Pashto. So I don’t know, should I take the time to maybe get myself a little fluent before hand in order to take a proficiency test and guarantee my continuation of the (Afghan) language (the problem with this is I really want to enlist right away-I’m 17 almost 18-, and it would probably take me a year, maybe a little less to learn, to some degree, a foreign language)–or should I just take the plunge, take the DLAB and hope for the best? Any experience/advice would be great, cuz this one’s eating at me. Thanks guys.
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Learning a foreign language won’t help you on the DLAB if that’s why you want to study a foreign language. The DLAB is in a made up language. I would just take it and not study any languages intensively in the mean time. You don’t want to get stuck with Arabic and you’ve been studying something else and be confused. I think like most services you have a dream sheet in the Marines for the language you want. So if you put all Arabic languages then they probably give you one of them, especially with the need for those types of linguists with the war. Good luck on the DLAB and I hope everything works out for you. You’ll love Monterey.
I agree with Steve. I just want to add that the DLAB tests your brain capacity to learn language, this is how people who don’t even know a second language can pass. And at DLI they will ask you for your “Top 3″ choices, and if you drop the hint that you already know some of your top choice odds are you will get it. The military doesn’t want to waste their money on the off chance at you could fail a language that you hate. They like shoe-ins.