23-07-2007, 09:30 AM
More Que. troops in Afghanistan could widen gap between French, English
Don Martin, CanWest News Service
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The two Canadian solitudes are alive and well here in Kandahar.
While anglophone and francophone soldiers fight on the same side, they live almost separate lives inside the camps and forward bases -- and indulge in the occasional derisive swipe at each other.
Matters could worsen with the arrival of the first waves of the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment. The so-called Van Doo regiment, a corruption of the French "vingt-deux," or 22, will deploy 2,000 mostly French-speaking troops to take over operations of the Canadian base.
That will generate a unique logistical problem, because translators able to switch easily between French and Pashtu are said to be impossible to find.
That means the primary interaction between the Canadian military and Afghan people will have to be via bilingual brass, whose English may lose linguistic subtleties during translation in a war environment, where precision of meaning is critical.
This doesn't mean the mission is in any way compromised or that there's overt antagonism between the two cultures. Still, an undercurrent of disdain and derision between the soldiers of Canada's founding nations is a reality here.
For example, some anglophone soldiers in the field tried to teach new Afghan police officers that the traditional greeting in French for the new arrivals is "F-- you, Van Doos."
It may be all for a laugh as the young recruits tongue-trip over those unfamiliar words, which come out sounding more like "phu voodoo." The consequences might not be so funny, however, if they perfect the phrase and that's the first contact between the Van Doos and local law enforcement.
http://tinyurl.com/2adsy4
Don Martin, CanWest News Service
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The two Canadian solitudes are alive and well here in Kandahar.
While anglophone and francophone soldiers fight on the same side, they live almost separate lives inside the camps and forward bases -- and indulge in the occasional derisive swipe at each other.
Matters could worsen with the arrival of the first waves of the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment. The so-called Van Doo regiment, a corruption of the French "vingt-deux," or 22, will deploy 2,000 mostly French-speaking troops to take over operations of the Canadian base.
That will generate a unique logistical problem, because translators able to switch easily between French and Pashtu are said to be impossible to find.
That means the primary interaction between the Canadian military and Afghan people will have to be via bilingual brass, whose English may lose linguistic subtleties during translation in a war environment, where precision of meaning is critical.
This doesn't mean the mission is in any way compromised or that there's overt antagonism between the two cultures. Still, an undercurrent of disdain and derision between the soldiers of Canada's founding nations is a reality here.
For example, some anglophone soldiers in the field tried to teach new Afghan police officers that the traditional greeting in French for the new arrivals is "F-- you, Van Doos."
It may be all for a laugh as the young recruits tongue-trip over those unfamiliar words, which come out sounding more like "phu voodoo." The consequences might not be so funny, however, if they perfect the phrase and that's the first contact between the Van Doos and local law enforcement.
http://tinyurl.com/2adsy4