i have a polish friend who lived in germany since she was 18, she speaks better german than she does polish [she says, i don`t speak either] and that`s the language they use at home.
One soldier, Sergeant Matt Vierkant, and a lot of hearsay. That works.
You don't find anything noteworthy in there being no official denial that he deserted?
edit-It's also worth considering major news outlets don't tend to run with stories like this based on one person's say so, even if that's all they'll quote. There's typically a lot more confirmation behind the scenes they can't publicly use for whatever reason.
The American soldier who's just been released by the Taliban in an exchange deal, is apparently struggling to speak English after 5 years of captivity in Afghanistan.
If you are isolated in a environment where your own language isn't spoken every day (or not at all), do you forget or lose fluency in it? Does this also apply to longtime immigrants to countries where they end up speaking the local language not their own? Can a person's dominant language change as a result of their environment?
I thought a native language would be so ingrained it would be impossible for it to be lost.
I think it was quite common in 18thC and 19thC captive accounts, where folk were captured (esp if in childhood) by native Americans, after several years they would indeed lose fluency in their own native language. Or even forget their own full name. Some were so enculturated, they could never settle back into life as that person they had once been, even if 'rescued'.
Not language but.... I was researching a famous 19thC murderer, a middle class young woman who got a Life sentence - and she was in prison for over 20 odd years before eventually being released. Her family said she had forgotten how to use a knife and fork when she came home.
You don't find anything noteworthy in there being no official denial that he deserted?
edit-It's also worth considering major news outlets don't tend to run with stories like this based on one person's say so, even if that's all they'll quote. There's typically a lot more confirmation behind the scenes they can't publicly use for whatever reason.
No one knows whether he is a deserted or not. Just because someone said he did isn't proof.
My late mother grew up in Wales speaking Welsh. She left when she was a teenager to work in London. She eventually forgot her Welsh and could just about understand fragments of spoken Welsh and a few words, which she taught me , I can count in Welsh and say in full Llanfair P.G.:D
No one knows whether he is a deserted or not. Just because someone said he did isn't proof.
Lot of people know. His superior officers, his colleagues, many politicians in relevant areas. Nobody seems to have come out and denied it on record. That doesn't raise any doubt with you at all?
Yes, and saying god will repay the death of every afghan child, as well as democracy being a cult in the west.
Context helps I think. Sounds like that tweet could be a comment on the futility of nation-building in that part of the world where democracy is seen as a cult of the west.
JustAnotherTweep @daqeqa @bobbergdahl I feel elections are just face saving maneouver of west before leaving "Look we got the elections done,misson accomplished"
Robert Bergdahl @bobbergdahl
Follow @daqeqa Agree! "Democracy" is a cult in the West. I think most of afgs see law in terms of sharia not secular democracy, man centric laws
I also think it's quite possible to be in favour of closing Gitmo and not actually be sympathetic to the Taliban. I saw another tweet saying he is committed to seeing all prisoners on both sides of the conflict released.
The formal name for this is language attrition, and it occurs in lots of contexts,
I am sure all the individual anecdotes on here, particularly those attempting to debunk the existence of language attrition, are interesting, but if anyone wants to check out any academic research this page links to various publications
Context helps I think. Sounds like that tweet could be a comment on the futility of nation-building in that part of the world where democracy is seen as a cult of the west.
JustAnotherTweep @daqeqa @bobbergdahl I feel elections are just face saving maneouver of west before leaving "Look we got the elections done,misson accomplished"
Robert Bergdahl @bobbergdahl
Follow @daqeqa Agree! "Democracy" is a cult in the West. I think most of afgs see law in terms of sharia not secular democracy, man centric laws
I also think it's quite possible to be in favour of closing Gitmo and not actually be sympathetic to the Taliban. I saw another tweet saying he is committed to seeing all prisoners on both sides of the conflict released.
You might be right. I'm having difficulty justifying the "god will repay the death of every afghan child" comment in my head though, and the general assimilation of their look he seems to have carried out.
My husband's cradle tongue is German. He migrated when he was four years old. He can understand far more than he can speak.
Did he migrate with his German-speaking parents? Then he'd have been exposed to German for many more years, unless his parents switched to speaking English at home, which would have been strange.
You might be right. I'm having difficulty justifying the "god will repay the death of every afghan child" comment in my head though, and the general assimilation of their look he seems to have carried out.
What would your beard look like if you didn't shave for five years?
Re the BiB- Innocent Afghan children are not the Taliban. I don't know what he meant by the tweet, but I certainly regret and lament the loss of those lives in the name of my country.
What would your beard look like if you didn't shave for five years?
Different to that, and it wouldn't come with a new language either! Do you not think there's anything fishy about his tweets? Why delete them for one thing.
Different to that, and it wouldn't come with a new language either! Do you not think there's anything fishy about his tweets? Why delete them for one thing.
Christ, I'm not going to psychoanalyse a man who just spent the last five years trying to get his son released from the Taliban. My post you initially replied to explained why he learned Pashto.
I don't know why he deleted his tweets, but I wouldn't rule out the threat of keyboard warriors frothing at the mouth to uncover something nefarious.
Comments
Didn't his Dad grow it in sympathy with his sons captors - also learnt the captors lingo as well?
I know he learned Pashtu and possibly grew the beard as well.
edit-It's also worth considering major news outlets don't tend to run with stories like this based on one person's say so, even if that's all they'll quote. There's typically a lot more confirmation behind the scenes they can't publicly use for whatever reason.
I think it was quite common in 18thC and 19thC captive accounts, where folk were captured (esp if in childhood) by native Americans, after several years they would indeed lose fluency in their own native language. Or even forget their own full name. Some were so enculturated, they could never settle back into life as that person they had once been, even if 'rescued'.
Not language but.... I was researching a famous 19thC murderer, a middle class young woman who got a Life sentence - and she was in prison for over 20 odd years before eventually being released. Her family said she had forgotten how to use a knife and fork when she came home.
No one knows whether he is a deserted or not. Just because someone said he did isn't proof.
Bob Bergdahl learned some Pashto, the language spoken by the Taliban, and made a video, distributed via the Internet in May 2011, in a bid to appeal directly to the Taliban for his son's freedom. He also grew a beard as a personal monument to his son's plight.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/bowe-bergdahl-released/freed-soldier-bowe-bergdahls-idaho-town-plans-celebratory-homecoming-n119371
Was that the tweet about working to release Gitmo detainees?
Context helps I think. Sounds like that tweet could be a comment on the futility of nation-building in that part of the world where democracy is seen as a cult of the west.
JustAnotherTweep @daqeqa
@bobbergdahl I feel elections are just face saving maneouver of west before leaving "Look we got the elections done,misson accomplished"
Robert Bergdahl @bobbergdahl
Follow
@daqeqa Agree! "Democracy" is a cult in the West. I think most of afgs see law in terms of sharia not secular democracy, man centric laws
I also think it's quite possible to be in favour of closing Gitmo and not actually be sympathetic to the Taliban. I saw another tweet saying he is committed to seeing all prisoners on both sides of the conflict released.
I am sure all the individual anecdotes on here, particularly those attempting to debunk the existence of language attrition, are interesting, but if anyone wants to check out any academic research this page links to various publications
http://www.lara.ox.ac.uk/firstlang.php?srtx=1
Did he migrate with his German-speaking parents? Then he'd have been exposed to German for many more years, unless his parents switched to speaking English at home, which would have been strange.
What would your beard look like if you didn't shave for five years?
Re the BiB- Innocent Afghan children are not the Taliban. I don't know what he meant by the tweet, but I certainly regret and lament the loss of those lives in the name of my country.
Christ, I'm not going to psychoanalyse a man who just spent the last five years trying to get his son released from the Taliban. My post you initially replied to explained why he learned Pashto.
I don't know why he deleted his tweets, but I wouldn't rule out the threat of keyboard warriors frothing at the mouth to uncover something nefarious.
Yes, I was thinking that it could be something to do with trauma.
Maybe he's hiding some Aldi Sausage in it.
I wondered if he stopped shaving when his son was captured ;-)