JCU Academy of Modern Languages teach basic courses to 3rd Brigade soldiers

A new relationship between the 3rd Brigade and James Cook University’s Academy of Modern Languages is proving a success as soldiers prepare for future deployments with language courses.

Australian Army soldiers Australian Army soldiers from 3rd Brigade conduct language training at James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland. Photo: CAPT Brittany Evans

Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade were given the chance to immerse themselves in a new culture this month as they take advantage of the knowledge from James Cook University’s Academy of Modern Languages.

Over the past two weeks, introductory language courses teaching the basics of Papua New Guinea’s language Tok Pisin and the Indonesian language Bahasa were taught to soldiers by James Cook University professors.

On Friday, a group of eight soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) were given certificates of completion and a graduation ceremony where they put their new knowledge on display to members from the JCU Indonesian Student society.

The director of the Academy of Modern Languages Dr Florence Boulard said the academy has been running for 20 years for members of the public and are looking forward to the future of their relationship with the ADF.

“We’re very excited to have this opportunity to work with Defence,” she said.

Australian Army soldiers Australian Army soldiers from 3rd Brigade conduct language training at James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland. Photo: CAPT Brittany Evans

“We’ve had the opportunity in the past to do a couple of Tok Pisin classes and the ADF approached us and asked us to run a similar course this one might lead to ongoing partnership

“It’s certainly the first time we’ve had two consecutive groups of classes running and everybody seems to be really enjoying it.”

“We have JCU students here as well so we are trying to engage the Indonesian community within JCU to have a chance to engage with ADF so they can get a feel for what its like once they are there.”

Private Campbell Cunningham from 1 RAR who just completed a three month Filipino course at the Melbourne School of Languages said that this course would be helpful during their Indonesian deployment later in the year.

“It’s been really good. I feel like we’ve learned quite a bit in just five days,” he said.

“We learnt basic things like greetings, numbers, currency exchange if we are doing purchases, some military language and sentence structure right at the end.”

Originally published as JCU Academy of Modern Languages teach basic courses to 3rd Brigade soldiers