One quarter of U.S. interpreters in Afghanistan flunked language exams: whistleblower lawsuit

A lot probably gets lost in translation.

More than one of every four translators embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan flunked their language proficiency exams, a whistleblower told ABC News.

Paul Funk, who worked for the contractor that supplied translators for the military, said 28% of applicants hired between November 2007 and June 2008 failed exams for the most common Afghan languages, Pashto and Dari.

They were sent overseas anyways.

[ ... ]

MEP hold contracts worth up to $1.4 billion to supply interpreters to the U.S. Army.

Funk said that when the Afghan linguists approached tribal elders to discuss the Taliban, translators missed warnings, like imminent ambushes.

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