By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Chelsea Mandello,
Amphibious Squadron 11 Public Affairs
KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia – Sailors began taking classes in French and Persian aboard amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46) Oct. 21.
Engineman 3rd Class Roselin Israel and Engineman Fireman Arin Parsanian began teaching the classes so that sailors could have the opportunity to learn a foreign language while on deployment.
“This is a good opportunity for sailors because it helps them to expand their cultural knowledge and learn a new language,” said Israel, a native of Haiti and the instructor for the French class.
During this course, sailors will learn the basics of French and Persian and gain an understanding about the different cultures.
“We started off learning the alphabet, how to pronounce accent marks and to recognize beginning words,” said Hospitalman Ana Garcia de Dios. “It’s been a great start and I look forward to learning another language.”
The classes will be held every Sunday for five weeks in the learning resource center aboard the ship. Sailors may attend the courses during holiday routine and work with other sailors from the classes to practice and study.
“The classes are at a really good time and it’s a great break from everything,” said Fireman Controlman 3rd Class Marlon Carr. “I really enjoy learning a new language and I’m glad that there were so many other sailors interested in the course.”
Sailors are able to email Israel and Parsanian during port visits and after the completion of the course to ask questions about what they have learned or any possible classes for the future.
Tortuga is part of the only forward-deployed Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group and is currently operating in the 7th Fleet area of operations.