Petty Officer Diana Oquendo and Sgt. Mariya Rice (center left, center right), from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency advanced Russian
language program, were sent to Santa Cruz for three days in April to interpret for a Ukrainian Education Delegation.
Ukrainian delegation puts DLIFLC
Russian students to the test
By Brian Lamar, Strategic Communications
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. – Defense
Language Institute Foreign Language Center
Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Russian
language students were put to the test this April,
when a Ukrainian education delegation arrived from
the town of Alushta to visit its counterpart in Santa
Cruz, Calif.
DTRA course students were called upon to
translate for the event, challenging them to use their
language skills on the spot with near simultaneous
translation during the five-day visit.
“This mission was a big confidence boost for me.
At first I was nervous, we were not familiar with
some of the topics, and had to, not only do research
the night before, but also print out information to
help them understand what will be talked about the
next day. But that is part of being a good interpreterearning your principle’s trust,” Petty Officer Diana
Oquendo said. “When I came back from this
20
assignment, I felt like I could talk about any subject
in Russian! We talked about education, history,
geography, everything,” Oquendo explained.
Santa Cruz and Alushta are sister cities and are
noted as such in the Library of Congress “Open
World Program.” The purpose of the delegation’s
visit was to learn best practices to incorporate these
lessons into the local Ukrainian educational system.
Topics ranged from how local politics work within
the education system, to who pays for the socialized
educational system America has adopted.
Oquendo and Sgt. Mariya Rice were chosen as
translators because of their cultural understanding of
the group they would interact with.
“I was chosen because I am a native Ukrainian
and I know the customs and culture of both Ukraine
and the United States. Some of the questions the
delegation was asking were very culturally-based and
I feel that someone who was not a native speaker
wouldn’t have understood why certain questions were
being raised,” Oquendo explained.
“I felt like I was able to be a vital part of friendship
building between Alushta and Santa Cruz. Hopefully
the delegation will have learned some lessons they can
take home and apply to the local educational system
which will make (their system) better,” said Oquendo.