R. Scott Nelson Crypto-Linguist
Saturday, August 16, 2014Mr. Nelson is retired from the U.S. Navy as a Crypto-Linguist with over 30 years’ experience in Foreign Language and Linguistics, including the collection, transcription, analysis and reporting of voice communications.
He is a two time graduate of the U.S. Navy Cryptologic Voice Transcription School (Russian and Spanish) and has logged thousands of hours of voice transcription in his target languages as well as in Persian. He is currently teaching Russian, Spanish, Persian, Philosophy and Comparative Religions at Wentworth College in Missouri.
The vetting of Mr. Nelson by J. Edward Boring, Chief Knowledge Officer
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center
1759 Lewis Road, Bldg 614, Suite 251
Presidio of Monterey, CA 93944.
Dear Mr. (inquirer),
Speaking in general, especially with regard to what the subject may have learned while a student at DLIFLC, odds are strongly in favor of him having learned more than enough about language origins, structure, formation, and development to be well-qualified to complete the research and documentation to which you refer.
As near as I can tell, from your statements, the subject has not translated the recordings. He has simply analyzed them and applied phonetic structure to the sounds on the recordings. This is well within the skill levels expected of any graduate of DLIFLC. If the subject’s skills have been further enhanced by years of study and professional experience, I would expect an even more scholarly capability to listen, transcribe, analyze, document, organize, and explain (phonetically at least) any “unknown language.”
In fact, the entrance exam that qualifies (or not) a person for enrollment at DLIFLC requires the examinee to learn a “new language” on the spot, while taking the examination, correctly answering questions presented in the “new language” (which is not a known extant human language), thus exhibiting the examinee’s aptitude for linguistic studies.
Hence, I have no difficulty at all stating that IF the subject is in fact a “two time graduate of DLI” he would be utterly qualified to do what you say he has done, and more besides. At the end of the day, this type of research and analysis are fundamental to a career cryptolinguist’s profession.
Regards,
Ed.