A recent obit about a Navajo Marine from WWII illuminated the use of the Navajo language as code to confuse the Japanese during the war in the Pacific. The Marines recruited and used as many as 375 "code talkers" who were extremely valuable at Iwo Jima and other battles.
This week the NY Times reported that a bribery case was declared a mistrial because some of the wire tapped phone messages were in Yiddish and the translations would have caused the trial such delay that the jury was dismissed.
I am glad that I had a rudimentary exposure to foreign languages - i.e. Latin I - Spanish I & II - French - menu only - German -nein - but I would have been lost on the Navajo Reservation and sought out Katz's Deli for the Yiddish.
tjs
PS - I grew up with Greeks and they taught me curse words phonetically - trippingly off the tongue!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/nyregion/mistrial-declared-in-malcolm-smith-corruption-trial.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0
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