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What was the purpose for the Navajo code talkers to help in the World War 2?
Wiki User
∙ 16y ago
The Navajo language had not been written about outside of America. It is very hard to figure out a language when you don't know what it is. This meant that it could be spoken rapidly over open radios and translated on the other side.
Native speakers of Navajo sound different from those that learn it later so it would be hard to fake it.
It did not have a written form that was very old or widely used. It is a fairly complicated language.
Also it was put into a simple code alphabet and substitution code so that even when a Navajo speaker was captured and tortured by the Japanese, he could not understand it.
The language is especially hard for Japanese speakers. It has tones, it has many consonants that Japanese ( or English) doesn't have, like glotallized consonants and aspirated "L's" and nasalized vowels.. It has modes and aspects in the grammar. It has degrees of animation that changes word order.
The link has the original code, but it is harder to say than it looks because English doesn't have the right sounds and high and low tones.
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
Wiki User
∙ 8y agoThe Japanese were very good at breaking the US codes, making it very difficult to keep tactical battle plans secret. If we did not find a way to make a code the Japanese could not break it was going to be impossible to win the Pacific war.
The idea of using Native American languages, with which the Japanese had little familiarity like Navaho was then proposed and it worked very well.
The Japanese were able to determine that the language was that of Navaho POWs that they had already captured, but because it was a code when the Japanese tried to force some of these Navaho POWs to tell them what was being said, the POWs could only say "I know the words and their meanings but they talk nonsense".
Note: a similar code was used in WW1 against the Germans, but using members of the Zuni tribe instead of the Navaho tribe.
Wiki User
∙ 8y agoNo one but other Navaho understood what they were saying, which meant they could talk on radios w/o worrying about needing encryption
Wiki User
∙ 16y agowatch the film windtalkers
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What effect did world war 2 have on code talkers?
A lot of code talkers were killed off because when the Japanese saw them in the planes, they would kill the code talkers right away because the code talkers were the main source of communication.
What did the Navajo Soldiers do in World War 2?
The Code Talkers were Navajo. The Germans had no linguists trained to translate Navajo so, the Code Talkers could pass sensitive information by speaking 'in the clear'.
Who the Choctaws code-talker?
Few people know that before the Navajo code talkers, there were Choctaw code talkers. They were a group of fourteen Choctaws employed by the Army during WWI to transmit information safely. They played a big role in the final defeat of the Germans. Then, again during world war II, they were used along with other tribes such as the Commanche, Kiowa and Seminole as well as the Navajo code talkers.
Why was there a need to assign bodyguards to the Navajo Code Talkers?
The "bodyguards" for the Navajo Code Talkers had the responsibility to see that they never fell into Japanese hands. This responsibility was handled in two ways:protect the Navajo Code Talker during battlekill the Navajo Code Talker if he was captured or was about to be captured by Japanese (the Navajo Code Talkers were never informed of this)Effectively the US Military treated the Navajo Code Talkers as they would any other classified high security cypher machine they might use to send and receive secret messages. If you were responsible for a cypher machine your responsibilities for handling the machine were identical: protect it from the enemy in battle and destroy it should there be a chance of the enemy capturing it.
What tribe did the code talkers come from?
The code talkers of WWII were from the Navajo tribe. Navajo has no alphabet or symbols, and is spoken only on the Navajo lands of the American Southwest. One estimate indicates that less than 30 non-Navajos, none of them Japanese, could understand the language at the outbreak of World War II. The idea to use Navajo for secure communications came from Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary to the Navajos.
Name of Navajo speakers in world war 2?
code talkers
Who were the first Code Talkers?
The code-talkers of World War II mostly refer to the Native Americans who used parts of their indigenous languages to translate secret tactical messages into code, then decipher the code back into the message. They were used in the Pacific Theater of World War II, and, to a lesser extent, in the European Theater. The most decorated Native American code-talkers were Navajo, but Native Americans of the Comanche and Meskwaki people also served as code-talkers during the war.
How many Navajo code talkers served in the military?
Some Navajo were drafted but the Code Talkers were volunteers.
What is the exposition of code talkers?
Code Talkers were specially trained in the art of code talking in the language of the Navajo people. As I understand it, most were of Navajo descent but not all.
What name was given to the Navajo radio operators?
Navajo Code Talkers
Which part of World War 2 did the Navajo code talkers become beneficial to?
The Navajo Code Talkers took part in, and contributed to the success of, the island campaigns in the south and central Pacific between the US and Japan.
Why were the Navajo code talkers so effective in World War 2?
Navajo is a very difficult language and impossible for the Japanese to decipher
How many Navajo code talkers were eventually used in World War 2?
400-500
What native American tribe assisted the us in world war 2?
Navajo as code talkers
What has the author S McClain written?
S. McClain has written: 'Search for the Navajo code talkers' -- subject(s): Armed Forces, Cryptography, Navajo language, Navajo code talkers, Indian Participation, World War, 1939-1945, History, Indian troops
Was the Navajo code talkers in the army?
the Marines, actually
Why did they name it the Navajo Code Talkers?
The code talkers were native American from the Navajo tribe. They used their native language to send messages that the Japanese couldn't decode or understand.
