Why were the Navajos selected to be code talkers?

Answer 1

Navaho Code Talkers were used to send and receive secret radio comunications that the U.S. didn't want the enemy to intercept and understand. Without the code talkers messages had to be communicated by either by voice -- in English (which the enemy could easily translate) or they had to be sent by code (which took some time to code on the sending end and decode on the receiving end -- TOO much time in heated action.) Since the Navaho spoken language was understood ONLY by a limited number of trained Navahos a Code Talker could send a message in his own language talking to a Code Talker on the receiving end of the communication. Immediately the Code Talker on the receiving end could translate his language into English for American officers or soldiers directing the battle action. Believe me .... made for fast communications and speeded things up considerably. vcs

Answer 2

Bacause if the Japanese intercepted English radio transmissions, they could translate them. If they intercepted Navajo, they could not translate them, because no Japanese knew the Navajo language even if they were able to identify the language over the radio.

Answer 3

The Navajo code talker had a great impact on U.S. Perhaps even helping them win the war against the Japanese. The use of code was becoming obsolete so they decided to use an ancient language. Thus, they helped save lives and put them at a better advantage through tactics and without getting their code cracked. The Navajo language being essentially impossible to decipher by non-native speakers made a perfect code for radio transmissions during WW2 Pacific theatre operations. It ensured the Japanese would not be able to break US codes and learn the meaning of Allied radio traffic.

Answer 4

The Navajo soldiers used their native language to make a code for transmitting messages so the Japanese could not decipher. Even another Navajo speaker if not trained in the code would only hear an ungrammatical string of unrelated words. But for those trained in it and bilingual in English and Navajo it could be employed very fast and very accurately. A machine of code book would take 20-30 minutes for each message sent or received. The Navajo based code was 2 or 3 minutes and over an open radio channel. The language was also so different for English or Japanese speakers that they found it impossible to even transcribe it or say it and thus impossible to fake or study to solve as well.

Answer 5

They volunteered because they are American citizens who wanted to serve as well as the other male citiezens of the USA. Some volunteered to represent their tribe. Some did it for the income. Some were excited to use their language to help in the war effort. We are extremely grateful to them for volunteering and doing a great job.
Most tribes are very over represented in the US Military compared to the relative size of their population. On the Navajo Nation veterans are an important part of the culture and history an honored at many events. My navajo teacher volunteered at age 17 out of Indian boarding school. He had been punished very harshly for speaking navajo when he entered school at age 7. I think he relished the irony that now they needed his language skills.

Answer 6

Not just Navajos were used as "code talkers" - many native Americans were used in this way. The point was that at that time native American languages were not widely known or studied outside the USA (and not even widely known inside the USA). These languages included Cherokee, Choctaw, Lakota, Comanche, Meskwaki and others. The last Lakota code talker, Clarence Wolf Guts, died in 2010.

in addition, the Navajo language contains many sounds that are not easily written using English, German or Japanese writing - there are many very difficult sounds that most people can not even pronounce correctly, such as ł, tłʼ and gh.For native Japanese speakers these sounds are totally alien and impossible to write using any native Japanese system, making the breaking of the code far more difficult than many other systems.

Answer 7

Many were chosen based on how much they knew about the Navajo language. If you were helplessly lost with it, you would not be accepted.

Answer 8

the Navajo code talkers were important to the military because they were very smart and could talk well and were immortal

Answer 9

To talk in there native language to send codes during battle so the Japanese couldnt crack the code