23 July 2025
Breaking the language barrier could be difficult for Australian and Philippine soldiers, especially when caught up in the moment during classroom lessons.
“Sometimes our guys would be blasting English at like 100 miles per hour,” Tagalog speaker Gunner Marlin Kennard said.
When anyone inadvertently talked too fast, Gunner Kennard would offer to translate.
“(People) don’t like to put their hand up in a classroom and say they don’t understand,” he said.
“With me speaking the language they’re more likely to come over and say, ‘I don’t understand this’.”
His journey with Tagalog started by learning some words from his Filipina wife, but it took off when he attended a three-month course at the ADF School of Languages.
His wife helped him with homework, and by the end he was able to speak with her family who struggle with English.
“The amount of gratefulness they have for me learning their language has been insane,” Gunner Kennard said.
The artillery observer was overseas with the Joint Australian Training Team – Philippines (JATT-P), but without any gunner training to conduct, he was re-roled to teach radios.
This included helping Philippine soldiers with ways to establish radio communications in dense jungle.
He conducted these in ‘Taglish’ mixing both languages, with words like ‘high frequency’ and ‘wavelength’ in English, and then putting them into context with Tagalog.
'With me speaking the language they’re more likely to come over and say, "I don’t understand this".'
Philippine solders were initially shocked and curious when an Australian soldier started speaking their language, but Gunner Kennard said this soon led to him befriending many Philippine soldiers.
This included invites to the Filipino barracks, being shown pictures of their families and hearing their personal stories.
They would also unexpectedly give him tips on jungle survival.
“You’ll be walking with them and they’ll see a tree, they’ll jump up, grab the fruit off a tree, some random berry, and they say, ‘You can eat this’,” Gunner Kennard said.
“If I was out here in the jungle I’d want one of those dudes with me.”
At home with his wife, Gunner Kennard said her help had been a ‘cheat code’ for learning Tagalog, but admitted he’d sometimes be lazy and they’d speak English to each other.
“Every now and then we swap it up and practise,” he said.
“She has a lot of Filipino friends; if they’re around they start speaking the language and I’ll swap to speaking it.”
The engagement was part of the JATT-P program, under which ADF personnel formed Land Mobile Training Team 01/25 to deliver integrated training to about 150 Philippine soldiers, predominantly from their 4th Infantry Division.
During 2025, JATT-P will involve more than 20 training activities and exchanges between ADF and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, more than doubling the number of exchanges delivered in 2024.
