Effectively Working With Military Linguists

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between advisors and linguists in the contemporary military advising mission and applies an emergent postmodern military culture theoretical framework. This project’s multimethod collected data from Iraq, documents, and interviews. The study reveals an intriguing and nuanced story about the deployment of advisors and linguists in the advising mission. This article defines the military advising mission including the major actors. The article then introduces the postmodern military culture theoretical framework and method. The findings report many themes including linguist selection and hiring processes, the importance of advisor–linguist relationships, the relevance of linguists’ backgrounds, linguists as full advisory team members, and the building blocks of successful advising sessions. Effective advisors work with linguists to deploy a Swiss Army knife of cultural tools including peacekeeper diplomat, warrior, subject matter expert, innovator, and others to accomplish the mission, which divulge broader changes indicative of an emergent postmodern military and culture.

On the Frontline: Mediating Across Languages and Cultures in Peacekeeping Operations

“…The general issue of interpreting in PKOs is still underresearched, even if some authors (Chayes, 2006; Hajjar, 2017; Van Dijk, Soeters, & de Ridder, 2010) have highlighted that language issues are important to the success of military operations. In fact, military personnel do not usually understand a word of what is being said in the local language(s) and communication is facilitated by the interpreter who is the one person able to speak all of the languages.…”

“…In short, and using Hajjar’s (2017) metaphor of the “Swiss Army knife,” interpreters have to deploy different skills to be able to work in a PKO and must know how to adapt to the different units and situations.…”

“…One could argue that this positionality leads them to filter the information received and communicated through their own experiences, and thus their role goes beyond the act of linguistic and cultural mediation to the adoption of an additional and relevant active presence instead of only a neutral one (Ficklin & Jones, 2009). This means that the relationship between the interpreters and the other stakeholders is a complex one in which different positionalities come into play in the communicative situation, with the interaction of not only the two primary active parties—the force and the local actors—but also a third party—the interpreter—with his/her own assumptions, objectives, prejudices, and experiences (Hajjar, 2017). In fact, the interpreter’s bias toward parochialism or a sense of fairness may have an impact on his or her position when interpreting between the force and locals who are from a different ethnic group.…”

“…It is also important for them to avoid ethnocentrism and closed-mindedness for the work with local interpreters to be fully effective. Some authors have highlighted the importance of knowing how to deal with interpreters, considered by some (Hajjar, 2017; Metrinko, 2008) to be an absolutely crucial skill, particularly in present-day missions, in which it is crucial for peacekeeping forces to interact with the local populations, usually through interpreters. There is an increasing need for military personnel to be “morally competent but also culturally competent” and to know how to face “morally and culturally critical situations” (Schut, de Graaff, & Verweij, 2015) in which perceived behavior by others is in conflict with personal and professional values.…”

Evaluating Military Cross-Cultural Training Programs

“…Examples of such experiences for military personnel include international military education programs, multinational assignments and exercises, and the U.S. National Guard's State Partnership Program. During operations, working with interpreters may be another important source of intercultural learning 95. A better understanding of how these experiences contribute to developing intercultural competence would help supplement and better target training efforts.…”