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Section 3. Philology
Balabin Viktor,
PhD., (Philology), professor, Military Institute Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine, E-mail: victor.balabin@gmail.com
LINGUISTIC SUPPORT FOR MILITARY OPERATIONS
Abstract: The article focuses on the specificity of the linguistic support for military operations. The author analyzes policy, functional areas, planning and organization of the linguistic support for NATO-led operations.
Keywords: translation studies, military translation, military translation theory, linguistic support, military linguist.
Introduction. The concept of the linguistic sup- Publishers [5] or the "Oxford Handbook of Trans-
port for military operations belongs to the sphere of military translation theory — "a group of well-structured and summarized facts, theoretical judgments, hypotheses and methodological provisions, coherently integrated into a system by carefully selected and terminologically refined units of its conceptual construct, which reveal the essence and specificity of the military interpreter's professional duties" [1, 46]. As such, the object of the military translation theory encompasses not only the traditional realm of military translation and interpreting, but also the entire domain of the linguistic support for forces [2, 98].
Traditionally, the research in military translation studies was carried out in the former Soviet Union (FSU). It is practically absent in the European, American, Asian, African or Australian translation studies. You will not find concepts/terms/entries "military translation' or "linguistic support for military operations" in such recognized and comprehensive sources of translation studies as the "Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies" (first edition of 1998 [3] and second — 2011 [4]), the four-volume "Handbook of Translation Studies" by Benjamin
lation Studies" [6].
The term/concept "linguistic support for military operations" is rather new for the theory of military translation. Henceforth, the "Explanatory Translation Studies' Dictionary" by L. L. Nelyubin [7], which contains 2,028 entries from 224 sources and is considered to be one of the mostly cited academic and reference guides in the FSU countries, does not mention it.
Ultimately, the concept of "military translation' itself is defined as "a special type of mediated intercultural communication, carried out for the linguistic support of the armed forces" [1, 45].
In Ukraine, we see the linguistic support for forces as a "a complex of special measures, tasks, procedures and processes of practical and fundamental nature in the military-political, military-technical and special military fields of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They are planned and carried out to accomplish intercultural (communicative & mediational), linguo-geographical (informational & analytic), military-terminological (normative & codifying), linguo-pedagogical (didactic & diagnostic) and
linguo-research (scholarly) functions that require military-professional level of bilingual philological competence ofperformers." [8, 144-146]. The military interpreter/translator is the principal actor of the linguistic support for forces [9].
The purpose of the article is to analyze the specificity of the linguistic support in NATO-led
military operations.
Presentation. The specificity of the linguistic support for NATO-led operations is described in the ALingP-1 — a non-classified allied linguistic publication [10]. ALingP-1 defines linguistic support as "the provision of services, including translation and interpretation, enabling persons who do not understand each others' languages to communicate with one other." [10, A-1].
ALingP-1 covers three functional areas of the linguistic support (translation of written material; interpretation of speech; related tasks, such as monitoring audio-visual media and printed material, summarizing and gist translation), which are organized at two levels: high-level translation and interpretation provided by personnel with formal professional qualifications or higher level skills; more limited support provided by personnel with lower level skills [10, 1-1].
The requirement for the linguistic support for operations derives from the necessity of deployed NATO headquarters and forces "to communicate with the populations, authorities and other organizations present in their area of operations" when they "do not speak a NATO official language and it may be required for a headquarters' or a force's entire range of activities. It is therefore mission-essential. Furthermore it must be of adequate quality to meet the requirements." [10, 1-1].
ALingP-1 gives guidelines for establishing a policy for operational linguistic support, which "must cover support for the languages used in current area of operations as well as potential areas of conflict where NATO forces might be required to intervene." [10, 2-1]. National policies should be compatible
with ALingP-1 and "shall guide the provision of linguistic support within national elements and force structures" [10, 2-1].
The policy shall also contain scaling guidelines that will enable planners to calculate the linguistic support personnel required to meet all expected functional requirements. "Those guidelines must take account of the type of personnel that are used and factors such as the length of tours in theatre, the nature ofthe operation, the need for 24-hour/7-day support and the time needed to provide training." [10, 2-2].
Officers conducting operational planning must determine the language(s) used in the area of operation, as well as relevant areas such as logistic support areas and lines of communication and areas of intelligence interest. It is important to determine not only the official language(s) used by governmental and other authorities but also any vernacular languages or dialects spoken by parties and local populations. This determination will be facilitated by obtaining or creating a linguistic map of relevant areas [10, 3-1].
According to ALingP-1, the typical linguistic support functions are: command-level relations with authorities and parties; operations at the tactical and other levels; human intelligence; psychological operations; public affairs; legal affairs; contracting; logistics; policing; civil-military cooperation; administration of local personnel; training of indigenous forces [10, 3-1].
Linguistic support requirements include: 1. Language combinations required (e.g. English to French and vice versa, Dari and Pashto to English and vice versa); 2. Interpretation and modes (simultaneous, consecutive and/or liaison interpretation might all be needed at different times and in different quantities); 3. Translation and types of text (general, military, technical and legal documents among others might all need to be translated at different stages of an operation); 4. Level of quality to be achieved; 5. Location where support is to be provided; 6. Duration ofthe linguistic support (taking account of the phasing of the operation) [10, 3-2].
"The Linguistic Service must be organized so as to provide the necessary services efficiently and effectively while ensuring adequate administrative and technical supervision and support of the activities." [10, 3-2].
The Linguistic Service is responsible for managing four types of personnel: professionally-qualified civilians, non-professionally qualified civilians, military linguists, and linguistic support staff.
Professionally-qualified civilians are translators, revisors, and interpreters [10, 3-3]. "Translators are linguists whose main job is to translate written materials from one language to another. Professional translators normally only translate into their mother tongue from one or more other languages. However, in an operation, it is likely that it will be necessary for linguists to translate not only into but also from their mother tongue, generally into the working language of the headquarters or unit." [10, 3-3]. A translator may also perform liaison interpretation — "the interpretation of short segments of speech, generally sentence by sentence, immediately after they have been uttered, not necessarily requiring high-level interpretation training." [10, A-1].
Revisors are experienced linguists whose job is to check and correct the output of translators. They are an essential part of the quality control chain, especially when reliable, high-quality translations are required. They also supervise the activities of and train translators [10, 3-3].
Interpreters are linguists who translate speech orally. They do this in a variety of modes (simultaneous, consecutive or liaison) from and to their mother tongue. Any linguist, including translators, revisors or linguistic assistants, can perform liaison interpretation. However, simultaneous interpretation and consecutive interpretation may
only be performed by properly trained interpreters [10, 3-3].
Non-professionally qualified civilians include linguistic and language assistants. A linguistic assistant is "an individual with some linguistic capability employed to assist linguists in their duties and possibly to perform liaison interpretation. Examples of a linguistic assistant's duties: proofreading, managing terminological databases or finding reference materials" [10, A-1].
Language assistants are personnel with limited language ability who facilitate communication using a narrow range of vocabulary in specific circumstances such as guarding, searching and checkpoints. They are not expected to provide written translations [10, 3-3].
The category of military linguists consists ofprimary military linguists (members of the armed services with adequate language skills deployed to serve mainly as linguists) and secondary military linguists (personnel with limited language skills deployed in their primary military role but able to undertake the duties of language assistants) [10, 3-4].
The linguistic support staff "are personnel who provide administrative and production support for a linguistic service, including correction and formatting of revised translations, logging of requests and general clerical duties" [10, 3-4].
Conclusion. The concept "linguistic support for military operations" is rather new for the theory of military translation. The specificity of the linguistic support for NATO-led operations is described in the ALingP-1 — a non-classified allied linguistic publication. ALingP-1 defines linguistic support as "the provision of services, including translation and interpretation, enabling persons who do not understand each others' languages to communicate with one other" [10, A-1].
References:
1. Balabin V V. Redefining military translation. The European Journal of Literature and Linguistics.- No. 3. 2018.- P. 44-47. DOI: 10.29013/EJLL-18-3-44-47.
2. Balabin VV. Object and subject of the theory of military translation. Scientific Herald of the International Humanitarian University. Series: Philology, 2017.- No. 31.- Vol. 3.- P. 97-100.
3. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. Ed. by Mona Baker. London & New York: - Routledge, 1998. - 654 p.
4. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. Mona Baker and Gabriela Saldanha (eds.). Taylor & Francis Group, 2nd ed., 2011. xxii + 674 p.
5. Handbook of Translation Studies. Gambier Y., Van Doorslaer L. (eds.). Amsterdam and Philadelphia, PA; John Benjamins Publishing Company. - Vol. 1 (2010), ix + 458 p; - Vol. 2 (2011), x + 197 p.; - Vol. 3 (2012), xii + 220 p.; - Vol. 4 (2013), xii + 232 p.
6. The Oxford handbook of translation studies. Malmkj^r, Kirsten, and Kevin Windle (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. xvii + 607 p.
7. Nelyubin L. L. Explanatory translation studies' dictionary. 5th ed.- M.: Flinta: Nauka, 2008.- 320 p.
8. Balabin V. V. The concept of the linguistic support for forces. Paradigm of Knowledge.- No. 2 (28), 2018.- P. 144-154. DOI: 10.26886/2520-7474.2-(28)2018.10.
9. Balabin V. V. Military interpreter as the principal actor of the linguistic support of forces. Science and Society - Methods and problems of practical application. Proceedings of the 5th International conference. Accent Graphics Communications & Publishing, Vancouver, - Canada.- 2018.- P. 20-24.
10. ALing P-1. Linguistic Support for Operations.- NATO Standardization Office, 18 September, 2011.- 52 p.
