The Hindu Business Line : The new language of war is language!

A HOT document on the Net from the US Department of Defense (www.defenselink.mil) is not about nukes and wars but about lingo. The DoD released the `Language Transformation Roadmap' only days ago, though the cover of the 21-page document reads `January 2005'.

Intro explains how the DoD felt, post 9/11, the need for "a significantly improved organic capability in emerging languages and dialects, a greater competence and regional area skills in those languages and dialects, and a surge capability to rapidly expand its language capabilities on short notice." In short, they want to learn new languages.

Writing on www.slate.msn.com in October 2004, Lee Smith cited a news report from The New York Times that the FBI was yet to translate more than 1,20,000 hours of pre-9/11 `terrorism-related' recordings. To "beef up its translation capabilities in Arabic, Farsi and other languages considered critical to counter-terrorism investigations," the Bureau had already received "additional $48 million over the past three years". Yet, the problem was one of shortage of able linguists, creating a `translation mess' with `obvious implications for our national security'.

If you checked www.ed.gov, the site of the US Department of Education, you'd learn that they recognised the need for "area and international expertise" as early as 1958 when Title VI was introduced as a part of the National Defense Education Act. It speaks of support for the learning of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs).

Now, goals for language transformation in the latest `roadmap' include the creation of foundational language and cultural expertise, capacity to surge language and cultural resources beyond foundational and in-house capabilities, and establishing "a cadre of language specialists possessing a level 3/3/3 ability (reading/listening/speaking ability)".

DoD recognises that conflicts against enemies speaking LCTLs will continue. Therefore, it states, "Robust foreign language and foreign area expertise are critical to sustaining coalitions, pursuing regional stability, and conducting multi-national missions especially in post-conflict and other than combat, security, humanitarian, nation-building, and stability operations." The new language of war is, therefore, language!

The Department anticipates expanding its coalition and also establishing a new `global footprint', and a `new approach to war-fighting in the 21st century', even as "adversaries will attempt to manipulate the media and leverage sympathetic elements of the population and `opposition' politicians to divide international coalitions."

Apart from setting up a `Language Office', the DoD will publish annually a `strategic language list'.

Since you can't control what you can't measure, they're also developing a `language readiness index'; this will "compare the proficiency level of the language mission to the language capability of the individuals available to perform that mission, as measured by testing" and "will be integrated into the Defense Readiness Reporting System (DRRS)".

Pushing that aside, I read a line in the Old Testament that says, "The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech." Alas, what's closer to reality is what the Bard wrote in The Winter's Tale: "You speak a language that I understand not." And, so, to gain proficiency in `strange tongue', it is "needful that the most immodest word be look'd upon and learn'd," as Warwick advised in King Henry IV.

Which, I'm sure, they'd do, adding colour to the learning exercise. Soon enough, we may have better speakers of Indian languages among the US Marines, than here!

E&OE@TheHindu.co.in

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The new language of war is language!