[lg policy] Re: Military language policy

Scott Andrew Wible swible at umd.edu
Mon Feb 23 16:04:33 UTC 2015 

I write about contemporary U.S. military language policy, particularly as
it relates to foreign languages in the global war on terrorism, in chapter
3 of my book as well (see especially pp. 117-143).


Wible, Scott. Shaping Language Policy in the U.S.: The Role of Composition
Studies. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2013.


Scott Wible
Associate Professor of English
Director of Professional Writing
University of Maryland
1220 Tawes Hall
College Park, MD  20742
swible at umd.edu

On 2/21/15, 12:00 PM, "lgpolicy-list-request at groups.sas.upenn.edu"
<lgpolicy-list-request at groups.sas.upenn.edu> wrote:

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>Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Military language policy (bspolsky)
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Message: 1
>Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2015 18:28:44 +0200
>From: bspolsky <bspolsky at gmail.com>
>Subject: [lg policy] Military language policy
>To: Language Policy List <lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu>
>Message-ID:
>	<CAGhRcsTiH0tG+MtcNgNDCAf9KTwS1O0Nq3H56qFVXFPMnqYcnQ at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
>Chapter 8 of my book deals with the topic
>
>Spolsky, Bernard. (2009). *Language management*. Cambridge UK: Cambridge
>University Press.
>
>On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 7:01 PM,
><lgpolicy-list-request at groups.sas.upenn.edu
>> wrote:
>
>> Send lgpolicy-list mailing list submissions to
>>         lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
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>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>> than "Re: Contents of lgpolicy-list digest..."
>>
>>
>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>    1. Fwd: Commentary on Language Deficit (Harold Schiffman)
>>    2. Re: Language policies of world militaries? (Dave Sayers)
>>    3. CFP: TIRF Doctoral Dissertation Grant (with LPP   priority)
>>       (Francis Hult)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 14:41:09 -0500
>> From: Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [lg policy] Fwd: Commentary on Language Deficit
>> To: lp <lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu>
>> Message-ID:
>>         <
>> CAB7VSRB2heehy-AT6a9gWyaQjuz+wkPKnfynZgPTekahDfKokw at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>
>> Forwarded From: Rosemary Salomone <salomonr at stjohns.edu>
>> Date: Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 12:32 PM
>>
>> Commentary on Language Deficit
>>
>>
>>
>> Members of this list might be interested in this commentary  recently
>> published in University World News.
>>
>>
>> 
>>http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150128065508699&mo
>>de=print
>> .
>>
>>
>>
>> Rosemary Salomone
>> Kenneth Wang Professor of Law
>> St. John's University
>> School of Law
>> 8000 Utopia Parkway
>> Queens, N.Y. 11439
>> Tel: (718) 990-6622
>> E-mail: rosemary.salomone at stjohns.edu
>> Website:
>> http://stjohns.edu/academics/graduate/law/faculty/profiles/Salomone
>> SSRN Author Page: http://ssrn.com/author=213312
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> **************************************
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>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 20:06:15 +0000
>> From: Dave Sayers <dave.sayers at cantab.net>
>> Subject: Re: [lg policy] Language policies of world militaries?
>> To: lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
>> Message-ID: <54E64237.7060707 at cantab.net>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
>>
>> I recently linked an article about UK military language policy on this
>> list.
>>
>> "Army officers are being told they will not rise above the rank of
>>Captain
>> without
>> learning a foreign language".
>>
>> Article here: http://goo.gl/gFDATy
>>
>> Dave
>>
>> --
>> Dr. Dave Sayers
>> Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University
>> Honorary Research Fellow, Arts & Humanities, Swansea University
>>(2009-2015)
>> dave.sayers at cantab.net | http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers
>>
>>
>>
>> On 19/02/2015 17:01, lgpolicy-list-request at groups.sas.upenn.edu wrote:
>> > Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2015 09:04:39 -0800
>> > From: dzo at bisharat.net
>> > Subject: [lg policy] Language policies of world militaries?
>> > To: Language Policy List <lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu>
>> > Cc: dzosborn at gmail.com
>> > Message-ID: <6dcd23d05af76acffb1c521d0c361813 at bisharat.net>
>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>> >
>> > Is anyone aware of any compilation of information on language policies
>> > of militaries of the world? Particularly interested in multilingual
>> > countries in general, and in Africa, but broader information is always
>> > useful for comparisons.
>> >
>> > One might assume that militaries follow the official language policies
>> > of their respective states, but is this always so? One would also
>>assume
>> > that some standard language policy would be necessary to avoid the
>>babel
>> > effect at inopportune moments.
>> >
>> > However, in many countries, language skills down the ranks may vary.
>>So
>> > are there cases where more than one language is officially used? De
>> > facto usage of other languages that is tolerated to facilitate
>> > communication in special circumstances, or training in order to
>> > facilitate optimal learning? Problems with diverse language use within
>> > militaries (case studies)?
>> >
>> > For example, when in Uganda a few years ago I heard specifically that
>> > only English and Swahili (both official in the country) were permitted
>> > in their armed forces (UPDF) and on their military facilities. On the
>> > other hand, US Army language policy is framed with a focus on
>>operations
>> > in this way:
>> >
>> > "English is the operational language of the Army. Soldiers must
>>maintain
>> > sufficient proficiency in English to perform their military duties.
>> > Their operational communications must be understood by everyone who
>>has
>> > an official need to know their content, and, therefore, must normally
>>be
>> > in English. However, commanders may not require Soldiers to use
>>English
>> > unless such use is clearly necessary and proper for the performance of
>> > military functions. Accordingly, commanders may not require the use of
>> > English for personal communications that are unrelated to military
>> > functions."
>> > US Army Regulation 600???20 (2014) "Army Command Policy"
>> > http://www.apd.army.mil/pdffiles/r600_20.pdf
>> >
>> > Thanks in advance for any info.
>> >
>> > Don Osborn
>> >
>> >
>> > ------------------------------
>> >
>> > Message: 2
>> > Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 11:23:00 -0500
>> > From: Harold Schiffman <haroldfs at gmail.com>
>> > Subject: Re: [lg policy] Language policies of world militaries?
>> > To: Language Policy List <lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu>
>> > Message-ID:
>> >       <CACqQ=
>> kLa_YJOzx+P9p9k4cVKA4OR_Yje1JsXXyi3Zez4uXmeWQ at mail.gmail.com>
>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>> >
>> > Dear Don,
>> >
>> > Regarding your question about language policies in military units, I
>>did
>> a
>> > quick googlesearch for India, and came up with the following:
>> >
>> >
>> > Language Policy and Linguistic Minorities in India  ... By Thomas
>> Benedikter
>> >
>> > What he says in the book is that the Indian military uses a simplified
>> > version
>> > of Hindi and Urdu, with some English mixed in.  I think this is
>>probably
>> a
>> > continuation of what the policy was under the British.
>> >
>> > Another example is that of Czarist Russia, where the language policy
>>of
>> the
>> > military was Russian only, and I think this also continued to be the
>> case in
>> > the Soviet period, and of course today as well.
>> >
>> > HS
>> >
>> > On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 12:04 PM, <dzo at bisharat.net> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Is anyone aware of any compilation of information on language
>>policies
>> of
>> >> militaries of the world? Particularly interested in multilingual
>> countries
>> >> in general, and in Africa, but broader information is always useful
>>for
>> >> comparisons.
>> >>
>> >> One might assume that militaries follow the official language
>>policies
>> of
>> >> their respective states, but is this always so? One would also assume
>> that
>> >> some standard language policy would be necessary to avoid the babel
>> effect
>> >> at inopportune moments.
>> >>
>> >> However, in many countries, language skills down the ranks may vary.
>>So
>> >> are there cases where more than one language is officially used? De
>> facto
>> >> usage of other languages that is tolerated to facilitate
>>communication
>> in
>> >> special circumstances, or training in order to facilitate optimal
>> learning?
>> >> Problems with diverse language use within militaries (case studies)?
>> >>
>> >> For example, when in Uganda a few years ago I heard specifically that
>> only
>> >> English and Swahili (both official in the country) were permitted in
>> their
>> >> armed forces (UPDF) and on their military facilities. On the other
>> hand, US
>> >> Army language policy is framed with a focus on operations in this
>>way:
>> >>
>> >> "English is the operational language of the Army. Soldiers must
>>maintain
>> >> sufficient proficiency in English to perform their military duties.
>> Their
>> >> operational communications must be understood by everyone who has an
>> >> official need to know their content, and, therefore, must normally
>>be in
>> >> English. However, commanders may not require Soldiers to use English
>> unless
>> >> such use is clearly necessary and proper for the performance of
>>military
>> >> functions. Accordingly, commanders may not require the use of English
>> for
>> >> personal communications that are unrelated to military functions."
>> >> US Army Regulation 600???20 (2014) "Army Command Policy"
>> >> http://www.apd.army.mil/pdffiles/r600_20.pdf
>> >>
>> >> Thanks in advance for any info.
>> >>
>> >> Don Osborn
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
>> >> lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
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>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 07:35:34 +0000
>> From: Francis Hult <francis.hult at englund.lu.se>
>> Subject: [lg policy] CFP: TIRF Doctoral Dissertation Grant (with LPP
>>         priority)
>> To: "lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu"
>>         <lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu>
>> Message-ID:
>>         <11E8DB9B84AFED40AA11BE609088B771C0EBB80A at UWMBX02.uw.lu.se>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>>
>> The International Research Foundation for English Language Education
>>
>>
>>
>> Since 2002, TIRF has supported students completing their doctoral
>>research
>> on topics related to the foundation???s priorities. Each year
>>applicants who
>> have been advanced to candidacy in legitimate PhD or EdD programs are
>> invited to submit proposals for Doctoral Dissertation Grants (DDGs). (By
>> ???advanced to candidacy??? we mean [a] having completed all required
>>course
>> work, if any, and [b] having had a research plan approved by the
>> candidate???s university committee.) Proposals are reviewed by a TIRF
>> committee of established international researchers. DDGs are provided in
>> the amount of up to US $5000 per awardee.
>>
>>
>>
>> The 2015 Doctoral Dissertation Grants competition is now open. The
>> application deadline is Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at 11:59pm Pacific
>>Time
>> (United States & Canada).
>>
>>
>>
>> More information and the call for proposals is available here:
>> http://www.tirfonline.org/research-grants/doctoral-dissertation-grants/
>>
>>
>>
>> It is also noteworthy that language policy and planning is one of the
>> identified research priorities:
>>
>>
>> 
>>http://www.tirfonline.org/research-grants/tirfs-research-priorities/langu
>>age-planning-and-policy/
>>
>>
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>
>
>
>-- 
>Bernard Spolsky bspolsky at gmail.com  Professor emeritus, Bar-Ilan
>University
>URL: http://english.biu.ac.il/faculty/spolsky-bernard
><http://www.biu.ac.il/faculty/spolsb/>
>Home address for all mail : 4 Nili Street, Apt 7, 9254803 Jerusalem ISRAEL
>Phone and Fax: +972-2-628-2044  Cell phone: +972-52-421-8146
>*The Languages of the Jews*, Bernard Spolsky (Cambridge UP, 2014)
>*Challenges for language education and policy: Making space for people*,
>Bernard Spolsky, Ofra Inbar-Lourie, Michal Tannenbaum, Editors (Routledge.
>2014)
>*Conditions for English language teaching and learning in Asia *Kiwan Sung
>and Bernard Spolsky, Editors (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2015)
>*Secondary School English Education in Asia, * Kiwan Sung and Bernard
>Spolsky, Editors (Routledge, 2015)
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