Ukrainian army overcomes language barrier with NATO

FOUR LEVELS OF TRAINING

“The language courses at the British Council are attended by the servicemen that have been officially granted a leave of absence to improve their foreign language skills. Significantly, the goals our military faces today in connection with Ukraine’s course toward European and Euro-Atlantic integration require Ukrainian servicemen to learn foreign languages. To this end, a foreign languages training system has been introduced in the Ukrainian army, which envisions basic language training of cadets and students at higher education institutions of the Defense Ministry, along with language courses for servicemen on active duty. The latter are divided into night language courses, which the servicemen attend while on active duty and the mentioned intensive language courses at the British Council offices in Ukraine, the Odesa Institute of Land Forces, Sevastopol Naval Institute, Kharkiv Air Force Institute, Lviv Military Institute of the National Lviv Polytechnic University, Military Institute of the Artillery of the Sumy State University, Military Institute of the Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University, Zhytomyr Military Institute of Radio Electronics, and Ukraine’s National Defense Academy. This system also envisions language training courses abroad. Thus over 300 officers study English at intensive language courses annually. French and German are taught to the officers at the Military Institute of the Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University. Meanwhile, this September, in keeping with the order by the Ukrainian Defense Minister, two groups of servicemen began to study Arabic. They will relieve the Ukrainian peacekeepers currently on their mission in Iraq.

“The servicemen spend three or four hours a week studying foreign languages at night courses. Such a program enables officers to acquire certain language skills. After this they can enroll in intensive courses that last for four and a half months and help them gain a fundamental command of a foreign language. The effectiveness of such courses is due to the fact that they are taught by professionals — foreign language faculty teachers at higher military education institutions — who help the servicemen to significantly improve their command of a foreign language during 400 or 450 academic hours of teaching. Another component of the language training system is study abroad. Thanks to the efforts of the Defense Ministry the number of Ukrainian officers pursuing education abroad has increased several times over. While in 1992 the Armed Forces could send only one serviceman to study a foreign language as part of international educational programs, this year seventy Ukrainians study in Canada, Great Britain, Hungary, Slovenia, and elsewhere.” “Since when has Ukraine’s army been giving its due to the language training of the military? What progress have you registered in this direction?”

“Leaving basic training aside, I will say the following. In 1995, only twenty officers completed intensive foreign language courses, for such were the requirements of the army and our capabilities at the time. In subsequent years we taught 19, 32, 65, 102 students and so forth. Today their numbers are in the hundreds. For example, in the first half of this year 180 students completed such courses, and in late December another 215 servicemen will receive certificates on the completion of language courses. I repeat, this applies only to the intensive study courses. Add to this the servicemen attending night classes and those studying abroad. We’ve made significant progress. And today we can say with certainty that owing to the language training system our military has over 1,500 servicemen whose command of foreign languages meets NATO standards.”

WHY WE TEACH FOREIGN LANGUAGES TO OFFICERS

“In what way, how effectively, and where do the servicemen that have completed language courses use their language skills?”

“In late 2001, after the Department for the Implementation of International Programs analyzed how the servicemen that completed language courses in Ukraine and abroad used their language skills, it transpired that the system needed major improvements. The analysis has shown that many officers who have undergone language training occupy posts that do not envision their participation in international cooperation projects. Conversely, posts requiring the knowledge of a foreign language were occupied by officers that do not have an adequate command of foreign languages. To remedy this situation, the Defense Minister has listed the categories of posts to be used by chiefs of military departments to determine how many specialists with the knowledge of foreign languages are required and list the posts available for them. Currently, the Armed Forces have over 2,600 such posts. At present, special care is taken to enroll in language courses only those servicemen that need such training in the line of duty. Thus, recently Col. Gen. Oleksandr Zatynaiko, chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Headquarters, sent a telegram to all the forces urging the military administrative bodies select more scrupulously the candidates for the language courses. Significantly, we have started active work to select and test officers to relieve the Fourth Detached Engineering and Reconstruction Battalion in Sierra Leone, along with officers at the headquarters of the coalition forces and the multinational force headquarters and command of the battalions of the Sixth Brigade in Iraq. Currently, we need to train nearly eighty officers to fill the positions of translators in peacekeeping units. We may have to send our peacekeepers to Liberia, for which purpose we also have to train specialists. Understandably, under such conditions we cannot afford the luxury of training some officers at language courses and sending others on missions abroad. We must have a clear answer to the question of why we teach foreign languages to officers, and wherein lies the logic, sense, and, most importantly, payback from this training.”

WHO WILL LAY THE FOUNDATION OF OUR MODERNIZED ARMED FORCES?

“Speaking of logic and consistency, if I understand you right, soon every enlisted man in Ukraine’s Armed Forces will be obliged to know a foreign language. Or will such a requirement apply only to servicemen of individual elite detachments?”

“Indeed, someday all enlisted men in our army will be obliged to have an adequate command of a foreign language. However, this is a long-term prospect. Understandably, we cannot work miracles and make all servicemen learn a foreign language overnight. Language training is a costly and lengthy process that will bear fruit after a long period. Today we must face the fact that the process of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration will one way or another set certain requirements for our servicemen, including language requirements. Simultaneously, we cannot crowd all the servicemen into classrooms and teach them a foreign language all at once. The existing language training system can train only a limited number of servicemen: 400 this year and between 500 and 600 in subsequent years. Thus, considering that the process of reducing the numerical strength of the Ukrainian army is underway, we must make sure that the promising servicemen, who have an adequate command of foreign languages, remain in the army. The military command should be more scrupulous in selecting candidates for language training and start teaching foreign languages to those servicemen that will in the future form the groundwork of the modernized Armed Forces. Today, when forming military units we must appoint servicemen to their posts on a competitive basis taking into account not only their professional qualities and skills but also their command of foreign languages. Only in this way can we build modern Armed Forces. Meanwhile, until recently we sometimes taught languages to officers that were about to retire, that is, we wasted time and money on those to be pensioned off. We also taught specialists who did not use these language skills in their line of duty. As a result, we had to retrain them the following year, since any skills decline without daily practice. It is this problem that the officers of the Department for the Implementation of International Programs are working to solve. We are working to have certain special subjects at military institutes taught to cadets in a foreign language. We know of numerous cases when graduates defended their diplomas in a foreign language. A positive innovation in this respect is the fact that last year studies at the Ukrainian National Defense Academy began with English language courses. For four months running cadets studied English in intensive courses. Significantly, today everybody understands that academy graduates who will fill positions of brigade commanders and higher must know a foreign language, since they will come into contact with representatives of foreign armies and foreign mass media and will participate in joint military exercises. For them command of a foreign language is crucial.”

LANGUAGE OF COOPERATION

“Does anyone help our Armed Forces solve this problem?”

“Absolutely. Foreign governments assist Ukraine’s military in teaching foreign languages to our enlisted men, who can improve their language skills as part of international programs, at foreign language courses abroad, and test their skills in practice during multinational military exercises, conferences, and seminars. They use the skills thus acquired during peacekeeping operations and in the system of international cooperation of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Moreover, thanks to such countries as Great Britain, the USA, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, and Hungary language courses are available not only abroad, but also in Ukraine. In particular, night classes of English are supported by the British Council in Ukraine, which has also funded the creation of computerized self-study centers in regions with a high concentration of military installations (Chernihiv, Sevastopol, Lviv). Currently, eight language laboratories provided by the US as part of an international technical assistance program are being set up at higher educational institutions of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Also, Great Britain, the USA, France, Canada, Germany and other countries have provided funding for the retraining of teachers of foreign languages working at military institutes. Thus far, 160 teachers have undergone such training. Significant funding has been provided for the re-equipment of foreign language faculties at institutions of higher military education.”

“What are the short-term prospects for the system of language training of our military?”

“Speaking of prospects, it is noteworthy that this year a new structure was formed at the Armed Forces of Ukraine — the Department for Scholarly and Methodological Provision of Language Training and Testing, which is a logical step toward uniting all components of the language training system of our Armed Forces — from organizing language training of the enlisted men to helping servicemen preserve their language skills throughout their careers. Under the Ukraine-NATO Target Plan for 2003, specialists of our department have drafted a Program to Expand Language Teaching to the Enlisted Men of Ukraine’s Armed Forces for 2004-2005, which has been submitted for the approval of Ukraine’s Defense Minister. This document sets out the priorities, major directions, and specific goals of the further development of our language training system. Thus the action plan has been drafted. We have every reason to believe that the goals that the Ukrainian army has set in the sphere of language training will be achieved. Significantly, this system is being formed taking into account the positive experience and with the support of the NATO member states.”