The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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10 The Linguist FEBRUARY/MARCH www.iol.org.uk FEATURES A programme to improve diplomats' language skills is on track to achieve its aim of giving Britain the best diplomatic corps in the world, says Marta Nuñez When I think about languages, the tower of Babel always comes to mind – the angry God sabotaging the human enterprise of creating a tower to reach Heaven by making them unintelligible to each other. There and then languages were created, and there is the great irony: what a gift we all received! Within the world of diplomacy, mastering the language of the hosting country is a great advantage; in international policy, languages gain and lose relevance according to political, social and economic trends, as well as to war and terrorism. Just think of Turkish during the Ottoman Empire, Russian during the Cold World and Arabic since 9/11. Language capability forms an important principle within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). In a speech in July 2012, Foreign Minister William Hague set this out as follows: 'We need more skilled diplomats… who are able to get under the skin of those countries, who are immersed in their language, culture, politics and history and who have access to decision-makers and can tap into informal networks of influence.' 1 Language capability takes a prominent role in the Diplomatic Excellence programme, launched by Mr Hague with the aim of giving Britain the best diplomatic corps in the world. In an attempt to achieve this, the FCO has increased both the budget for teaching languages and the number of 'speaker slots' – ie, positions across the world for which the language of the host country is an essential requirement for the job (now around 500 positions). At the FCO, we have looked carefully at the distribution of speaker slots to ascertain whether they correspond to the work Diplomatic language The FCO allows 22 months' full-time language learning to achieve level C1 from scratch in languages that are difficult for English speakers to learn, such as Arabic and Chinese. This includes a year living in a country where the language is spoken. For languages which are less difficult, such as Spanish, the time allowed is seven months. For the most prominent position – the ambassadorial role – we are increasing the number of speaker slots expected to be fluent in the language (CEFR C2 level), and making a strong point of their ability to deal with the media at official events, especially where difficult political messages have to be delivered that may be received with hostility. There is now a stronger emphasis on speaking, reading and listening in training. In some positions, translation is also taught and, rarely, writing (which is taught more as a tool for consolidating the other skills than as an end in itself). In addition to this focused, full-time training for specific diplomatic positions, the FCO runs other training programmes. Spouses and diplomats in positions where language skills are an advantage, rather than essential, undertake focused training up to required of officers. It was determined that the number of speaker slots in China should be increased, as well as those in Brazil and the emerging 'silver road' of South East Asian countries whose economies are booming. For the first time, we will have an Ambassador fluent in Filipino (declared the national language of the Philippines in 1970), while countries in Central Asia, such as Kazakhstan and Turkistan, will now have diplomats fluent in Kazak and Turkic, rather than only in Russian. We have also raised the level of language competence which diplomats are expected to achieve. For most speaker slots this is now what is internally designated as 'operational level', a high level of competence equivalent to level C1 on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Full-time training is provided for staff who will occupy these positions – normally those who are to participate in negotiations with their political counterparts, chair meetings and deliver speeches. 'We need more skilled diplomats who have access to decision- makers and can tap into informal networks' LOCAL VISITS British Ambassador Fiona McIlwham visits an anti-corruption project in Berat, Albania