Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Overcoming the language barrier in the Korea-U.S. combined operation with Korean soldiers speaking English and vice-versa

 
 
ROK Special Warfare Command allowed all staff to have a special briefing during the KR training.

The briefing was that Korean soldier should speak in English and the U.S. soldiers speak in Korean. It was conducted for the first time in military history to improve the Korea-U.S. combined operational capability.

Originally, the two armies communicated with each other through a interpretation officer or corpsman during the Korea-U.S. combined training including KR.

This interpretation, however, had to take a risk of missing the right timing in  a situation of urgent combat or making an error in translation.

With a strong will for improving Korea-U.S. combined operational capability, Lieutenant General Jeon In-beom, the commander, special warfare group, conducted an English briefing for improvement of English skills of all soldiers in the special forces.

For this reason, U.S. soldiers also had a chance to have a briefing in Korean.

It was awkward at first, but soon they were able to brief in each other’s language, having a meaningful time to understand each other and the language as well.

“We have made various efforts to improve the English skills of noncoms of special forces who take a major part in the operation team on ordinary days. We are going to improve the excellence of the Korean Army and our combined operational capability by continuing this briefing,” said a Special Warfare Command official.

By Bo-Ram, Kim < rambo723@dema.mil.kr >

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