Table of contents

LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... ii

List of abbreviations .................................................................................................................. iii

Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... iv

RESUME .................................................................................................................................... v

CHAPTER ONE : ...................................................................................................................... 1

1.0. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1

1.1. Background to the study .............................................................................................. 1

1.1.1. NATO’s Creation ................................................................................................. 1

1.1.2. The NATO today .................................................................................................. 2

1.2. Research Problem ........................................................................................................ 5

1.3. Research Objective ...................................................................................................... 5

1.4. Research Questions...................................................................................................... 5

1.5. Research Hypotheses ................................................................................................... 6

CHAPTER TWO : BILINGUALISM IN THE FUNCTIONING OF NATO ........................... 7

2.0. An in-house translation team ....................................................................................... 7

2.1. The BILC Bureau for International Language Communication .................................. 8

2.2. The STANAG 6001 Language Certification ............................................................... 9

CHAPTER THREE : NATO LANGUAGE CHALLENGES ................................................. 12

GENERAL CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 13

REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 14

i
 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1: NATO member countries sort by date .................................................................... 3

TABLE 2: NATO WEB PAGE LANGUAGES ....................................................................... 5

ii
 List of abbreviations

NATO : North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

NSO : Nato Standardisation Office
BILC : Bureau of International Language Cooperation
PfP : Partnership for Peace
EU : European Union
WW2 : World War 2
OSCE : Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
STANAG 6001 : Standard Agreement 6001
ISIT :Institute of Intercultural Communication and Management

iii
 Abstract

The present work focuses on bilingualism in the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization(NATO) through its history to its current position. It shows that the different
language countries cohabitation has pushed the organization to adopt a French/English
bilingualism. According to that choice the organization took some measures by creating a
professional translation body as well as a Bureau for International Language Co-
ordination(BILC). NATO operations turn around a language agreement called STANAG
6001. It is through STANAG 6001 levels competence and evaluation that NATO civile and
military employees are recruited.

iv
 RESUME

Ce travail s’intéresse à la pratique du bilinguisme au sein de l’OTAN Organisation du

Traité Atlantique Nord, ceci en passant par son historique jusqu’à sa position actuelle. Il
démontre que la cohabitation entre des pays de langues différentes a poussé l’organisation à
adopter un bilinguisme français/anglais. Suite à ce choix de langue et aux remarques par
rapport au manque de concordance communicationnelle lors des opérations, l’organisation a
pris des mesures en créant un organe professionnel de traduction, ainsi qu’un Bureau de
Coordination Linguistique Internationale (BCLI). Les opérations de l’OTAN fonctionnent
autour d’un accord linguistique appelé STANAG 6001. C’est au travers de celui-ci que la
compétence requise est mesurée pour les employés civils et militaires de l’OTAN.

v
 CHAPTER ONE :

1.0. INTRODUCTION

Since the first years of humanity, communication is vital for human society.
Particularly talking of human being, that communication pass through verbal and non verbal
language, and a great number and varieties are existing. A language is then a conventional
system of written, manual and spoken signs by means of which people communicate in a
given society. As language varies and even change according to the setting, linguistic
competence in more than one language became a necessity. Monolingual, bilingual,
multilingual and even polyglot are some terms used to qualify people according to their level
of language mastering. Here we will talk of bilingualism, that Weinreich (1953), cited by
Hurajovà and Kral’ovicivà(2016) 1 defines as « the practice of alternately using two
languages ». According to Haugen(1953), cited by Benji Wald (1974)2, bilingualism begins at
the point where a speaker of one language can produce complete, meaningful utterances in the
other language. The present work follows that point of view, as it examines the application of
bilingualism in North Atlantic Treaty Organization functioning. To solve that research
problem, it seeks to provide answers to the following questions :
What do we understand by bilingualism application ? And how is it visible in NATO ?
Which place does language occupies in its functioning ? What are the language challenges
faced by the NATO ?
Our research is organised following a plan presenting first of all NATO’s historical
background, secondly the place of language in NATO’s functioning, and lastly the role and
effectiveness of bilingualism in NATO.

1.1. Background to the study

1.1.1. NATO’s Creation

The National Atlantic Treaty Organisation originates from a treaty signed the 4 April
1949 between twelve countries. That was USA, France, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Holland,
Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland, United Kingdom and Portugal.

1
Hurajovà, A. & Kral’ovicovà D.(2016). A case study of infant intentional bilingual acquisition.International
Scientific and Practical Conference ‘WORLD SCIENCE’. N° 10(14), vol 5.
2
Wald, B.(1974). Bilingualism.The Annual Review of Anthropology, vol.3, Annual Reviews, 1974, pp. 301-21,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2949293.

1
At the beginning, that treaty known as ‘the Washington treaty’, was signed to provide
security and collective defense to the State members because of the Soviet Union menaces. 1
In fact, the end of WW2 and the Allies victory marked the beginning of another set of
national and international security challenges. we can cite : the cold war, Berlin blocus by
Soviet union, the fragile economy of countries involved in WW2, the need of protection and
security inside and outside the country, the desire to preserve peace but to be prepared for a
possible attack. So, at that period and according to its first General Secretary, Lord Ismay,
NATO’s vocation was to « Keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans
under. » (Monaghan 2012)
At that time, Western Europeans countries include the USA in the organization because of its
great economic and political position at the world stage. And to prevent themselves from a
possible expansion of the Soviet territory.
The treaty was based on a collective agreement and a charter of fourteen articles , with
the fifth considered as the most famous because stating that « an armed attack against one or
more of the member states shall be considered an attack against them all » and that following
such an attack, each Ally would take « such actions as it deems necessary, including the use
of armed force. »2 That article was recalled once in the history, after the september 11 attack
in USA ; NATO reacted through several actions which began in October 2001, including
Operation Eagle Assist and Operation Active Endeavour.

1.1.2. The NATO today

Since the cold war end and the Soviet Union dissolution in 1991, the alliance has lost
its initial birth reason and have proceeded to some changes :
As the years pass on, that number of members grew up to tirthy with East Europe,
former soviet Republics ; added to partner countries from Euro-Atlantic area, Mediterranea,
Persian Gulf and other regions accross the globe. According to the NATO ENLARGEMENT,
membership is open to ‘‘any other European State in a position to further the principles of this
Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area.’’3

1
A short History of Nato.Retrieved on 30/11/2021 from https://www.wikipedia/nato.com.
2
What is Nato ? Retrieved on 20/11/2021 on https://www.nato.int/nato-welcome/index.html
3
What is Nato ? Retrieved on 05/12/2021 on https://www.nato.int/nato-welcome/index.html

2
TABLE 1: NATO member countries sort by date

NATO MEMBER COUNTRIES YEAR OF ADHESION

Belgium 1949
Denmark 1949
Canada 1949
France 1949
Iceland 1949
Italy 1949
Lukembourg 1949
Netherlands 1949
Norway 1949
Portugal 1949
The United Kingdom 1949
The United States 1949
Greece 1952
Turkey 1952
Germany 1955
Spain 1982
Czech Republic 1999
Hungary 1999
Poland 1999
Bulgaria 1999
Estonia 2004
Latvia 2004
Lithuania 2004
Romania 2004
Slovakia 2004
Albania 2004
Croatia 2009
Montenegro 2017
North Macedonia 2020

3
 NATO took into account new political crisis and international terrorism, to renew
more than one time its civile and military organisation. The organization also established a
Peace Partnership with Russia and some West Europe countries.
In 2002 the European Union and the National Atlantic Treaty Organization put in
place the EIDS, that allow EU to use some NATO means in its operations for security and
collective defense.
As a political and military organisation that operates internationally, NATO’s main
objective is to guaranty freedom and security to its members through political and military
means. Talking of its functioning, NATO has no parliaments, no laws, no enforcement, and
no power to punish individual citizens. Its members countries are sovereign and have an
ambassador each to represent the nation at meetings. Nevertheless, NATO has a main bureau,
including :
 The secretary General : that is the head of the organization, who is responsible
of the decision making within the Alliance.
 The Military organisation and Structure : that intervernes when the
implementation of a political decision has military implications.
The organisation headquaters are located in Brussels, Belgium ; it posses an anthem , a
logo and a flag. Its official languages are English and French, added to Russian and Arab
languages. The members are under a collective agreement of mutual defense stated by a
charter.

Today, NATO has pursue military and peace keeping operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo and
cooperates with international bodies such as EU, OSCE and UN. It regularly organises
summits for leaders of the member States and partnerships.
As the great part of those research found their content online, we can underline that on the
official web page of NATO, it is possible to read articles in any of the languages of the
member countries, that is up to seventeen languages summarised , in the table below :

4
TABLE 2: NATO WEB PAGE LANGUAGES
NATO LANGUAGES
USED ONLINE
Dansk
Deutsch
Eesti
English
Espanol
Français
Hrvatski
Islenska
Italiano
Latviski
Lietuvi
Magyar
Nederlands
Norsk
Polski
Portuguese
Roman

1.2. Research Problem

As a politico-military organisation in charge of peace keeping, NATO frequently hold

military operations in conflict areas. In the course of those operations, professionals are
required from all member countries, and a fluent communication is needed in order to achieve
stated goals.
This study turns around the application of bilingualism inside the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation and the problematic of fluent communication.

1.3. Research Objective

The assumed objective is to show how NATO manage the use of language and which policies
it created for a fluent communication among employees from different nations.

1.4. Research Questions

This work seeks to answer to two main questions :
 How does NATO applies bilingualism in its functioning ?
 What are the challenges faced in that application ?

5
 1.5. Research Hypotheses

From the above questions, we can propose the following hypotheses :

 NATO applies bilingualism through languages policies and internal organs in charge
of language training.
 The equal application of languages policies in NATO offices in all member countries
is a challenge

6
 CHAPTER TWO : BILINGUALISM IN THE FUNCTIONING OF NATO

French and English are the two main languages used in NATO’s work. So, the
bilingual aspect of the institution turns around those languages. NATO’s linguistic policy is
mainly based on translation, language training, learning and evaluation.
During the 1950s, the organisation proceeded to massive international military
exercises in order « to demonstrate its capacity to respond to Soviet aggression in North-
Western and Southern Europe » (Monaghan 2012) Among those exercises, the one named
Mainbrace(1952), conceived by Eisenhower, revealed some gaps in the usage of a joint
language particularly when it comes to « gunnery, refuelling and apply sea ». In november
2015, during a conference on general terminology hosted at NATO headquaters, the current
director of NSO underlined the importance of speaking the same language and to use the same
technical standards during operations and exercises. As we are talking of military operations
in NATO, he spoke in the following words : ‘‘Imagine a multinational military operation
where fuel for all vehicles is different, ammunition is of various calibrations with totally
different safety and storage requirements, and radios are communicating on different
frequencies’’1 The decision was then taken to set a standard communication and language for
its military operations. That responsibility was given to the BILC. The place of language in
NATO is visible through the linguistic policies and the organs in charge of language and
communication. Here we will talk of the translation team, the BILC and the STANAG 6001.

2.0. An in-house translation team

In order to translate official communications and make them understandable in each

country language variety, NATO offices also presents a translation and interpretariat
branch. There are professional translators recruited on rigourous bases to work for that
purpose.
In january 2018, NATO signed a cooperation agreement with ISIT, a French cultural
and management communication institution, with an excellent reputation on the
translation market. For NATO there was a double objective in that plan : « better inform
students about NATO’s work and prepare themselves for their recruitment competition » ;
« find new talents that will flourish in a service that seeks excellence, in a friendly

1
NATO- : A common language for NATO and its partners, 19-Nov.-2015. Retrieved on 11/12/2021 from
https://www.nato.inc/cps/en/natohq/news_125041.htm

7
 atmosphere of mutual assistance. »1 In the course of that cooperation, application NATO
translators will organise terminology discussions, presentations and workshops at ISIT.
In that vein, NATO launched in June 2020 a job offer for a junior translator, in order
to recruit a professional for a 3 period. His qualifications are of the range of :
- Have successfully completed a recognized university-level training in translation,
or hold a diploma in a relevant discipline, issued by any institution of recognized
value and supplemented by proven skills translation
- Have at least the following level of proficiency in the official NATO languages :
VI(‘fluency’) in French – his/her motertongue and V (‘advanced’) in English (very
clear understanding and ability to express clearly in this language, both written and
spoken)
- have a good general culture and know the major topical issues of interest to NATO
Those qualifications are cited here ,among others to show the relevant place that
French English translation occupies in the National Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Those few criteria are stated here to show the importance given to translation in such an
organisation.

2.1. The BILC Bureau for International Language Communication

The BILC, established in 1966 is the NATO’s organ in charge of promoting and fostering
interoperability. Its purpose is to support NATO within the field of language proficiency,
language training and education, and language testing. It has been created in response to a
needfor a co-ordination of efforts ; and the name has been choosen at a conference held in
Mannheim, Germany.
The mission of that bureau is to promote and foster interoperability within NATO and pfp
nations by furthering standardization of language training and testing ; and harmonizing
language policy. As the years passed on, BILC responsibilities were expanded and now
include :
 To advice on language proficiency as defined in job description
 Train language teacher and coordinate language tests
After its implementation, the first challenge of the BILC was to define an appropriate
level of language for operational purposes.(Monhagan 2012) then underlines the questions

1
• NATO – News : L’OTAN signe un accord de cooperation avec l’ISIT dans le domaine de la
traduction.(2018) Retrieved on 25/11/2021 from
https://www.nato.int/cps/fr/natohq/news_151274.html_selectedLocaly.

8
asked to anwer to that prior preoccupation : « What was appropriate, how could it be defined,
and, more importantly, how could it be accurately and appropriately measured? Could the
same definitions be applied to all languages; could the same measurement tools be used ? »
After analysing the different linguistic skills required in language learning process, that is
Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking ; linguistic scholars from member countries such as
Canada and USA began to work on that issue so that in the 1960s and 1970s they came out
with concrete propositions.
« The Canadian Public Service had been obliged to define adequate proficiency
in both English and French, and to develop reliable assessment instruments »
« the US had been developing definitions of linguistic proficiency and
assessment instruments for foreign languages. » (Monhagan 2012)
Both propositions, submitted to the BILC and implemented, gave birth to STANAG 6001 in
1978.

2.2. The STANAG 6001 Language Certification

« The Standard Agreement Language Proficiency level is the language proficiency

scale used throughout NATO, but it is not widely known or recognized outside the
alliance. » BILC : (2018 :4)
As early said, it is an agreement of NATO members on language standard taught and
spoken by any of them . They agree to adopt STANAG 6001 for the purpose of :
« - Communicating language requirements for international staff appointments.
- Recording and reporting in international correspondence, measures of language
proficiency
- Comparing national standards through a standardized table while preserving each
nation’s right to maintain its own international proficiency standards. » (Stanag6001.com
2021)
The fourth version was implemented and approved in october 2010 by MCJSB
(Military Commitee Joint Standardization Board).
Talking about its organisation and functioning, the STANAG 6001 is constituted of
level descriptors which are guidelines for national language training and testing units.
Those levels are indicators of the language proficiency(an individual’s unrehearsed,
general language communication ability) needed by each worker and member. They
follow the well known language skills already stated above :

9
 • Skill L [CP in French] Listening
• Skill S [EO in French] Speaking
• Skill R [CE in French] Reading
• Skill W [EE in French] Writing

To assess that ability to manage language for each individual, there are six proficiency
levels :
• Level 0 - No proficiency
• Level 1 - Survival
• Level 2 - Functional
• Level 3 - Professional
• Level 4 - Expert
• Level 5 - Highly-articulate native
« The levels are used to identify language training and assessment requirements of
troop contributing nations for NATO operations, and for staffing international
headquarters. They are also used to identify minimal language standards set by NATO’s
International Staff for nations wishing to contribute to NATO operations, or to engage
themselves with NATO in other capacities. » (Monaghan 2012)
The STANAG 6001 functioning is then explained to NATO linguistic professionals of each
member country, during conferences. They are trained to teach it and then they can assess the
program in their various linguistic laboratories to NATO’s civile and military workers of each
country. Monaghan (2012) states that : « BILC teams are regularly invited to advise nations
on the management and design of military language programs in order to meet NATO
language requirements defined by the International Staff, or by the International Military
Staff .»
The current version of the STANAG 6001 is the sixth, which have been implemented
since February 2019.

10
11
 CHAPTER THREE : NATO LANGUAGE CHALLENGES

As a politico-military organisation with the mission to maintain peace and protect its
member countries, communication, and then language is at the center of NATO interventions.
The particular jargon used is the military one. Each member states organise language
evaluation among its professionals military, based on the STANAG 1006 criteria ; only those
who succeed are admited to participate in NATO in and out door interventions.
Although NATO operations icluding different countries troops are always for military
purposes, the STANAG 6001 is not designed according to military vocabulary, but to a
general one. It is then not easy to know if a soldier who succeed to that program can
efficiently communicate with others in an army context.
Secondly, the NATO’s joint analysis center in Naples remarks that language is a major
shortfall in the organisation because of the usage of non-standard English by non-native
speakers as well as the natives during international operations.
Those are the two major lacks identified.

12
 GENERAL CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, this work presented the different ways through which bilingualism is
implemented in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. It then came out with the following
results :
NATO bilingualism is mainly focused on French/English, with a preference for English.
NATO possess a translation service with a rigorous recruitment policy, in order to produce
valuable documents, to be used in international works.
NATO bureau of International Language Coordination has the responsibility to establish a
linguistic norm for all the participants in NATO operations, be they civile or military servants.
Then, the linguistic policy in vigour for NATO’s operations is STANAG 6001, put in place in
order to harmonise soldiers and civile standard language and final recruitment.
After those facts, we can conclude that as an international organisation with a majority
of European countries, NATO’s relation to language is well organised and in continuous
implementation because of professional work and funds avalaibility.

13
 REFERENCES

 A Short History of NATO. Retrieved on 30/11/2021 from

https://www.wikipedia/nato.com.
 BILC. About US. (2021). Retrieved on 30/11/2021 from
https://natobilc.org/en/info/about-us/.
 BILC BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE CO-ORDINATION.(2017).
BILC POLICY RECOMMENDATION on the Portability of STANAG 6001 Language
Certifications.
 Capacity Language building in NATO. Joint Air Power Competence Center. Retrieved
on 03/12/2021 on https://www.japcc.org/capacity-langauage-building-in-nato.
 Ekrem Solak.(2013).NATO Stanag Language Proficiency Levels for Joint Missions
and Its Implementations at a State Organization. Savunma Bilimleri Dergisi The
Journal of DefenseSciences Mayıs/May 2013, Cilt/Volume 12, Sayı/Issue 1, 71-90.
ISSN: 1303-6831.
 Hurajovà, A. & Kral’ovicovà D.(2016). A case study of infant intentional bilingual
acquisition.International Scientific and Practical Conference ‘WORLD SCIENCE’. N°
10(14), vol 5.
 Leticia B. and Samantha C.(2020) OFFRE D’EMPLOI : TRADUCTEUR JUNIOR À
L’OTAN. Université de Genève, Faculté de Traduction et d’Interprétation.
Coordination des stages stages-fti@unige.ch. Code : 2020-06-03A OTAN-FR.
 Monaghan Rick.(2012) Language and Interoperability in NATO: The Bureau for
International Language Co-ordination (BILC). http//:www.nato.org.
 NATO- : A common language for NATO and its partners, 19-Nov.-2015. Retrieved on
11/12/2021 from https://www.nato.inc/cps/en/natohq/news_125041.htm.
 NATO – News : L’OTAN signe un accord de cooperation avec l’ISIT dans le domaine
de la traduction.(2018) Retrieved on 25/11/2021 from
https://www.nato.int/cps/fr/natohq/news_151274.html_selectedLocaly.
 STANAG 6001- military English exams. (2021)
https://www.stanag6001.com/languages/.

 Wald, B.(1974). Bilingualism.The Annual Review of Anthropology, vol.3, Annual

Reviews, 1974, pp. 301-21, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2949293.
 What is Nato ? Retrieved on 05/12/2021 on https://www.nato.int.

14