Recording Available
Recorded August 29, 2023
This webinar will provide an overview of how to enhance linguistically and culturally appropriate messaging for the benefit of society at large, for national security, and for heritage and non-English language communities. It will explore ways in which the skills of heritage language speakers can be leveraged to develop and communicate community-specific information in emergencies and situations of critical need.
Additional Resources
The Interagency Working Group on Limited English Proficiency
The Plain Language Action and Information Network
Q&A Updates
During the webinar, we received a question related to the messaging analyzed in Syejeong Kim’s research, which was not always grammatically or culturally appropriate. A participant asked, “Were the translations computer-generated?”
Syejeong Kim: The translations were outsourced to vendors who provide translation service, so there is a chance that the machine translation technology and tools may have been employed in the initial stages, but my understanding is that the final version posted on the website was reviewed by qualified translators.
Another participant asked Pawel Pucilowski, “Does the army still use the Grammar-Translation Method to teach other languages?”
Pawel Pucilowski: I am not aware of this being used as part of the current curriculum. The article at this link, How US Military Linguists Learn Languages Fast, provides a fantastic breakdown of the day-to-day life of soldiers going through initial language acquisition training and what the current learning methodology is.
