LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

Languages and war

- 12 January 2007

'Foreign Affairs are no longer really foreign. What happens elsewhere increasingly affects us at home' (Jack Straw). This paper argues that there is a (so far) hidden languages history in international events. Using material on wars and occupation from 1943 up to Iraq today, the paper examines how foreign languages have been (and are being) represented in international conflict situations, looking at such questions as: how are participants in a conflict prepared linguistically? What importance do languages have in the process of occupation/regime change? What role do interpreters/translators have 'on the ground'? The paper concludes that the ways in which languages are represented in conflicts are key to our understanding of international relations today, and have important public policy implications.