Army to teach soldiers foreign languages

The Army will teach its men and women languages such as Urdu, Kashmiri, Mandarin, Burmese and Pastho to facilitate better communication in frontier areas, in order to boost their intelligence capabilities.

The decision to enhance soldiers' linguistic skills is born of growing requirements for better communication and intelligence gathering for counterinsurgency operations in Kashmir and the North East.

Army operations to fight off insurgents in Kashmir and along Myanmar border require jawans to speak and understand local dialects, Army sources said. "Communicating better with locals can provide specific intelligence inputs."

Along with Pastho, another language called Dari which is spoken in Afghanistan is also on the learner's list.

Learning Mandarin is essential considering heavy deployment along the Line of Actual Control and face-offs with Chinese troops. A misunderstanding may escalate problems in the border area.

The idea was discussed at the recently concluded Army Commanders' Conference in Delhi where top military officials discussed ways to enhance capabilities of the force.

"Currently, we depend on interpreters or an individual who has picked up the language on the field for linguistic expertise in counterinsurgency operations. Formal training in some of these languages will be helpful in ground operations," said a source.

The officers are expected to specialise in one of the identified languages. They will be assessed based on conversation, reading, writing and comprehension skills.