Until recently, the Ukrainian officer ranks were replenished after graduation from higher military institutions by young people who, in addition to professional training, had very limited knowledge of foreign languages. As a rule, one of the three most important languages was studied: English, German, or French. Moreover, without special requirements. The language study program was not extensive and was mostly copied from the one that was once cultivated during the Soviet era.
One vivid, though satirical, example was the Finnish language proficiency of a general in the comedy film «Особенности национальной охоты». The film’s hero in dress trousers “showed off” his knowledge by mechanically rattling off standard memorized phrases from an interrogation of a prisoner of war. And if we do not depart from the anecdotal wave, we can confidently say that if the most ordinary Soviet officer, let alone a cadet, had been captured by the enemy, he would never have been able to reveal all the secrets - he did not know the language.
Today, the situation with learning English in the Ukrainian army has changed radically. Thanks to the spirit of the times and changes in people’s minds, the need to master foreign languages has clearly emerged. A few years ago, the Main Education Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry decided to introduce an extended English course in military higher education institutions based on the British multi-level educational course Headway. Close contact with British colleagues in arms made it possible to initiate a fundamental turnaround in the methods of teaching and mastering the foreign means of communication.
Special assistance in this matter for Ukrainian military personnel began to be provided by the British ministries of defense and foreign affairs. The British Council, which for ten years now has been engaged in developing long-term and mutually beneficial cultural ties between our countries, acts here as the administering body. Currently, the intensive language course “Peacekeeping English” is especially popular among Ukrainian military personnel; it is held in Kyiv and lasts just over three months. It operates within the framework of The Peacekeeping English Project. This project is fully funded by the British side: from conducting initial testing of officers to determine their language level to providing them with the necessary literature. The project in Ukraine is headed by David Pardo, a specialist in teaching English for military personnel. Before that, he worked for four years on an identical project in Russia, Poland, and Spain.
Today, 11 English teaching centers for military personnel operate in Ukraine within the framework of the aforementioned project. The main one is located in Kyiv. In Chernihiv and Sevastopol, in addition to English courses, British information-resource departments were opened last year. All military personnel, without exception, can freely use their literature. This immediately solved two problems: no need to specially buy expensive English books and textbooks, and also you can get a lot of recommendations on how to start or continue studying the language properly. In 2003, it is planned to open another such department, and currently the discussion is underway about where exactly - in Lviv, Kharkiv, or Odesa.
It is also gratifying, the military noted, that the quality of teaching does not depend on the size and geographical location of the training center. Everywhere they teach equally well. Officers, for example, learn to construct phrases competently, express their thoughts, write letters, stories, and reviews on given topics in English, listen to and analyze audio and video recordings, and are periodically tested. At the end of training, the military take an exam where there are no indulgences or opportunities to copy from a neighbor. Everything is strict - you must show exactly your knowledge. The culmination of all efforts is obtaining a certificate, known for its prestige because it is issued by the British Council.
According to project manager David Pardo, they try to select the most highly qualified English teachers for training officers of the Ukrainian army and navy. At the British Council, they regularly conduct special trainings with them and carefully monitor the productivity of each of them. Moreover, they teach not only in specially equipped centers - teachers also make trips to individual military units and warships, on the basis of which peacekeeping units are formed and whose personnel will soon take part in international exercises.
Understanding the importance of learning a foreign language, the leadership of the Ukrainian military department took the step of purposefully seconding selected candidates for training with time off from service. Moreover, for the first time in the history of the state, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine issued an order in which the process of career advancement is directly linked to the level of English proficiency: the higher the rank, the higher the language requirements for the candidate for that position. Perhaps the experience of mastering a foreign means of communication by the Minister of Defense himself, Vladimir Shkidchenko, has an effect. Having started individual lessons with a teacher from the British Council, he, despite his no longer youthful age, managed to study English almost thoroughly. But our minister gave the biggest surprise to his foreign colleagues in Brussels at a meeting of the chiefs of general staffs. For the first time, a Ukrainian general spoke without an interpreter at an international military forum, literally disconcerting NATO leaders and the press.
Similar situations happened with other high-ranking Ukrainian military officers, who also took advantage of the services of British Council teachers and now feel like a fish in water among foreign colleagues.
It seems that soon the need for special training of English translators for the Ukrainian army will disappear altogether - almost every officer or contract soldier will communicate freely in English. Almost every year, about a thousand officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine take an English language course. After completing it, many of them get the opportunity to continue serving in foreign peacekeeping contingents, and this is both very prestigious and highly paid.