Interpreter Officer

An interpreter officer is a commissioned officer of an armed force, who interprets and/or translates to facilitate military operation. Interpreter officers are used extensively in multinational operations in which two or more countries that do not share a common language are undertaking a joint operation, or expeditionary missions in which the communication with the local population is crucial but limited by lack of language proficiency among the expeditionary force personnel. Interpreter officers also work in the intelligence gathering and analysis though in many countries, civilian analysts are used instead of the officers in active duty.

Famous quotes containing the words interpreter and/or officer:

    For man is but the servant and interpreter of nature: what he does and what he knows is only what he has observed of nature’s order in fact or in thought; beyond this he knows nothing and can do nothing.
    Francis Bacon (1560–1626)

    When Prince William [later King William IV] was at Cork in 1787, an old officer ... dined with him, and happened to say he had been forty years in the service. The Prince with a sneer asked what he had learnt in those forty years. The old gentleman justly offended, said, “Sir, I have learnt, when I am no longer fit to fight, to make as good a retreat as I can” —and walked out of the room.
    Horace Walpole (1717–1797)