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Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

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Heritage Speakers*/Civilian-Acquired Skills<br />

Advantages:<br />

• Available on short notice for local languages and dialects<br />

• Shorter training pipeline<br />

• Experience in language from birth<br />

• Knowledge of culture<br />

Disadvantages:<br />

• Varying literacy levels in English and/or target language<br />

• Lack of quality translates into intelligence gaps<br />

• May not qualify for clearances<br />

• Not enough volunteers of military age/fitness literate in target language<br />

* Porter uses the term “heritage-speaker” to describe individuals whose<br />

foreign language skills were attained through having been born and raised<br />

abroad and/or growing up in a family where a language other than English<br />

was spoken.<br />

Translation Using Computer Technology<br />

Advantages:<br />

• Powerful tool for educated and experienced linguists<br />

• Powerful tool for experienced educators<br />

• Powerful potential for sustaining linguists in the field<br />

Disadvantages:<br />

• Machine translation is inaccurate<br />

• Programming is time consuming and costly<br />

• Programming fails with low-literacy languages (e.g., Pashtu<br />

or Baluchi)<br />

• Easily fooled by code terminology<br />

• Cannot teach, must be used by experienced educator<br />

- Reliant on programming by experienced linguists<br />

- Cannot replace humans<br />

Porter also notes that the U.S. has never had sufficient foreign language<br />

capabilities to meet wartime requirements. He recommends creating a joint<br />

243

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