1. HOW GOOD DOES MY ENGLISH NEED TO BE TO WORK IN NATO?
Philip D.J. Turner
NATO Manpower & Medals Policy
International Military Staff
NATO HQ
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

2. CURRENT NATO HEADQUARTERS
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

3. NEW NATO HEADQUARTERS EN UIREMENTS FOR NATO New October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

4. NEW NATO HEADQUARTERS
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

5. NATO HQ - SOME FACTS AND FIGURES
ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR NATO APPOINTMENTS
NATO HQ - SOME FACTS AND FIGURES
800 Staff in 6 NATO Co-located Agencies
1,500 Delegation Staff
1,200 International Staff
400 International Military Staff
1,000+ Parakeets
Several litters of cats
Unknown number of rabbits
If vegetarians eat vegetables, then what on earth do humanitarians eat?
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

6. MILITARY COMMITTEE MEETING AT CHIEFS OF DEFENCE LEVEL – SEPTEMBER 2015
ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR NATO APPOINTMENTS
MILITARY COMMITTEE MEETING AT CHIEFS OF DEFENCE LEVEL – SEPTEMBER 2015
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

7. ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR NATO APPOINTMENTS
A woman, without her man, is nothing x
A woman: without her, man is nothing P
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

8. Level 5 – Highly Articulate Native Speaker
ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR NATO APPOINTMENTS
NATO STANDARD LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY LEVELS
– STANAG 6001
Level 1 – Survival
Level 2 – Functional
Level 3 – Professional
Level 4 – Expert
Level 5 – Highly Articulate Native Speaker
A cat has claws at the end of its paws and
a comma is a pause at the end of a clause!
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

9. Number six maybe scared because seven eight nine.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR NATO APPOINTMENTS
FACTORS
The SLP requirements for NATO posts are set without expert scrutiny.
STANAG 6001 is not non-specialist user- friendly.
SLP Level 5 is redundant.
Achieving SLP Levels 3 and 4 is not easy.
Number six maybe scared because seven eight nine.
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

10. SLP REQUIREMENTS IN NATO JOB DESCRIPTIONS - MAY 2010
NCS
ACO
ACT
SLP
% of Posts
4444
0.8%
1.0%
1.9%
4343
6.3%
8.4%
10.3%
3333
41.9%
48.0%
65.7%
3322
29.2%
27.0%
21.3%
2222
21.8%
15.7%
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

11. SLP REQUIREMENTS IN IMS
ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR NATO APPOINTMENTS
SLP REQUIREMENTS IN IMS
JOB DESCRIPTIONS - MAY 2010
level
5555
4444
4343
4333
3333
3332
3231
2222
2220
OF-7/8/9 8
OF-6 1 5
OF-5 71
OF-4
106 30 10
OF-3/2 3 6 9
OR-7/8/9 12
OR-4/5/6 17 4
PERCENT
0.9%
60.4%
11.9%
6.3%
14.5%
2.8%
1.1%
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

12. SLP REQUIREMENTS IN IMS
ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR NATO APPOINTMENTS
SLP REQUIREMENTS IN IMS
JOB DESCRIPTIONS - OCT 2015
level
5555
4444
4343
4333
3333
3332
3322
3231
3222
2222
OF-7/8/9 5 3 
OF-6 1 4 1 
OF-5 37 12 25
OF-4 24 55 69
OF-3/2 3 8
OR-7/8/9 6 2 2 
OR-4/5/6 21 4 
2015 %
0.3%
23.6%
21.8%
5.1%
40.8% 3%
1.5%
1.8%
2010 %
0.9%
60.4%
11.9%
6.3%
14.5%
2.8%
1.1%
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

13. BE AND STILL BE ABLE TO WORK
HOW BAD CAN MY ENGLISH
BE AND STILL BE ABLE TO WORK
IN NATO?
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

14. INFORMAL REPORT ON A WG MEETING
“Because I was attended the AJOD WG meeting yesterday (we were ask as an IMS sponsors for AJP and also the agenda has ITEM which is in our interest).
There is a short report.
There was said after the report of current status of MC 20/11 and AAP 47 that LC is no longer TA for AJP – this was said by MCJSB representative and unfortunately no nation has objection to this. Only Germany and Italy. Pointed that the representative of LC has different opinion and therefore it has to be clarified in order to approve the AAP – 47. Italy and Germany suggested to put single question to the MC or NAC If LC is TA for AJP 4 series. Yes or NO.
It was said that doctrine is for military commanders and no politician (IS) has nothing to do with this. Only military conduct operation and AJP is operational doctrines.
It look like the position of AJOD is solid and there is a big pressure to approved AAP 47 without LC consideration.
I hope that I understand properly as a no native but Col xxxx was also present and maybe he can confirmed this also.
If you have more question to clarify my report I am ready to do it.”
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

15. OF-5 EXECUTIVE OFFICER INPUT
“Please let me to mention first that, as a newcomer (although this is my second tour after 10 years) to NATO HQ, I haven’t seen a folk yet, at least in my division, whose English is worse than mine.
According to my ‘quick’ observation, my first point would be that, the challenges of the Language we face are mostly the level of listening and speaking rather than the comprehension in reading. That said, examining the content of the documents we use / produce doesn’t make that much sense in finding the solutions against the problems we’ve faced. I do think that everyone, regardless of his/her level of command in English, would be able to understand what he reads on papers / s, although the time spent for reaching the aim (understanding) could vary depending on his/her level.
My second point is that, to me, the level of comprehension in listening precede the speaking. Why? Because, I can easily see that everyone, in one way or another, is able to convey his ideas / opinions to the other side provided that he understands the topic / the content of the spoken. From that on, I tend to think that, the level of ‘comprehension in listening’ is the most important one in commanding not only English but also for the other languages as well. Taking into account that more than 25 different accents (Which to put aside: the UK, US, CAN; or all, or some, or only the one??) are spoken here, it becomes, I believe, more and more important than one could think. Moving further, I could argue that, at the end of the day, comprehension in listening could automatically well serve for the command in speaking, as it is the most important factor to trigger the letter.
Comprehension in reading is of course a must but given that everyone in NATO environment has more or less a level in English, it would be better to focus on listening (and conversations / dialogs) in Training Centres on some specific issues given to students beforehand for their reading in an effort to make them ready to listen (and then speak) about it afterwards.”
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

16. IIMS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ASOC
Air Support Operations Centre
ASUW
Anti-Surface Warfare
ASW
Anti-Submarine Warfare
ASZ
Air Safety Zone
ATC
Air Traffic Control
ATM
Air Traffic Management
ATO
Approval To Operate AU
African Union
AWNIS
Allied Warning Navigational Information System BA
Branch Assistant (used in TTE)
BANM
Balkans Aviation Normalisation Meeting BB
Background Briefs BC
Branch Chief (used in TTE)
Budget Committee
BDA
Battle Damage Assessment
BDU
Battle Dress Uniform
BICC
BICES Initial Core Capacity
BICES
Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation System
Bi-SC
(of the Two) Strategic Commands
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

17. AAP-15 NATO Glossary of Abbreviations used in NATO Documents
NATO ACRONYM SOLVERS
AAP-15 NATO Glossary of Abbreviations used in NATO Documents
AAP-6 NATO Glossary of Terms and Definitions (STANAG 3680)
Military Terminology Booklet
A man received a message from his neighbour: “Sorry sir, I am using your wife day and night when you are not at home and certainly much more than you do. I am now feeling very guilty and I hope you will accept my sincere apologies.”
The man got his gun and shot his wife.
A few minutes later, the man received another message:
“Sorry sir, spelling mistake: I meant Wifi, not Wife”
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED

18. ANY QUESTIONS?
October 2015
NATO UNCLASSIFIED