MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- A team of 12 service members, 10 of which are Language Enabled Airman Program Scholars, translated 46 pages of Joint Publication 5-0 (Joint Planning) from English into Ukrainian. The publication covers the Joint Planning Process that the U.S. Military is helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine adopt.
LEAP Scholar Maj. Dmitry Masharin was the team lead for this project, and he helped organize everyone, virtually breaking down the document piece-by-piece for translation. He said LEAP helps him keep his language skills sharp.
“This particular project was very challenging not only to those that acquired Ukrainian language as a part of their studies but also to the native speakers. The challenge of translation of highly technical documents is not only the understanding of specific jargon of the target language but also understanding the jargon and the meaning behind the words and phrases of the host language. For example, some innocuous phrase, which makes sense in regular vernacular, may mean something different in ‘military speak.’ Nonetheless, with a significant amount of editing and re-editing, we were able to translate the document with minimal loss of tone and the spirit of the writing while maintaining the accuracy of the information. I hope this document will serve Ukrainian military leaders well, and they get the additional information they can use to further transition out of the Soviet model of Joint and interagency planning and coordination,” Maj. Masharin said.
LEAP Scholar Master Sgt. Igor Pogrebnyak was also part of the team and speaks Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish and English. The team worked together virtually to translate two chapters of the document that will ultimately help the U.S. to achieve its objectives in Ukraine.
“The publication was broken down into separate parts, and we were tasked with translating different portions of the document. I think it was pretty organized, and I was happy to help,” Pogrebnyak said.
The LEAP Scholars participated in this translation project through the Air Force Culture and Language Center’s Training Partnership Request method by supporting the Office of Defense Cooperation-Kyiv and the Doctrine and Education Advisory Group. For more information about AFCLC’s TPR method, visit our website at https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/AFCLC/ and click the “Language Support Request” button in the menu bar on the right. This is a CAC-access website.