ICONS User Manual: Implementation Issues

Foreign Language

Country-Team Roles
Team Organization
Decision-Making Procedures
Scenario
Position Papers
Communication
Foreign Language
Umpiring
Grade
Facilitation

Although English is the standard language for ICONS simulations, some simulations may support the use of other languages other than English. (In the past, communications have taken place in German, Hebrew, Japanese, and Russian, but French and Spanish are the most common foreign languages supported.) The language component is closely linked to the foreign policy aspect of the simulation in several ways. First, a team might choose to send its messages in a language other than English if the simulation will support communication in that language; for example, the country-team simulating Mexico might send its messages in Spanish. (This is done most commonly when there are several teams that wish to use the same language in the simulation, so that the teams can both send .) Second, if the simulation uses a foreign language, many country-teams will receive messages in foreign languages that the students cannot translate. The need to wait for and depend on translations will have a realistic impact on the flow of negotiations.

If a school wishes to send a message in a language other than its native language, it is strongly recommended that facilitator make sure that a native speaker is available to review the students’ messages to make sure that they are correct and natural in their wording and grammar. The success of the simulation is directly impacted by the quality of the messages sent. If a team relies on a translator with minimal language skills to send its messages, it is possible that those messages will be of such poor quality that the language students who translate them into English will learn very little from their effort.

A commitment to send messages in a foreign language should be taken seriously. If a U.S. institution commits itself to sending messages in Spanish, for example, arrangements are then made for Spanish language students to translate those incoming messages. This implies that language students at institutions participating in that simulation will be taking a Spanish translation course for credit. For an ICONS-related language course to be successful, these translation students must have an adequate amount of work to do throughout the course of the simulation. A country-team that decides to send its messages in Spanish must be prepared to send all of its international exchanges and communiques in Spanish; it cannot send in Spanish only when it is convenient to do so. The ultimate success of the simulation experience requires that faculty facilitators understand the impact of their language-related decisions on other aspects of the simulation.

Ideally, the process of translating the foreign language message into English should occur at your institution. However, this is not always possible. If language proficient students are unavailable, language students at other participating institutions will provide your team with English translations via the network. No institution should opt out of participating in an ICONS simulation because of foreign language constraints.

When foreign language is used, ICONS simulations demonstrate the necessary interplay of diplomacy and language. The imposition of a language "constraint" on participants forces them to confront some of the problems faced by contemporary foreign policy officials. It also introduces students not involved in language study to the cultural nuances manifested in foreign language communications and helps to demonstrate their impact on the foreign policy process.