Translation and war

The requirement for translation is inherent in warfare, since, with the exception of civil wars, most wars are fought between countries that speak and write in different languages. Every stage of warfare depends on gathering and exchanging information, whether in preparation for conflict, in engagement with combatants and non-combatants, or in managing the transition to peace. Consequently, translation is crucial to ensuring that information is intelligible to those who need to understand it. Translation also attempts to reduce the ‘want of trustworthiness’ that Clausewitz saw as bedevilling all information in war (Clausewitz 1968: 162).