The Roman Army in Detail: Fluent in both languages - interpreters in the Roman army (original) (raw)

‘Interpreting’ at Vindolanda: Commercial and Linguistic Mediation in the Roman Army

Britannia, 2012

A fragmentary tablet from Vindolanda (Tab. Vindol. II, 213) contains an occurrence of the verb interpretari ('interpret', 'explain', 'mediate') in an apparently commercial context, relating to the grain supply for the Roman fort. This usage is paralleled in a text on a wooden stilus tablet from Frisia in the Netherlands. 'Interpreters' and their activities make rather infrequent appearances in the Latin epigraphic and documentary records. In the Danubian provinces, interpreters (interpretes) are attested as army officers and officials in the office of the provincial governor. 'Interpreters', in both Latin and Greek inscriptions and papyri, often, however, play more ambiguous roles, not always connected with language-mediation, but also, or instead, with mediation in commercial transactions.

Learning Latin in the Roman Army

A. Mullen (ed.), Social Factors in the Latinization of the Roman West. Oxford University Press., 2023

Although this chapter, contrary to some recently expressed views, accepts that Latin was the official language of the Roman army, it challenges the common view that soldiers and veterans were key vectors of linguistic change in the provinces of the Roman Empire. The argument is based mainly on the demographic realities in the provinces, in which, numerically, soldiers and veterans made up far too small a proportion of the population to have had a notable impact on the spreading of Latin into non-Latin-speaking communities. Moreover, at the level of the rank and file, service in the army required only a basic knowledge of Latin. Non-native speakers of Latin therefore needed to acquire advanced levels of the language of the Romans only if they intended to advance to higher ranks. Finally, a significant number of auxiliary veterans returned to their former homes after discharge and used their native tongue when communicating with the local population. Hence, such veterans hardly contributed to the diffusion of Latin in the provinces. The Roman army, therefore, does not emerge as a major agent in the spreading of Latin in the Western provinces.

Language use in the Roman Army

Scienze dell’Antichità, , 2021

NB The full paper will be uploaded in September 2022 when the six month embargo expires. Various aspects of communication in the Roman Army are dealt with in the paper, from gestures and prossemics to bureaucracy, address forms, politeness

The Linguistic Impact of the Roman Army in the Province of Moesia Inferior

Lucrețiu Mihailescu-Bîrliba, Wolfgang Spickermann (eds.), Roman Army and Local Society in the Limes Provinces of the Roman Empire Papers of an International Conference, Iași, June 4th-6th, 2018, 2019

The authors present the main elements of the linguistic impact of the Roman army in Moesia Inferior. It is relevant for this topic to make a classification of the different types of linguistic contacts: case, accidental vs. permanent; external vs. internal; natural vs. artificial; marginal/border vs. intraregional (including of the enclaves speaking another language); direct vs. mediated; non-mediated vs. remote; popular vs. cultic. The current paper proposes to have an approach based on the general research directions regarding the role of legions and Roman auxiliary military units in the linguistic romanisation of Moesia Inferior.

MILITARY INTERPRETER’S GENERAL COMPETENCIES

One of the tasks of the theory of military translation is the development of theoretical foundation for the military interpreter’s professional competence, which includes integral, general and special competencies. The military interpreter’s general competences are universal abilities, skills and capacities that do not depend on the subject area, but are important for his/her further professional and social activity and personal development. They represent a synthesis of the general competencies of the officer – a tactical level combat service support military professional, and the general competencies of the civilian interpreter – a professional in the field of philology, linguistics, translation and interpretation. The military interpreter’s general competencies are instrumental in accomplishing the tasks of the linguistic support for forces under normal and extreme conditions of military service.

Living at the Level of the Word: Cicero's rejection of the interpreter as translator

This article argues that Cicero's rejection of the interpreter as a literal translator was not just a rejection of a particular style of translation but an attempt to keep translation of Greek literature in Rome an elite activity. I discuss the social status and role of Roman interpreters and their repeated association with limited education in our sources, finally concluding that the interpreter is despised as a translator by Cicero not necessarily because he translates literally, but because he is a potential rival translator from a lower social rank who may allow the spread of inappropriate translations of Greek material to Rome.