1 Introduction

Introduced the concept of national language proficiency and its close connection with national security strategy and military strategic needs. American scholars first proposed the concept of national language proficiency in 1993, while Chinese scholars such as Xu Guozhang had been concerned with the issue of military language proficiency as early as the 1970s. Since the 21st century, Chinese scholars have made preliminary achievements in the study of military language abilities, and related research projects and publications have continuously emerged. Beijing Foreign Studies University, National University of Defense Technology, Beijing Language and Culture University and other universities and research institutions have played a leading and exemplary role in this field, launching a number of influential scientific research achievements. The study of military language proficiency has become the most active and prominent specialized field in the research of national language proficiency.

The use of concepts such as military language proficiency and national defense language proficiency

Explored the core concepts in the study of language proficiency in the military field, such as "military language proficiency", "national defense language proficiency", "military language proficiency", etc. It is specifically pointed out that "national defense language ability" is frequently used, but the book "Concepts of Military Linguistics" suggests collectively referring to it as "military language ability" because military activities include national defense activities. The interpretation of the PLA Military Language and the National Defense Law shows that military activities are the upper concept of national defense activities. The US military typically equates defense language proficiency with the military's foreign language proficiency. The Introduction to Military Linguistics provides a preliminary definition of "military language ability", emphasizing that it is a part of a country's language and military capabilities, reflecting the combat effectiveness of the military. Military language proficiency includes common language, minority language, dialect, and foreign language abilities to avoid ambiguity. The definition involves national security strategy and military strategic needs, the manifestation of military combat effectiveness, the development, reserve, and utilization of language resources, as well as the ability to directly implement and guarantee military activities. Military language proficiency can be classified according to language affiliation, structural hierarchy, and expression forms. The chapter encourages the formation of consensus in theoretical research and practical exploration, enriching and developing the research and application of military language abilities.

Military language ability is a special new quality of combat power

Military language proficiency plays a crucial role in modern warfare and is regarded as a special new quality of combat power. It plays an important role in military struggles such as public opinion warfare, psychological warfare, and legal warfare, and its importance is increasing with the development of military intelligence and cognitive warfare. The US Department of Defense considers foreign language expertise as a critical combat capability, emphasizing the consistency between military language proficiency and traditional combat elements. Language resources are indispensable in intelligence information, war mobilization, and combat deployment, and military language talents are an important component of special combat forces. The military language capability is compatible with contemporary innovative combat concepts, such as intelligent warfare and cognitive warfare, among which language intelligence is the core technology of artificial intelligence. In cognitive warfare, language, as a cognitive tool, has a decisive impact on the cognitive attack and defense of both the enemy and us. Military language ability has confrontational, soft killing, and systemic characteristics, and its combat effects are comprehensive, not limited to physical damage.

The Three Level Structure of Military Language Ability

Military language proficiency is a multi-level system that includes national defense language proficiency, military language proficiency, and military language proficiency. National defense language proficiency is at the national level, with the basic function of serving and safeguarding national defense, and is the highest level of military language proficiency. The language proficiency of the military is an important component of its combat effectiveness, involving the execution of diverse military tasks and modernization construction, including the military's native language and foreign language abilities. Military language ability is the individual language ability of soldiers, which is the core element of military language ability, including the ability of soldiers to apply language resources to support operations and other military activities. These capabilities are interrelated in the military field, but differ in their subject matter, corresponding to countries, armies, and individuals respectively.

5 Military Language Resources as Core Elements of Military Language Ability

The elements of military language ability include military language, military language talents, and their organic combination, among which military language resources are the core element. Military language resources include military language ontology resources, military language human resources, and military language technology resources. The ontology resources of military language have specific value according to the needs of military activities, such as the importance of Arabic in the Iraq War. Military language human resources refer to personnel who can master and utilize military language resources, and their definition is closely related to military language resources. Military language technology resources include modern technologies and related databases for processing military language information, which are crucial for the application of language resources in information warfare.

Enhancing military language proficiency requires a close integration of theory and practice

The study of military language proficiency is of great significance to military science and linguistics, as it helps to deepen the theoretical and practical exploration of language proficiency in specific fields and supports the construction of a national language proficiency theoretical system. Research should avoid excessive reliance on foreign concepts, strengthen the study of China's military capability strategic needs and basic conditions, and be in line with the military strategic policies of the new era. The study of military language ontology should cover various language phenomena in the military field, such as resources, applications, ecology, variation, technology, education, talents, capabilities, management, combat readiness, offense and defense, etc. Research should attach importance to the military application capabilities of Chinese, foreign languages, minority languages, and dialects, and enhance the construction of the main working language, command language, and communication language. Military agencies, research institutions, and scholars should improve their military language strategic planning guidance and scientific management level through theoretical research and academic intervention. The preparation of military struggle language has shown results in certain fields, but there is still a need to form a consensus on innovative ideas, pay attention to the Western defense language strategy, strengthen the development of language products, attack and defense tactical training, improve the training of key language talents and the construction of military foreign language talent teams. The research and application of military language intelligence is an important task in enhancing military language capabilities.