Originally Posted by boris116

How do they communicate with the rest of the Army?
Is it mandatory for the officers to know both languages?

If you are a Finnish 0fficer, can you give an order to the Swedish batallion's member in Finnish and get a reply: 'I don't understand your language'?

As far as I know, and I am by no means an expert on the matter is that the officers adapt.
If you are a Finnish speaking officer and you want to command a Swedish speaking company, battalion, brigade you will have to do so in Swedish.
Easier to have one officer learn swedish then a brigade finnish.
In any case, your adjutant will be bilingual and can translate any order you give to the preferred language.
There are usually alot of men in each unit that speaks both languages anyway so.

We may call it a hindrence, but you must remember that this practice worked very well for the Finns during both the winter and continuation war.
Most of the Swedish officers that volunteered commanded Finnish troops from the Swedish speaking parts of Finland thus no problems with the languages.

//KJ.

Also depends on the local culture.
If they have a long history and experience with dealing with two or more languages, generally they have ways to get around the problem like KJ said.
But try that stuff in a place like Korea and it's a certain disaster.
Heck, the French Foreign Legion has several languages within its ranks but still functions without major problems.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

Also depends on the local culture.
If they have a long history and experience with dealing with two or more languages, generally they have ways to get around the problem like KJ said.
But try that stuff in a place like Korea and it's a certain disaster.
Heck, the French Foreign Legion has several languages within its ranks but still functions without major problems.

It is completely different!
French Legion recognizes one and only one language - French!
It doesn't care what other languages you speak - unless there is a need to interrogate someone)

Yes I know the only official language in it is French but there are many languages within the Legion. They solve the problem by making sure everyone (eventually) speaks French.

Originally Posted by boris116

Phoenix,

could you, please, elaborate on this?

Oh sure...

Belgium is a country where Flemmish and French are spoken languages.

The Flemmish also dislike the french Belgians even until today and the orders given by the French officers to Flemmish soldiers were disobeyed just because they were in French. I heard it from a friend of mine in Dutch military. Let me see if I can find a better documented source on this as well

There you go

More importantly, the experiences of the Dutch-speaking soldiers on the front led by French speaking officers catalyzed Flemish emancipation. Their suffering is still remembered by Flemish organizations during the yearly Yser pilgrimage and Wake of the Yser (the latter associated with Right wing extremists) in Diksmuide at the monument of The Yser tower.

The French speaking Belgians of the southern region are called Walloons. The other French speakers are the Belgians from Brussels, but they are not Walloon. In most cases their last names are Flemish but their first names are French... mostly because back in the old days French was the "international" language of Europe and Brussels being a big city needed to follow suit. At least this did play a large role... and its proximity to Wallonia no doubt helped. (i.e. Jean Claude Van Damme... French first name, Flemish surname)
And yes
They HATE each other.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

The French speaking Belgians of the southern region are called Walloons. The other French speakers are the Belgians from Brussels, but they are not Walloon. In most cases their last names are Flemish but their first names are French... mostly because back in the old days French was the "international" language of Europe and Brussels being a big city needed to follow suit. At least this did play a large role... and its proximity to Wallonia no doubt helped. (i.e. Jean Claude Van Damme... French first name, Flemish surname)
And yes
They HATE each other.

Ditto!

I also heard when I was in Europe 2 months ago that there is a great chance Belgium would split to two countries...

They've already moved towards federalization some time ago... I used to know quite a few details but I'm having some issues with them now...
It's a good thing both sides are absolutely crap at war or they would have blown themselves to bits by now.
Actually they used to be good in the old days but only against poor African countries with no Air Force.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

They've already moved towards federalization some time ago... I used to know quite a few details but I'm having some issues with them now...
It's a good thing both sides are absolutely crap at war or they would have blown themselves to bits by now.
Actually they used to be good in the old days but only against poor African countries with no Air Force.

Flemish community of that country is well behaved and prosperous! While the French speaking community is having a rough time keeping up with them and also has some "Children abuse" scandals on hand.

Any ways, they have some troops in Afghanistan now. Dont they?