In 2005, TQ won a contract with the MOD's Operational Training and Advisory Group (OPTAG) to assist in preparing troops for overseas missions. The contract, which is managed by TQ's translation and interpreting company, Multi Lingua Translation Bureau, involves the provision of cultural trainers, language instructors, interpreters and role play facilitators to carry out language and culture training for Iraq, Afghanistan and other regions as the need arises. Training is carried out on MOD bases in the UK, Germany, Cyprus and Brunei. This element of the training is seen as vital for ensuring the successful deployment of troops into overseas theatres.
The training provided by Multi Lingua is two-fold. The first part enables MOD personnel to operate in different cultures without causing offence through cultural misunderstandings. The second part involves the provision of native speaking facilitators to act out roles in a variety of battle training exercises, thus providing MOD personnel with realistic scenarios in preparation for engagement. The project involves recruiting and managing up to 100 personnel per week from various language and cultural backgrounds, and coordinating all their travel, accommodation and subsistence requirements, as well as carrying out regular quality control visits to the training sites.
Feedback from the customer rates TQ's services highly on all of the exercises completed so far. From other MOD contracts TQ has developed a good working relationship with military personnel, understands the military ethos required in the training and has earnestly sought to provide this.
