Candidates for NATO standardisation in the Cold War

[Rule of cool]

May I point out that multi-lingualism is closer to the norm in Europe?

Belgium is officially a bi-lingual country (French and Dutch) with a German minority living along the border with Germany.

While serving with NATO, I routinely worked alongside European officers who spoke two or three languages.
As a Canadian I speak English and French. While serving in West Germany, I learned the basics of German and while jumping at the Bundeswehr Luftlande-Lufttransport Schule was assigned as course translator ... mainly because the Quebecouis were too arrogant to converse with the handful of French officers on the course. There was a lot of friction over the notion that France had withdrawn from NATO , but still participated in some military exercises.
Finally, while working in factories in Southern California, I learned the basic of Spanish.

To be honest as an Australian the ability of people with multiple languages seems superhuman to me. As you say, there are plenty of bi and multilingual people so that integration at higher levels within specific areas like NORTHAG is very practical. What I was envisaging is that when you spread your net wider, down to Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey and integration lower like the Brigade level this will likely be stretched too thin. You can speak 2 languages fluently and 2 more to get by, but that isn't going to help you in Greece. A high level of kit might be used by all NATO members, and all the manuals etc translated in different languages but that doesn't mean you can plug a US armoured regiment into a Greek or Norwegian division.

 

[Prophet141]

To be honest as an Australian the ability of people with multiple languages seems superhuman to me.

From my personal experience, anglophonic countries tend to be more monolingual. Both as a result of isolation from other languages (Australia, New Zealand, UK are all islands, US borders one predominantly anglophonic country [but is more bilingual further south, of course], and Canada is only particularly French in certain areas), and I think a certain degree of laziness that comes from English being the international language of choice for business and other matters.