Get a grip on translations
A few days ago, I read with some interest, of the expenditure of Birmingham City Council on translation services within their Ward. It seems that local residents are up In arms because the amount spent by the council totals some £1 million of council tax payer’s money.
Today, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears, announced that councils should reduce the amount of translations carried out where possible, as the provision of same, actively discouraged people from learning English…to counter this trend, the Government were to cut funding for translation services, she added.
This seems to be a welcome dose of common sense, as blanket provision of translations, indisputably does discourage learning of languages; however, there is something not quite right here.
Councils have always stated from the outset that they were under a mandatory obligation to provide these services and the Government has never discouraged this idea; now the Government seems to be backtracking on this and will, no doubt, soon be distancing themselves from the vast sums that councils have already spent on translation services. So who’s to blame, councils or the Government?
December 7th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
I think that the state needs to educate the public and not just run away from a situation by back pedaling.
Although, I own a translation company I am an advocate of those living in foreign countries learning the language where live. However, during that transition period people need language services and the state should not compromise them. They should also add an education component offering classes to help them integrate and remove the need for language services.