The ‘revelation’ this week that the Scottish Parliament’s annual report is to be translated into Gaelic using a translation company based in India was met with derision in many parts of the Scottish media (see here) and some might say the reaction was fully justified.

After all, Alex Salmond has been banging on about supporting Scottish business for years and, as crusaders in the fight for Scottish independence, it does smack just a little of hypocrisy to be outsourcing business to the other side of the world.

But it's worth looking at the details a little closer. Firstly, it seems that the Scottish Parliament has a contract with a UK company to produce certain publications and it was this company that made the decision to use an Indian translation company.

Furthermore, there are tendering processes and regulations to follow. As much as Lingo24 would have loved to have been involved in the Gaelic translation of the Scottish Parliament’s annual report, we know it’s not simply a case of saying ‘right, let’s use the first local translation company we find in the Yellow Pages’. There are a whole host of complexities that must be considered.

It was a huge relief to discover that the translation company in India used native Gaelic speaking translators living in Scotland; though Scotland to India and back to Scotland does seem like a bit of a detour.

There is another underlying concern here too that is less about the Scottish Parliament using a translation company in India than it is about the price they supposedly paid for the translation. Some serious quality issues are raised if the 6p a word figure is accurate, as it’s difficult to see how the translation company even broke even on this, let alone made a profit; so, a little scepticism with regards to the quoted figure would be wise.

The life of a politician isn’t an easy one. In many cases, they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t and the old adage ‘you can’t please all the people all the time’ certainly rings true. But the fact remains that they were producing a document for the Scottish people in a language that is only spoken to any real degree in Scotland. So why send it to a company in India? It just doesn’t make sense.