Taking it all too far?
Birmingham City Council came under fire and was accused of wasting public money yesterday for spending £1 million on translators for immigrants and asylum seekers within their Ward.
The Council, whose area contains a large ethnic population, stated that they had a statutory duty to provide services for asylum seekers and immigrants and thus to provide translation services as part and parcel of that package as many of the aforementioned, did not speak English.
Detractors have countered with the argument that whilst it may be incumbent upon the Council to provide equal access to actual services, it is not a statutory obligation to provide translation. Likewise, they argue that the easy provision of translation services actually discourages people from learning English.
The list of languages catered for by Birmingham Council is certainly diverse and covers such languages as Twi, Amharic, Shona, Lingala, Mirpuri, Pushto and Swahili; somewhat surprisingly even Welsh and Gaelic are catered for.
Many of the good folk of Birmingham are questioning whether such a diverse range of languages should be catered for, or even whether any translation services should be provided at all. Many also find themselves asking why anyone would even consider translation provision for Welsh and Gaelic speakers…opinions anyone?