Translation help "should be cut"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6738603.stm

Translation help 'should be cut'






The amount of official material being translated by bodies such as councils should be cut to encourage immigrants to learn English, Ruth Kelly has said.

The communities secretary said there were cases - such as in a casualty ward - where translation was necessary.

But, she told the BBC's Politics Show, translation had been "used too frequently and without thought".

Ms Kelly said that learning and using the English language was "key" to helping migrants to integrate.

" It's quite possible for someone to come here from Pakistan and elsewhere in the world and to find that materials are routinely translated into their mother tongue "


Ruth Kelly
Communities secretary



The Commission on Integration and Cohesion, set up in the wake of the London bombings in July 2005, is due to highlight the issue of the volume of material being translated in its report due later this week.

It was set up to look at practical and local ways of encouraging community cohesion.

Ms Kelly said: "I do think translation has been used too frequently and sometimes without thought added to the consequences."

Quit smoking advice translated

She added: "So, for example, it's quite possible for someone to come here from Pakistan and elsewhere in the world and to find that materials are routinely translated into their mother tongue and therefore not have the incentive to learn English."

She said evidence suggested that if someone did not try to learn English in their first six months in the UK, they were unlikely ever to learn the language.

"Translation is a way of helping people in transition into integrating into our society. "


Trevor Phillips
Ex-Commission for Racial Equality chief



More than £100m of public money was spent on translation services in the UK last year, a BBC study last December suggested.

That figure was made up of local authorities spending £25m, NHS trusts £55m and the courts £31m on interpreting

Refuse collection guidelines - in one case into 15 languages - and one-to-one smoking sessions were among the services which have incurred costs because translation was provided.

'Paradox' of integrated terrorists

At the time, Trevor Phillips, ex-head of the Commission for Racial Equality, said the cost of translation was simply a feature of globalisation.

He said: "Translation is not a disincentive. It allows them to get access to services while they learn English. Translation is a way of helping people in transition into integrating into our society."

During her Politics Show interview Ms Kelly also said she favoured local authority funding for community groups to be directed more at community centres designed to bring in the whole community, rather than on providing different centres for different faiths or nationalities.

Ms Kelly accepted there was a "real paradox" in the fact that many young Muslims involved in violence and terrorism were British-born English speakers who appeared to be well integrated.

She said the commission's report was not intended to directly tackle violent behaviour, but she said she hoped its recommendations would help to create a society in which violence and extremism were less tolerated. For the Conservatives, shadow home secretary David Davis pointed out that they had proposed redirecting money from translation services into language lessons. "This is an attempt, albeit overdue, to deal with a very real problem," he said.

 

I can kind of see what they're trying to do...the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it and the culture. However, maybe this is a bit of an extreme way of doing so.

 

Indeed sense at last. With so many immigrants coming in, they should be encouraged to learn English. If we went to their country, they would expect the same. In some countries it is offensive to not learn a few basic words of the local lex.


English isn't the most difficult language in the world. Infact we have a more laid back less rigid formula so you can be a bit lazy on the pronounciations but you would still be understood and it wouldn't matter. Also there are no gender rules. So it is easier still not having to learn which script to stick to and what is masculine and what is feline. English courses would help our immigrants.

 

Aye, we don't have genders, but we do have verb tenses (12 of them) and conditionals and so on... these are the things that make English fairly difficult to learn and to grasp, especially the perfect tenses.

I agree that providing immigrants with English courses would be an effective form of help. They should also be free or at a very reasonable price. When I was living in Japan they provided free Japanese lessons in community centres.

 

They could try the internet for free courses. I think the government are looking at maybe retracting the free course idea.

 

But then, not everybody has access to the internet and therefore would only be a facility for some people and not all.

 

Learning English should of course be encouraged. It is essential to integrating communities. Whether or not this is a sensible step though, I don't know, it might serve to push people further back into their own language groups....

 

Joined-up government strikes again. Earlier this year they announced cuts in funding for ESOL classes. Now they want to force immigrants to learn English by withdrawing translations. Incidentally, British expats aren't particularly renowned for their fluency in the local language, be it Spanish, Dutch, Chichewa or whatever.

 

Yeah, the British are amongst the worst when it comes to learning other languages....

 

Not all of us!:toetap:

 

Yep, all of us, especially you :tongue:

 

Meh! BAKA!

 

Half of the "British" people cant even speak English...just watch Jeremy Kyle. I grew up in a place where nobody spoke English...they kind of just spoke random monosyllables with a few "fuck"s mixed in for good measure and lots of violent hand gestures...

The learning of English should be encouraged, but it needs to be remembered its a difficult language to acquire...and its also worrying that children born and raised here cant form basic sentences

 

wat u sayin bruv? u sying i dn cumpoze teh right swntences?

WDF?

F U!

/\

Your common chav.

^_^

 

Where i like...grew oop like...was more liyak this duck...You talk like fookin...youre fookin spittin everyfin aat yer maaf...n yer ret angry ut everyone. N when you go daarn someones aas (house) you has to fookin punch em innit

"Im going to go to the bakery" : "Goona guw daarn ' bakers"
"Im going to ask mummy for some money so i can buy something": "Goowin t'ask moomeh f'uh mooneh so i can fookin buy soomit"

Like that

 

Aye, that problem is occuring here too. I know first hand becuase I'm almost 18 and I couldn't spell to save my life, and I only know basic basic grammar. I'm constantly spell checking words when posting here. But it's not becuause I didn't want to learn, I was just never taught, I'm getting better, my spelling isn't nearly as bad as it used to be, but grammar for the most part still eludes me.

 

Immigrants need to be encouraged or forced to learn English. That is the only way they will fully intergrate with society. Most English don't know proper English. Perhaps because Grammer schools are fading out. I never went to grammer school.

 

I never went to grammar school either...I had good English teachers though.

 

Yeah cuz like none of those suicide bombers could speak english - innit.
Give us a break Ms kelly .

 

Immigrants should certainly be encouraged to learn English, which is why it's mad that the government planned to cut funding for English-language classes. It's also pretty bonkers that they're encouraging segregation of minority communities by supporting "faith" schools. Do we want to end up like Northern Ireland?