Lost in translation

Back in December 2007, Home Office Local Government minister Hazel Blears urged councils to spend less on translation. In February 2008, she said learning English must be an "absolute priority" for migrants to the UK.

Yet in 2008-09, the Home Office spent £67.9 million on translation.

Either ministers aren't in control of their own bureaucracies. Or they take us for fools. Or both.

You can't trust a word this government says.

Posted on 12 March 2010 by Douglas Carswell

Comments

I'd have some sympathy for that point of view, were it not for the fact in that in December 2007 Hazel Blears was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and not Home Office minister, and thus could have had no control over Home Office spending in 2008-09.

Posted on 12 March 2010 10:19 by Joe

Exactly when was Hazel defenestrated?
Bearing in mind both the increase in immigrants from all over the worls, plus this governments subordination to focus groups. Why am I not surprised?

Posted on 12 March 2010 11:00 by Grumpy Old Man

Has the Home Office spent less (after inflation) in 08-09 than 07-08 on translation?

You haven't given the 07-08 figures.

For the record, I agree with your view, but we have to show we're saints with numbers, although compared to Brown, I guess this isn't hard!

Posted on 12 March 2010 11:13 by Richard Manns

At a figure of about 20p/word, assuming that these are moderately obscure languages (French would be cheaper...), that would be something like 300-350m words.

That's the full text of about 7 Encyclopaedias Britannica, or 450 bibles. Per year.

Posted on 12 March 2010 13:58 by Russ Williams

Slightly off topic, but there is a recruitment agency in Ipswich and outside on a board, all their vacancies are advertised in Polish only. How discriminatory is that!

Posted on 12 March 2010 18:08 by John Whitehead

Douglas wrote, "You can't trust a word this government says."


Why should the Elecorate trust ANY UK Politician?

Posted on 13 March 2010 08:58 by Eric of Walton

Another off topic
Take a look at
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/03/12/240586/MPs-let-copyright-owners-write-the-law-on-internet-file.htm

should the BPI be allowed to draft the law on internet file sharing?

Posted on 13 March 2010 09:00 by David Bagshaw

As I have frequently observed, once the civil service or local government starts to do something, it is virtually impossible to stop them!
The only solution would be to make it illegal for anyone to use public money to publish any document in any language other than the official languages of this country, which I understand are English and Welsh. The same should apply to all the translation services provided by hospitals, courts, etc. No other country does this, why should we?

Incidentally, when a friend of mine had to live in Germany because of his work, he wanted his children to go to a local school, but they were refused admission on the grounds of insufficient knowledge of the German language. And this is and EU country! Shouldn't we do the same?

Posted on 13 March 2010 10:44 by English Pensioner

And most of the money goes into the pockets of immigrants with a fair command of English, after all, where else will you find people who can translate the 160 odd (very odd) languages now found in Britain. No speaka da lingo? Then get back to where you came from. Save ourselves a heap of money- and a heap of problems.

Posted on 14 March 2010 10:24 by David Harcombe

I think they need to employ some translators working the other way too, so that central government can understand what the people are saying instead of just ignoring us.

Posted on 15 March 2010 09:41 by David Hough

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