Blog feedTranslation costing public £100m
December 14th, 2006More than £100m of public money is spent on translation services in the UK, the BBC reports. Local authorities spend £25m, NHS trusts £55m and the courts £31m on interpreting languages.
Speaking through a translator, a Bangladeshi woman who has lived in the UK for 22 years and does not speak English questioned this spending. She said: ‘When you are trying to help us, you are actually harming. Even before we ask, all we have to do is say hello, they are here with their interpreters. We just sit here doing nothing and we don’t need to speak in English at all.’
The former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, Trevor Phillips, claimed that 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.’
Read the full article on the BBC website.
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