Translation services for immigrants

[pickwick]

So I have a question my google-fu is failing me on - I keep just getting results from the Daily Mail. I have a feeling all the information I want will be on websites in other languages, which isn't that helpful to mostly monolingual me

Comments

[bopeepsheep]

I have seen some official leaflets in English while in France; narenek's parents generally speak French well enough to cope at the hospital/GP etc but I know some of their friends have used translators in emergencies. I am not sure how many other languages they might provide information in, and my hunch is that it isn't as wide a range as it is in the UK but that's partly a social issue - our immigration pool is demonstrably wider than France's, by and large.

[pickwick]

Yeah, true. One of my friends speaks Spanish fluently and does a lot of translation work for the council - some of it is dealing with official delegations and so on, but a lot of it is hospital or court translations for people from Spanish-speaking South American or occasionally African countries, so it will depend very much on where your immigrants are from.

[londonkds]

There are furious right-wing protests in the US about government information sheets and verbal interaction being provided in Spanish, so they must be doing it for that language at least.

[pickwick]

Yeah, I've read about that, I think. Probably connected with rantings about illegal immigrants and things too.

[a_pawson]

In some parts of the US, Spanish is the primary language. We found this in some parts of Florida, particularly around Miami. There were many shops and gas stations where nobody spoke English, I assume because of the large Mexican and Cuban immigrant population.

[pickwick]

Yeah, I can't really think of an analogous situation in Britain for that - Welsh or Gaelic-speaking places are a bit different because they're indigenous languages, I guess.

[luckykaa]

Of course those silly foreigners don't. We do though because we're British and cool like that:P

No, I have no idea if this is true. Still, it does surprise me that people care so much. It's not a huge expense - translators don't get paid that much after all, and that's the only inconvenience I can see to it. On the other hand, if people are entitled to use our medical facilities it seems fair that they should be able to understand what they're being told.

And if they end up in court, they defendant is entitled to a fair trial which may require non English speakers be allowed to speak whether they're the defendant or just witnesses.

[pickwick]

It's amazing what people get outraged about! I've been arguing with people all day about some shopping centre which is thinking about putting in a couple of squatting-type toilets for people who prefer them. A private company choosing what services to provide, and people are still complaining.

And I totally agree, it just seems fair.

[dave_t_lurker]

I have nothing to add to the conversation, but every time I see this icon I get *that* song stuck in my head.

[pickwick]

Sorry!

(...Oh, wait, did that do it again? Oops? ;->)

[anonymous_greg]

I'm not aware of any government supplied translators (Stateside), but here in California government related documents (esp. those related to voting) include translations into several different languages -- primarily Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese (not sure which dialect(s)), to name what I can remember at the moment.

[pickwick]

Interesting, thanks! I don't think British councils would ever think about providing Vietnamese translations, but they do have translation for a variety of Indian and Southern Asian languages, just because of different immigration patterns.

[rwrylsin]

In Australia most government information comes with translation or information on where to get the translated version, or phone for a translator.
It doesn't seem as pervasive as in the UK, but I think it is heading in that direction. It's certainly more standard now than it was a decade ago.

[pickwick]

Ooh, so Australia does have translators too. Cool.