City council spends £200k on translators

[Hillpig 10]

I speak Burmese, Rohingya fluently, I also have a little Shan and conversational Mon. If ever verbal translation is required I can do it. I am not fluent in Burmese written languages.

[boyfriday 21]

I'd hardly call 7th worldwide a minority would you ?

 

Well that doesn't really tell me very much without knowing the % of the total asylum population being 7th in the league table represents. The country at the top of the list could take 99% of all refugees.

 

According to the United Nations refugee agency, developing countries hosted 4/5ths of the world's refugees in 2011, that sounds to me like the UK takes a minority of refugees even if we took all of the remainder (which we don't). http://www.unhcr.org.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/Global_Trends.pdf

[truman 10]

Well that doesn't really tell me very much without knowing the % of the total asylum population being 7th in the league table represents. The country at the top of the list could take 99% of all refugees.

 

According to the United Nations refugee agency, developing countries hosted 4/5ths of the world's refugees in 2011, that sounds to me like the UK takes a minority of refugees even if we took all of the remainder (which we don't). http://www.unhcr.org.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/Global_Trends.pdf

 

Are all refugees asylum seekers?Aren't they 2 separate groups..? According to the UNHCR we are 5th in the world for asylum applications..

 

http://www.unhcr.org.uk/about-us/the-uk-and-asylum.html

Edited April 15, 2013 by truman

[boyfriday 21]

Are all refugees asylum seekers?Aren't they 2 separate groups..? According to the UNHCR we are 5th in the world for asylum applications..

 

http://www.unhcr.org.uk/about-us/the-uk-and-asylum.html

 

That may or may not be so, but it doesn't address my point that our position in a league table doesn't have any relevance to my claim that we take in a minority of the world's asylum seekers (or refugees).

[truman 10]

That may or may not be so, but it doesn't address my point that our position in a league table doesn't have any relevance to my claim that we take in a minority of the world's asylum seekers (or refugees).

 

Depends how you use stats..the USA has the largest number of asylum seekers..83,400 but a pop. of around 314 million...we have 27,400 asylum applications and a pop. of around 60 million.. so almost double the amount of the USA per capita... (figures from UNHCR) But you need to decide whether you're talking about refugees or asylum seekers..

[boyfriday 21]

Depends how you use stats..the USA has the largest number of asylum seekers..83,400 but a pop. of around 314 million...we have 27,400 asylum applications and a pop. of around 60 million.. so almost double the amount of the USA per capita... (figures from UNHCR) But you need to decide whether you're talking about refugees or asylum seekers..

 

It makes little difference, whether we're talking about asylum seekers or refugees-the UK does not take the majority of either!

 

I'm guessing that asylum seekers/refugees aren't responsible enitrely for the £200k spend on translators either.

[SevenRivers 10]

It makes little difference, whether we're talking about asylum seekers or refugees-the UK does not take the majority of either!

 

I'm guessing that asylum seekers/refugees aren't responsible enitrely for the £200k spend on translators either.

 

Indeed many of them will be economic migrants ie people earning a wage and paying tax - so if translation service is required they should pay for it, or tax them extra to pay for it but that would be unfair on migrants that do learn the language.

[Kidorry 189]

But how do you know who does and doesn't contribute to the system?---------- Post added 15-04-2013 at 09:55 ----------

 

What are you talking about, of course other countries have translaters, under what circumstances they're provided to the impoverished I've no idea.

Have you ever visited Spain? There are many road signs and public service documents printed in English and the native tongue

Perhaps you could produce this 'evidence' so we can discuss it rationally?

 

---------- Post added 15-04-2013 at 10:02 ----------

 

I suppose that's why only a minority of asylum seekers choose the UK as their destination of refuge?

I should have thought by paying that that counted as contributing to the system.

 

---------- Post added 15-04-2013 at 16:51 ----------

 

It makes little difference, whether we're talking about asylum seekers or refugees-the UK does not take the majority of either!

 

I'm guessing that asylum seekers/refugees aren't responsible enitrely for the £200k spend on translators either.

A lot of it goes on people who have been here a few years and not bothered to learn the language and if you want proof of this,as you always insist on,take a trip to any hospital.

[boyfriday 21]

A lot of it goes on people who have been here a few years and not bothered to learn the language and if you want proof of this,as you always insist on,take a trip to any hospital.

 

But visiting a hospital tells me nothing about the people who are patients there or their status.

 

Even if I encountered someone in need of translation services it's unlikely they'd reveal to me how long they'd been in the country or what their background is.

 

It's unlikely the foreigners you see in hospital waiting rooms in receipt of translation services are the same ones you saw yesterday, or last week or last year..the only thing they have in common is that they 'look' like foreigners..whatever that might mean, it doesn't mean they don't speak English or aren't taxpayers.

[MaggieMo 10]

I feel sorry for the deaf people of this country, its really difficult to get a BSL (british sign language) translator when they need one

[ricgem2002 11]

Why not have the documents translated by volunteers from the foreign country.

It would be a gesture of helping their fellow newcomers to this country who can not speak the language.

maybe they should do it on a workfare scheme

[retep 68]

Depends how you use stats..the USA has the largest number of asylum seekers..83,400 but a pop. of around 314 million...we have 27,400 asylum applications and a pop. of around 60 million.. so almost double the amount of the USA per capita... (figures from UNHCR) But you need to decide whether you're talking about refugees or asylum seekers..

 

We also have a couple of hundred thousand running around loose.