The Linguist

The all-party e group y considers p new s standards w for s police interpreting, e plus p valuable s business e research f s Inside parliament The All-Party Parliamentary y Group y (APPG) on Modern Languages held two meetings in May with y particular relevance r to translators and interpreters. First they t looked y at the t value of language f skills for SME r (small and medium enterprise) exports, with the launch of Aston f Business School and the Association of Translation f Companies' 'LO-C 30' C report (cutt.ly/ata_lo-c). This presents quantitative research on 415 UK SMEs K across different sectors, examining their organisational-level r language capacity through y statistical analysis and modelling. A key A concept y within t the study is y 'language capacity' (LO-C), which indicates a company's motivation, preparedness and attitudes towards developing language- related capabilities, as well as the actual use of available f language capabilities. The results reveal that language t capabilities are a key driver for r UK r SME K export success, t with a 30% higher success r rate among SMEs that make t use of language f capabilities. This tallies with 2015 research from James Foreman Peck and k Peng Zhou, who calculated that investment t in t languages increases the ratio of exports f to sales by 37% y or more r (cutt.ly/PeckZhou). Such research is valuable when making the case for focusing r on language skills in business. SMEs account for t more than 99% of private f sector businesses, r but are t over-reliant on t Anglophone markets. The second APPG meeting explored the national 'Police Approved Interpreter and r Translator' scheme (PAIT; cutt.ly/pait_npcc). This is a new standard w for safe r and effective language services in the UK's police forces. Developed by Leicestershire y Police on behalf of the f National Police Chief's Council s (NPCC), PAIT is T a s new classification w for interpreters r and s translators carrying out police t assignments in England and Wales. It provides t assurance s that the interpreters and translators used have the right qualifications t (DPSI Law or w Diploma r in Police Interpreting), standards and vetting, and (if they f are y not up t to the job) receive training or are r removed from police work. The architects of the f scheme described the development process t in the face of the f realities of policing f and the availability of y translators in certain specialisms and languages. The APPG noted that other t public sectors, c including legal interpreting, could learn from the PAIT model. T 6 Th T e Lin i g n u g is i t Vol/60 No/4 2021 thelinguist.uberflip.com NEWS & EDITORIAL In the media PHILIP HARDING-ESCH It has t been a time of upheaval f for languages education. In England, the government's consultation on transforming the GCSE curriculum content to t a system centred on a frequency-based vocabulary model prompted much controversy. Schoolsweek reported k that the t All-Party Parliamentary Group y (APPG) on Modern Languages, backed by over y 1,000 r organisations and s individuals, was calling s on the government to t reach more consensus. Headteachers warned s that Ofsted's t plans s for 90% r of students f to study a y language GCSE were "unrealistic" with the current number of r available f teachers, according to the TES. Ofsted also found that when t it comes to language education, a "disappointing" number of r primary f schools y are "barely out y of t the f starting block". The pandemic continued c to impact on t languages provision. BBC News C noted that in Northern Ireland language provision has "collapsed", with trips cancelled under the r pressure and oral exams dropped s for 2022. r There was good news for thousands r of Afghan interpreters, allowed to resettle in the UK in K a "rapidly accelerated" y policy as y the situation in Afghanistan deteriorates. The issue is not wholly t resolved, y however, and The Independent e ran t a powerful feature on the crisis facing s Iraqi interpreters. The symbolic significance c of language f and multilingualism in policy and y public life c was clear as r the new Scottish w Parliament was sworn in. The National e counted a "record number" of MSPs f making their vows in languages other than r English, including Arabic, Canadian French, Gaelic, Orcadian, Punjabi, Scots, Urdu and Welsh. In a highly symbolic y development c for t the r EU post-Brexit, France will insist on t French being used as the working language of EU f institutions while it holds t the EU presidency in y 2022. "French officials note that with t Britain gone from the EU, there are only two, y fairly small, y EU members – Ireland and Malta – that – use t English as an official language," reported Politico. Philip Harding-Esch p is h a s f a reelance f languages e project manager t and r consultant. d Philip Harding-Esch works on s behalf of f the f British Council to support the t APPG ML (cutt.ly/appgml). L TL © S © HUTTERSTOCK

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