The Linguist

Public sector language services gain support "Taxpayers billed £100m for NHS translators – could pay for 3,000 nurses" proclaimed a recent Daily Express headline. This narrative is not new. For many years there has been an argument that language services in the public sector are unnecessarily expensive, or even detrimental. A decade ago, councils were tasked with reducing their translation services because, according to the Communities Secretary at the time, they waste money and reduce incentives to learn English. But the narrative appears to be shifting in the UK. A new report by the Welsh Senedd's Equality and Social Justice Committee considers the case of a woman whose cancer was missed because she relied on her son to interpret. It recommends that translators are provided to enable timely diagnosis, and that similar issues are addressed in education and criminal justice. The committee also makes a direct link to systemic racial inequalities and calls for language services to be included as part of the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan. This echoes concerns raised by the All- Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Modern Languages in its submission to the Covid-19 Inquiry. Inequalities of outcomes are linked to inadequate translations of key messaging and treatments, poor public health communication, and key services such as Track and Trace being English-only. The language sector has been organising to make the case. In October, Professional Interpreters for Justice (PI4J), an umbrella organisation which includes CIOL and the Association of Translation Companies, launched a 'Working Together' white paper. It lists ten recommendations for tackling immediate challenges around procurement and provision of language services in the UK's public sector. There are instances of key government departments, including the Foreign Office, overhauling their linguistic capabilities after belatedly reappraising their importance. And, of course, the police has successfully implemented its PAIT (Police Approved Interpreter and Translator) scheme across England – no mean feat when every force has its own procurement systems and local needs. While it is not without its challenges, PAIT has shown it is possible to implement a higher standard of professional language service in a key function of the state, even when operating at high stakes and in emergencies. When looking at the costs of language services in the NHS and the police, we should be seeing it as a marker of successful policy implementation. Without it, the costs of litigation, post-hoc inquiries and reports – and, most of all, the human cost – would be so much higher. 6 The Linguist Vol/63 No/2 ciol.org.uk/thelinguist NEWS & EDITORIAL In the media PHILIP HARDING-ESCH In May, the government rejected the recommendations of the House of Lords Committee on Education for 11-16-year- olds, published in 2023. Schoolsweek reported that it had only kept one recommendation – to explore 'innovative ways' to boost language learning, including practical barriers such as teacher recruitment. In keeping with this ambition, there was good news from the British Council, which will offer £27,000 teacher training scholarships in languages on behalf of the government for a further year. As exams season comes into view, the exam board AQA revealed that its plans to conduct reading and listening exams online would be delayed until after 2026. There was mixed news in the university sector, as the University of Kent joined the University of Aberdeen in announcing cuts to its language courses. After much media interest, and effective negotiations from staff and unions, these plans were watered down or even abandoned. Around the UK, there were many local stories celebrating the UN International Mother Tongue Day on 21 February. For example, Tower Hamlets council held a commemoration in honour of student campaigners for Bengali, in partnership with the Bangladesh High Commission. Several news outlets, both national and local, covered the publication of an interactive map by the Office of National Statistics. Using data from the 2021 census, it shows the proportion of the population in each local authority speaking a long list of different languages. BBC Morning Live ran a wonderfully entertaining report on 'the best way to learn a new language'. Riyadh Khalaf, who despite having an Irish mother and an Iraqi father speaks neither Irish nor Arabic, took advice from linguists and challenged two adults to learn Spanish for a week. Reader, they successfully ordered a beer at the bar. '¡Muchas gracias!' Philip Harding-Esch is a freelance languages project manager and consultant. © PEXELS

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