According to the BBC the public money spent on translation and interpreting services in the UK is over 100 million pounds. Local authorities spend £25m, NHS trusts £55m and the courts £31m on interpreting languages.
The astronomic figure gave rise to a heated debate and we've learnt that quite a lot of people believe that spending that amount of money in translation services is detrimental to the government's effort to promote inclusion. An example of this being the testimony of a Bangladeshi woman who has been in this country for over 22 years and do not feel the need to learn English because there is always someone at hand to help with the language.
Isn't offering translation services to those who do not speak English actually a very effective way to promote integration? Helping them in their transition while not yet confident with the English language? The issue here is not the money spent on translation, but whether money is also being spent on helping the new-comers to develop their English skills.
You can read the full articles here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6174303.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6172805.stm
Source: http://translationindustry.blogspot.com
