Is it acceptable for people to live in Britain but not speak English?
 

Millions of pounds are spent every year in Britain on translation services and interpreters.
The NHS alone spends £64,000 per day on interpreters.
When people go to live abroad in Spain for example all that paperwork is in Spanish.
So why is Britain spending all this money on this?
This money would be much better spent on teaching foreigners how to speak and read English helping them in the process.
All these translation services are doing is just leaving non English speaking foreigners stuck without being able to read,speak or understand the people in the country they live in with no motivation or need to learn English.
This is a counterproductive waste of tax payers money and will not end while we as a country pander to it.
So i say we'd be far better off spending the money on education which will help everybody.

Yes

I'd say it's perfectly acceptable.

But then reading your post I also agree in the education side of things to help them.

I'd also like to think that I can move to any country in the world without learning the language if I choose to do so (I have already done this twice). Perhaps that makes me biased but I'd hate to think that somebody may be deprived of the same thing.

Yes. As a great meme I once saw summed it up:

'So foreigners need to learn English or face deportation, whilst Aunty Barbara is living in Spain saying bonjour to to the shop keeper'

yeah i guess but i don't understand how people can bare to live somewhere when they can't communicate with the people around them. like, i really want to live in asia but the language barrier would irritate me too much. :sad:

:joker:

I agree. I don't understand why people are even allowed in if they don't speak basic English. How are they supposed to get a job if they can't speak English - are we supposed to support them for ever.

I wouldn't go to live in a country without learning the basics first, it is just common sense. These people often then become a long-term burden on the NHS, benefits system etc.

As part of my job I have had to arrange interpreters for people and there is often a sense of entitlement from them, certainly no appreciation. It is taken for granted by many.

You pay then, why should the rest of us.

Benefits are there for those who need it. That wont change any time soon, get used to it.
I dont know why you automatically assumed that those who cant speak the language wont have jobs.. There are several jobs that dont require communication.

No, not really - unless they were learning the language at the same time. How are they expected to work, integrate, engage with people etc? It only leads to segregated communities. I'd learn the language if I moved abroad. It's vital - doing otherwise leaves you isolated.

For those that genuinely need it - not those looking for a free ride. It is changing all the time with negative effects on those that genuinely need it due to the added burden on the system of the freeloaders.

Bit irrelevant. This is about whether people need to learn the language to live in the country. Youve presumed every person who doesnt know the language doesnt work for a living. And this is incorrect...

The difference is if Aunty Barbara needs to visit her Spanish GP and she wants to understand what her diagnosis is, she has to pay for an interpreter, same with any hospital visits. If people don't want to learn the language of the country they live in, that's fine by me I don't see why the taxpayer should pick up interpreter costs though.

At last the Prime Minister has insisted that foreigners must learn English properly, if they want to be allowed to stay. This is only fair, because when the British move abroad we make sure we’re fluent in the local dialect within a fortnight.

Wander through the Costa Del Sol and there’s no way of telling who’s Spanish and who’s from east London, so integrated have we become, with characters such as Nobby “Flamenco” Wilson, who within seven years learned to say “adios” in a Dagenham accent, causing his mates to shout “blimey, hark at Picasso”, while watching West Ham vs Watford in a pub by the beach in Marbella.

Despite us going to all that trouble, when the Spanish come over here they speak English with a slight Spanish accent. Is it any wonder we get fed up of Europe when they mug us off like that?

One complaint about immigrants who don’t speak perfect English is they can’t work here, as they won’t be understood. This compares to the English who move to France, who have all mastered French so perfectly from a year of GCSE French, they can work anywhere they like, understanding even the finest details.

For example, if they were in a call centre, and a frustrated French businessman rang to report his internet connection was down, the average Englishman living in France would have no problem replying “the cat is in the garden”.

If they worked in a hospital and someone came through the door screaming their appendix had burst, a plucky Englishman would be able to helpfully inform the patient “J’aime le football, mais je n’aime pas le tennis”.

So we should go further with these plans to deport people who can’t be bothered to learn the language: anyone wanting to move to Liverpool should have to do a course to learn grabbing someone in a headlock and saying “you’ve gorra have a laugh mate”, or they’re not allowed in.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/...-a6826161.html

How does anyone who cannot speak the language, and therefore communicate effectively, get a job, pay their bills etc unless they are relying on some kind of translation/support service, probably paid for by the taxpayer. Amounts to the same thing - us footing the bill. Is it any wonder there is so much bad feeling about immigration.

People should be required to speak the basics, accept maybe in exceptional circumstances. Then they should be required to pay towards the cost of language classes, interpreters etc.

That seems like more of a Spanish issue which the UK has resolved to me.

no it's common sense not to pick up the tab for every Brit who wants to move to the sun, unemployment in Spain is 25 per cent, their system would buckle if they had to pay for every Tom, Dick and Harry...oh wait just like the NHS ....

They do have to pay towards the cost of language classes unless they are claiming unemployment benefit. If they are claiming UB they are obligated to attend English class where their progress is closely monitored. If they don't attend they get penalized.
This is exactly the same in France and Spain

There is no unemployment benefit in Spain, unless you have paid into the system for a year.....

In order to be eligible to receive unemployment benefits in Spain, a person must have been employed and paid contributions into the social security system. The amount of benefit received by unemployed workers varies depending on how long they were employed. ... Unemployment benefits are known as "el paro".

Why would translating a letter or a bill into a different language cos anybody any money? Effective communication just isnt required in some jobs so thats not an issue either...
And I disagree, if you wanted to work in Greece tomorrow for a job that doesnt require an extensive comprehension of the Greek language, then go for it. Language classes would be optional for you too.

I would say an inclusive and progressive, forward thinking attitude is closer to common sense than denying a person their diagnosis because they dont understand the language is, myself. :hee:

No I think it's really rude, especially if they can't even be bother to learn the basic language. Same goes for Brits who live abroad.

Yeah i agree.The tax payer shouldn't be paying for this.If people want to come here then they should learn the language first or fund their own interpreters.
Apart from refugees obviously.
This money should be spent on teaching these people English or it will never end.

I think so

If I moved abroad I wouldn't be able to speak the language

I live in Portugal and I'm not fluent in Portuguese yet, I have put endless hours into learning, but I haven't really got a gift for languages, so I'm improving constantly but it's slow.

Health care isn't free for me here and I just filled out some paperwork last week but most of the paperwork is in both English and Portuguese, I have never been provided an interpreter or anything like that, even at the hospital.

Maybe the NHS could use Google translate or something like that for less severe things? :shrug:

In my eyes, it's a basic thing to learn the local language. Especially English...

Regardless of the time scale, they have to take language classes if they don't speak Spanish and want to claim the equivalent of job seekers allowance.

I've attended the equivalent of a and e in Spain and the doctor translated on his phone into English as my Spanish didn't stretch to the medical diagnosis, it worked fine

I have never heard of this :think:

I'd learn the language if I moved abroad so people should here.

I wouldn't be going to Greece or anywhere else to take from a system I had never paid into to the detriment of the locals. I don't expect something for nothing and have no time for those that do.

We have limited resources and cannot support those that can't support themselves whether that be benefits, health care, housing, education etc. Practically or Morally there really is no such thing as 'for free'. Britain and the British taxpayer are not a charity or a bank to be milked by the rest of the world.

For every interpreter paid for someone else is likely to be refused certain treatments or have a procedure cancelled - when will people get it, there is not enough money in the pot and everyone suffers when money is wasted on non-essential services such as interpreters.

Youve kind of got an 'I should be the priority because I've lived here longer' attitude, and I think thats where and why we disagree. Equal rights for all UK citizens imo. There isnt a heriachy with fluent speaking natives at the top, and I'd like to hope that nobody here is suggesting that there should be.

Hi Jess,

You’re absolutely right. Some people learn a language easily whilst others find it very difficult. I tried to learn Portuguese btw and just gave up because I found it too difficult. I'm fluent in two languages and speak quite a bit of a third language but Portuguese proved to be really tough.

One of the things that is really noticeable in France is, so few English residents speak enough French to do anything more than buy a baguette in the local patisserie.

^

Lets hope you find it really easy then.

I do believe those that have paid in should get priority over those that haven't. What is wrong with that?

Otherwise the system is totally flawed and will continue to encourage those that haven't paid in to take whilst giving nothing back and lead to the eventual collapse of the NHS. Then everyone will either have to take out private insurance to go without. No more freebies for anyone.

So the homeless would be ****ed then. Good job youre not running the country.

Yeah, it's just harder for some people, I think. I do believe everyone should make an effort to learn the language of whatever country they are in but it's tough to just expect people to be conversational when it's not that simple.

I love Portuguese and I learn new words and grammar rules every day and to be denied health care even though I make this effort would really crush me.

Speaking of bakeries, the man who works at my local one always hears the wrong number of pieces if bread that I want and he gets extremely focused when I walk in so he doesn't give me fourteen instead of four again. :joker:

Don't really see the connection if they pay their way. If so the language issue is not such a problem for the French if the Brits aren't' expecting the French to pay for an interpreter. It comes down to money at the end of the day because there isn't enough of it.