Compulsory to speak English - Discuss

Hi, did a search for this and i couldnt find it. Was wondering - the gov apparently spends X amount of £ every year on translation services and printing leaflets in a thousand different languages (cant remember the exact figure but from what i remember it was something stupidly large)

What would everyones views be if either 1) all translation services were liquidated except in the case of crimminal procedures/police enquirys/defence or 2) It was made Compulsory to pass some english exam before residing in the uk.

Many groups have said that people live here for 40+ years without speaking a word of english, there isn't the want to learn as there is no need thanks to the government and all this is doing is segregating communities - not to mention the money saved could surley be put to better use. Opinions people?

[edit on 7/2/07 by C ROBERTSON]

They should save some of the money they use producing foreign lingo documents/leaflets etc. and make immigrants go to an english class, If they don't go they get benefits reduced if they still don't go they get benefits stopped. They should stay going to the classes untill the teacher grades them as good enough.

If I was to go into a German government office and said "do you have that in English?" They'd fall on the floor laughing and reply "learn ze Deutsch stupid Englismann!"

I really think this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. English Is the most widely spoken second language in the world and is officially the global language of business and politics. There are very very few people in Britain compared to other English speaking countries ( US for example ) who actually can't speak it. I work with the public and have to deal with people who's English isn't great all the time but when you consider that for most of them its a second language their grasp of it is amazing.

Compared to most countries we're lucky in that we can visit pretty much any country in the world and be understood speaking our native language.

Anyone actively living in the uk ( or any other country for that matter ) who doesn't learn at least conversational English is really shooting themselves in the foot. 99.99999999% of people know this and the tiny minority who don't only really damage themselves.

Here's what Gordon Brown has said on the matter...

If someone is unemployed who doesn't speak English, they should have to learn English."
Alex Salmond, the Scottish National Party leader, criticised Mr Brown for trying to "spin" existing policy.

from The Scotsman in June 2006

I find it strange to praise Gordon Brown, but that's a cracking policy. Get the unemployed off their **** and do the right thing in educating people in the traditions and preserving the language of the United Kingdom. The nationalist response is typically predictable Salmond hot air.

And here's David Cameron on the subject in The Telegraph...

He added: "If you don't speak English you can't participate fully in national life. Government needs to make this clear and help create incentives for every citizen of this country to speak our national language."

I'd like to see what the incentives are before I supported David in this one, though. I'll sound a little ultra-conservative, but i'd rather see people tested as a matter of course before they qualify for state benefits, voting and such things.

You are in my country you learn English. Both written and spoken

I firmly believe any one who wants to live in the UK must pass a language.

Why should my taxes be wasted on translating documents. This means less money for health care and policing.

From BBC Politics today...

Unemployed people who cannot speak English will have to show they are learning the language or face losing their benefits, under government plans.
About 40,000 jobless people say their poor English is a barrier to finding employment - and £4.5m is spent on translators in job centres.

Ministers say this money would be better spent on teaching them English.

They must be reading above politics.

A step in the right direction, in my opinion.

mod edit: changed to external quote tags

Quote Reference (review link)

[edit on 12-2-2007 by UK Wizard]

Wasting £4.5m on people who have come to my country, claim benefit and can not be bothered to learn English.

We should all complaint to our MP. Just think how much £4.5m can change families with children suffering from cancer.

Spending this money is just wrong.

The question is,

Should English become an official language now? Scottish gaelic, Welsh and Irish (soon to be) are all official langauges in the United Kingdom.

Originally posted by infinite
The question is,

Should English become an official language now? Scottish gaelic, Welsh and Irish (soon to be) are all official langauges in the United Kingdom.

Have you got sources for this? infinite.

I thought English had been adopted as the offical language.

English is de facto.

no parliament act has been passed that states English as an official language.

Originally posted by infinite
English is de facto.

no parliament act has been passed that states English as an official language.

Well thats enlightening... Personally though if they are gonna make people comming here learn english then all the better! However are they gonna spend all of it on classes or what?

Originally posted by Freedom ERP
Wasting £4.5m on people who have come to my country, claim benefit and can not be bothered to learn English.

Benifits though - thats whole other issue, i feel another thread comming on...

[edit on 13/2/07 by C ROBERTSON]

English needs to be taught in school! I class myself as a bit of a pedantic person where English is concerned and can't stand it when I read stuff written by native-born English speakers. Sometimes you can't make out what they're saying!

If natives can't be bothered to learn the language properly, why should we force immigrants to?

Originally posted by boyg2004
From BBC Politics today...

Unemployed people who cannot speak English will have to show they are learning the language or face losing their benefits, under government plans.
About 40,000 jobless people say their poor English is a barrier to finding employment - and £4.5m is spent on translators in job centres.

Ministers say this money would be better spent on teaching them English.

They must be reading above politics.

A step in the right direction, in my opinion.

Great find and i think this is deffinitly a step in the right direction.

I heard the American citizenship exam is quite hard?

Maybe Britain should have something like that but where you need to prove that you speak decent English before you can live here?

Originally posted by Freedom ERP
Wasting £4.5m on people who have come to my country, claim benefit and can not be bothered to learn English.

Wait...

They can not be bothered? How exactly do you know they can't be bothered? It doesn't say they can't be bothered on the article. Nice way to place something into the arguement that wasn't there in the first place. EVer though it might be because free English classes are rare? Let alone ones which can be done in the evenings - the nearest one to where I live in 40minutes away and would cost roughly £12 a week using public transport to get to and from...

"Maybe Britain should have something like that but where you need to prove that you speak decent English before you can live here?"

We live in a country where someone from the south of the country can't understand what someone from the North a mere 500 miles away is saying. Exactly how do you propose to judge who speaks decent English ?

Frankly 90% of this thread is the same old tired racism disguised as social concern.

Originally posted by Spuggy
"Maybe Britain should have something like that but where you need to prove that you speak decent English before you can live here?"

We live in a country where someone from the south of the country can't understand what someone from the North a mere 500 miles away is saying. Exactly how do you propose to judge who speaks decent English ?

Frankly 90% of this thread is the same old tired racism disguised as social concern.

Yeah but they can understand each others writing can't they. Anyway I can understand most accents from around Britain, occasionally a strong Scottish one will get me but if the immigrant is moving to Scotland they will learn to understand it.

If you were to judge the speaking of an immigrant you'd have a few judges from different parts of the country wouldn't you? As long as they all think the immigrant can speak good enough English then it's ok

"Yeah but they can understand each others writing can't they ?"

nope.

www.findarticles.com...

I work with people who have english as a second language every day. Their literacy and communications skills, whilst using English often as a second language, are really no better or worse than most UK residents. In fact I'd say their literacy levels are proportionately higher than many of the "English" people I deal with.

Originally posted by Spuggy
"Yeah but they can understand each others writing can't they ?"

nope.

www.findarticles.com...

Well obviously illiterates can't understand their countrymens writing, they can't understand any writing. But I mean they [people that can read (it should go without saying)] can read each others writing. Someone from London isn't going to look at a business letter from someone in Manchester and be confused because they live a few hundred miles away, are they?

And if any immigrants are illiterate, I think they should have to take reading and writing courses in their home countries, including English Language, before they can live in Britain.

Anyway, a bit more on topic; I was browsing the Downing Street petitions website and came across this which seemed quite relevant.