[Archived] A Letter From The Council

[cletus]

I`ve just recieved a letter from the council (Blackburn with Darwen) regarding the licensing laws surrounding my job (i`m a taxi driver)

Now before i get to the point in question i must tell you that to obtain a license from BwD council, you need to 'prove' to the council you can actually speak & read English via means of a simple 'knowledge test' & an interview with a member of the licensing authority.....not to mention taking your driving test again & filling in countless forms. Basically you get told "understanding the English language is essential to do this job"

....so, i recieve a letter this morning from BwD council. Guess how many languages this letter is written in? 1? 2? 3?

No.

The letter is written in 18 languages!!!

I find it absolutely laughable! For a letter to be written in 18 languages, when the subject matter requires you to read, write & understand English.

Has the world gone mad?

[LeChuck]

18? Bloody hell, I never would have guessed that.

What are the 18 out of curiosity?

[cletus]

The 18 languages are:-

Urdu, Punjabi, Gujurati, Bengali, Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Hindi, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Bulgarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian.......oh, & English!

[thenodrog]

The 18 languages are:-

Urdu, Punjabi, Gujurati, Bengali, Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Hindi, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Bulgarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian.......oh, & English!

Our nearest neighbours are French, Dutch and of course Welsh so where's the logic? Unless (and I could believe this) the list is representative of the cross section of nationalities working in the Town Hall.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Our nearest neighbours are French, Dutch and of course Welsh so where's the logic?

Dunno, maybe your neighbours aren't taxi drivers.

[thenodrog]

Dunno, maybe your neighbours aren't taxi drivers.

[T4E]

I`ve just recieved a letter from the council (Blackburn with Darwen) regarding the licensing laws surrounding my job (i`m a taxi driver)

Now before i get to the point in question i must tell you that to obtain a license from BwD council, you need to 'prove' to the council you can actually speak & read English via means of a simple 'knowledge test' & an interview with a member of the licensing authority.....not to mention taking your driving test again & filling in countless forms. Basically you get told "understanding the English language is essential to do this job"

....so, i recieve a letter this morning from BwD council. Guess how many languages this letter is written in? 1? 2? 3?

No.

The letter is written in 18 languages!!!

I find it absolutely laughable! For a letter to be written in 18 languages, when the subject matter requires you to read, write & understand English.

Has the world gone mad?

Presumably the council have reason to believe that there are taxi drivers out there that can't read, write and understand English.

Bearing this in mind, only writing the letter in English would have been a tad stupid.

[ABBEY]

if they cant read english how the f can they read road signs?

[thenodrog]

Presumably the council have reason to believe that there are taxi drivers out there that can't read, write and understand English.

According to the second paragraph anyone who cannot understand / read / write english need not bother applying.

[roversmum]

This is a ridiculous waste of resources though. They have to employ someone who can translate the letter into different languages let alone the extra paper and printing ink etc.

I am quite sure, Cletus, that you are more than up to the task of writing to your local councillor and various other bodies pointing out the error of their ways... The press could be interested in this too.

Mind you, there was that woman who recently wrote to her local council complaining about something similar and they sent the police round threatening to prosecute her for racism.

You are right. The world has truly gone mad.

[Flopsy]

no they dont Mum, they use Babel Fish

[Majiball]

The 18 languages are:-

Urdu, Punjabi, Gujurati, Bengali, Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Hindi, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Bulgarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian.......oh, & English!

Mind you, there was that woman who recently wrote to her local council complaining about something similar and they sent the police round threatening to prosecute her for racism.

Next you'll be needing a CRB check to take your kids down the park.

I despair.

PS whats babelfish?

[thenodrog]

PS whats babelfish?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/guide/babelfish.shtml

[Glenn]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/guide/babelfish.shtml

In context, as much as I'd like to believe that Blackburn Council have stumbled across functioning fictional creature from a Douglas Adams novel, I'd imagine Floppy meant the for-runner to google translate, bablefish.altavista.com (which now seems to be owned by Yahoo).

Anyway, I'll leave you with this bit of classic translation

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7702913.stm

The Welsh reads "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated".

[Alan75]

The 18 languages are:-

Urdu, Punjabi, Gujurati, Bengali, Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Hindi, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Bulgarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian.......oh, & English!

what no txt or chav

[Guest andrewpickup]

i think its great that our multicutural town thinks that it needs to cater for such a diverse rage of nationalities. stop being so insular, its no big deal

[thenodrog]

i think its great that our multicutural town thinks that it needs to cater for such a diverse rage of nationalities. stop being so insular, its no big deal

Except for the discrimination of our nearest neighbouring countries as I have said.

btw I'd like to have been a fly on the wall at the inevitable committee meeting which decided which languages to include, which to leave out and why. I imagine it'd resemble a cross between Phoenix nights and Yes minister with a dash of East is East thrown in for good measure.

[Guest andrewpickup]

Except for the discrimination of our nearest neighbouring countries as I have said.

btw I'd like to have been a fly on the wall at the inevitable committee meeting which decided which languages to include, which to leave out and why. I imagine it'd resemble a cross between Phoenix nights and Yes minister with a dash of East is East thrown in for good measure.

i think it would just be the 18 most relevant to the nationalities of people living in the area, if there was call for say french im sure it would be accomodated

[Flopsy]

In context, as much as I'd like to believe that Blackburn Council have stumbled across functioning fictional creature from a Douglas Adams novel, I'd imagine Floppy meant the for-runner to google translate, bablefish.altavista.com (which now seems to be owned by Yahoo).

Anyway, I'll leave you with this bit of classic translation

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7702913.stm

The Welsh reads "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated".

Asef is correct, and thanks for reminding me of that photo, it still makes me laugh

[broadsword]

i think it would just be the 18 most relevant to the nationalities of people living in the area, if there was call for say french im sure it would be accomodated

There's not a call for any of them, as I'm sure you must realise deep down.

It's just a sop to political correctness, nothing more.

If they can't read the letter in English, they've failed the first part of the selection test.

Nice to see you've loctaed the off-switch for the caps lock by the way.

[ABBEY]

i think its great that our multicutural town thinks that it needs to cater for such a diverse rage of nationalities. stop being so insular, its no big deal

how do they read signs,road names and pass a test in the fisrt bloody place ,,,never mind stop being insular...STOP NACY PAMBYING AROUND THE BLOODY FOREIGNERS JHC .... A BEAR MINIMUM TO SPEAK BLOODY THE NATIVE TONGUE IN THE ANY SORT OF JOB ISNT MUCH TO ASK.IF IN BRITAIN SPEAK ENGLISH,IF IN FRANCE SPEAK FRENCH !!!!! ITS NOT MUCH TOO ASK .

[incy wincy little spider]

how do they read signs,road names and pass a test in the fisrt bloody place ,,,never mind stop being insular...STOP NACY PAMBYING AROUND THE BLOODY FOREIGNERS JHC .... A BEAR MINIMUM TO SPEAK BLOODY THE NATIVE TONGUE IN THE ANY SORT OF JOB ISNT MUCH TO ASK.IF IN BRITAIN SPEAK ENGLISH,IF IN FRANCE SPEAK FRENCH !!!!! ITS NOT MUCH TOO ASK .

I'm in Germany and I can't speak German! I don't need it for my job, but I am slowly learning to fit in better.

This job needs english, so the only way I can support translating these things into 17 other languages is a paragraph saying that you must speak english to have a career in as a taxi driver!

O well guess it's not my taxes wasted anymore

[broadsword]

Auslander!

[Guest andrewpickup]

how do they read signs,road names and pass a test in the fisrt bloody place ,,,never mind stop being insular...STOP NACY PAMBYING AROUND THE BLOODY FOREIGNERS JHC .... A BEAR MINIMUM TO SPEAK BLOODY THE NATIVE TONGUE IN THE ANY SORT OF JOB ISNT MUCH TO ASK.IF IN BRITAIN SPEAK ENGLISH,IF IN FRANCE SPEAK FRENCH !!!!! ITS NOT MUCH TOO ASK .

why does it annoy you so much? such diversity does us wonders!

[cletus]

why does it annoy you so much? such diversity does us wonders!

& what would you suggest? having every road sign in the UK written in 18 languages?

It`s pretty simple really. If you cannot read, write or understand the language to a decent standard, then you are in the wrong job.