Money Well Spent?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4303198/Police-Polish-lessons-break-barriers.html

/// Volunteer worker for Sussex Police Agnieszka Kornacka said: 'It is important to have this communication bridge within the local area to make sure that we, the Polish community and members of other Eastern European communities, are able to feel confident enough to report crime and talk to the Police. ///

Oh, so if one understands Polish all members of
other Eastern European communities, will not experience any difficulties?

[jackthehat]

It may well be.

Time will tell....

[Buenchico]

Polish is similar enough to other Slavic languages for anyone who speaks Polish to be able to communicate reasonably well in similar languages. I found, when studying Polish at evening school, that I could understand quite a lot of what Czech and Ukrainian people were saying in supermarkets, for example. I've since met a Russian guy who helped me to see how close the languages are (even though, when written down, they look so different).

[emmie]

why on earth should they have to learn polish, makes no sense, if they can't speak English then tough, the police have enough to do without packing them off to language schools.

[fiction-factory]

Might save time in the long run. Worth a trial i think

[anotheoldgit]

emmie

Quite agree emmie, instead of them sitting indoors taking Polish lessons, they would be better employed doing what they are paid to do, and that is enforcing the law.

[anotheoldgit]

Perhaps a better idea is not to let anyone into the country who cannot speak English, excluding those who are prepared to take English lessons at their own expense.

[fiction-factory]

^or Welsh in Wales?

[emmie]

some of my out laws have a major problem with the newly arrived polish community, its a small place and they have arrived en masse. many according to the police reports in local paper are too fond of the booze or drugs so have really made their mark.

[anotheoldgit]

fiction-factory

Practically everyone who lives in Wales cannot speak Welsh.

[emmie]

By the start of the 21st century, numbers had begun to increase again. The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7% of the population of Wales spoke Welsh, compared with 20.8% in the 2001 census, and 18.5% in 1991. The 2011 census, however, showed a slight decline to 562,000, or 19% of the population.

[emmie]

so not just a few.

[emmie]

the CAB in our local library prints everything in every known language, don't honestly know why. People who don't speak the language should hire an interpreter, or a family member who does speak English.

[Old_Geezer]

The official language of the UK is English. For national pride reasons there was a fashion to learn Welsh for a period,and try to prop it up, encouraged when some job positions required it. But inevitably fashions come and go.

[Old_Geezer]

One hopes the Polish lessons do prove worth it but important communication bridges should be formed by the foreigner learning the language of their adopted country rather than expect the adopted country to go out of its way to accomdate the immigrant population.

[Islay]

I could not speak English when I arrived in the UK, going by your rules I would be barred then AOG - how is that fair when ex-pats go and live in other countries without speaking the languages.

[Jackdaw33]

As Chico has said, Slavic languages bear a close similarity. Having been schooled in Russian I can make out other languages when I see them written down.The trouble with Polish is that they insist on using the Latin alphabet instead of the Cyrillic one. It would be much easier otherwise.

[Mamyalynne]

I think this approach is worthwhile to speed communications in the dealings the Police need to get their work done speedily.

A combined push from the local community to help newcomers to also learn English should be run at the same time.

[Jackdaw33]

Mamya, you have just split an infinitive!!!

[Buenchico]

>>> . . . there was a fashion to learn Welsh for a period

It's more than a 'fashion', O_G. It's embodied in law:
" . . . in the conduct of public business and the administration of justice in Wales the English and Welsh languages should be treated on a basis of equality"
[Welsh Language Act 1993]

Further, over 450 primary schools in Wales teach all subjects in the Welsh language, with English only being regarded as second language.

[Mamyalynne]

I'm bold like that Jack.