How Many Languages?

[grasscarp]

Have received today letter about new wheelie bins for London Borough of Hounslow from next month. Additional info in 15 languages. Arabic. Bengali. Bulgarian. Burmese. Farsi. Gujarati. Hindi. Polish. Punjabi. Romanian. Sinhalese. Somali. Syhleti. Tamil and Urdu.
Why are there so many people here unwilling to learn English? Where do people speaking Syhleti from?
How many languages in your area? Is 15 a record?

[shoota]

The Hounslow Latvian and Estonian communities are going to feel sorely disenfranchised by this leaflet.

[Baldric]

Sylheti or Syloti is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language variety, primarily spoken in the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and the Barak Valley region of southern Assam.

[pastafreak]

Learning to speak a language is one thing...communicating and reading may be more complicated. Or so it seems to me. Some spoken language can be learned by imitating and listening. Reading it and writing may require more formal learning.

[mikey4444]

I think the Council are just trying to be inclusive....not sure what is wrong with that ?

[-SharonA-]

Nice eclectic bunch of folks living in Hounslow, straight of the plane!!!!

[PankySmooch]

Just the one language in my area, and long may it stay that way

[DTCwordfan]

As to anyone speaking 15 languages in Hounslow concerning wheelie-bins, I bet they speak rubbish in all of them.

[grasscarp]

Some brilliant answers here. Thank you for your comments. I feel for the Latvian and Estonian Hounslow residents too Shoota.

[sandyRoe]

No Spanish speakers?

[Jackdaw33]

I feel I made a bad choice at university by reading French and Russian. If I could have seen 40 years into the future I would have chosen Romanian and Polish and raking in £500 a day.

[EDDIE51]

What about French, German,Italian,Greek,Spanish, Portuguese and other EU languages are they not included? If not why not?

[grasscarp]

My husband was Italian and asked why not in his language. But he learnt English and would not have expected to live here without speaking it.

[EDDIE51]

Jackdaw33 The real money spinner now is for Arabic translators, a good one can virtually name their price!

[retrocop]

Mikey
//I think the Council are just trying to be inclusive....not sure what is wrong with that ?//
Yes they are. Very friendly of Hounslow Council to accomodate people who do not speak English in an English speaking country. All the extra interpreters fees and printing costs to accomodate the same text in 15 different languages.
I do not suppose you might expect a similar helpful English Text information leaflet in Somali about where to deposit your refuse in that country. I doubt the Somali tax payers would have a wheelie bin let alone a leaflet telling you where to dump your crap!!

[Khandro]

Most of those named are illiterate in their own countries, so would not be able to read it anyway.

[Peter Pedant]

Ideas are changing about languages

the idea was to welcome and communicate in their own language


but now there is recognition that it is a means of maintaining social isolation - if someone can only speak Sylhet then they cant vote kind of thing

whenever I hear jabbering in a hosspital I think to myself Jesus would I go to a French hospital with a serious disease and expect to be treated in English ?

[PankySmooch]

There's probably 15 people living in each house as well so spare a thought for the binmen

[grasscarp]

These answers have me laughing so much. Thank you all.