UK Census form available in 55+ languages!

IMO, a colossal waste of taxpayers money, and a bloody good excuse for the ministry of the interior to have another good snoop on the population. As if it needs to.:mad:

I absolutely disagree with that, the census has long been a very important periodic log of what the make up our country and those living within it consists of, something we can pride ourselves on since the Doomsday Book of 1086 and the modern census of the past 210 years.
This is how we statistically know how mixed our population is, and lets not forget, immensely helpful for those of us that enjoy doing family trees and researching this country’s past.
I do think it is worth spending money on, but perhaps a little too much has been spent on presentation, management, etc on what should only be a form or two.

Hopefully Tornado’s friend (he did say 99%?!) will recieve the full penalty.

A good friend of mine ran a factory in Bristol a few years ago and the instructions to the shopfloor were in, if memory serves, English, Urdu, Hindi, Russian, Polish, Latvian and Italian. When I asked him about it he said that was only way he could get anyone to work there. Applications for jobs were studiously ignored by the English. And conditions were good and pay the average or just above average for the area. Says it all really, doesn’t it?

HWhy? Because people who want to come and live in our country and enjoy the benefits of living here can’t be bothered to learn our language. And we pander to them!:(

but it can be said of many things , only last night i observed a poster in my local bus station with practicaly every main language on it

the more we do this the less likeley they are going to try to learn

and it is at our expense

if i went to any other country it would be at my expense

and that my friends is called a P.H.R.A.S.E.B.O.O.K.

Haven’t we all debated the pointlessness of the census elsewhere? This thread is about the fact that it has to be printed in 55 languages!! Why? Because people who want to come and live in our country and enjoy the benefits of living here can’t be bothered to learn our language. And we pander to them!:(

Presumably you feel the same way about Brit expats who buy homes in Spain, France and Italy and resolutely refuse to learn the local lingo and expect all the local tradesmen, etc, to speak English?

Don’t tell me they don’t exist. I work with two of them. :p

being able to communicate is part of the pleasure of being anywhere

i once worked with an italian lad ( in this country ) he had no intention of learning english

so i went to college to learn italian

it gradualy made relations better and we found out we had a lot in common !!

IMO, a colossal waste of taxpayers money, and a bloody good excuse for the ministry of the interior to have another good snoop on the population. As if it needs to.:mad:

very definately !! at a time where we are being told to tighten our belts the government carries on with a ridiculous huge expense charade !!

Kev. I think we both know where Tornado 64 is coming from. I doubt if there are any folks who have been born here, whatever Nationality they are, since the computer was invented not known in every detail by any Government dept at the press of a button.

I cannot, I.M.H.O see any point in a Census, unless we include all that we know are living here but have no idea as to who they are,their nationality,WHERE they are etc, and whilst I am not going to bring up that old Horse Chestnut again, I guess you know what I mean.

Lincoln .7

exactly!! , it is good to see someone with the capacity to understand !!

the plans for this to be the last one tells everything you need to know

if you are legaly here walk into any government building and give sparse details and they could realisticaly find out everything they need to know

( some things you don’t know )

it does not tell them anything about the huge ” illegal ” problem

as for the fine , i’ll risk it , i’ve never filled one in in 30 yrs and i’m not starting now !!

IMO, a colossal waste of taxpayers money, and a bloody good excuse for the ministry of the interior to have another good snoop on the population. As if it needs to.:mad:

With all the different Nationalities living here, exactly who should be learning whoes language Pete.?.:confused:

Lincoln .7

I don’t understand your question. When I last checked English was the official language of the United Kingdom.:confused:

Presumably you feel the same way about Brit expats who buy homes in Spain, France and Italy and resolutely refuse to learn the local lingo and expect all the local tradesmen, etc, to speak English?

Don’t tell me they don’t exist. I work with two of them. :p

I most certainly do, having made the effort myself. I respect the Brits who have gone abroad to live who have made the effort but have no sympathy for those who do not. Unfortunately the Brits have always expected “foreigners” to speak English, and most do. So the effort is not required.That doesn’t mean it should not be made and in my experience knowledge of the language of the country you are in adds to the pleasure of being there.

Altogether now…………………………..WHEN IN ROME, etc and for the umpteenth time PLEASE KEEP IN TUNE!!

Presumably you feel the same way about Brit expats who buy homes in Spain, France and Italy and resolutely refuse to learn the local lingo and expect all the local tradesmen, etc, to speak English?

Don’t tell me they don’t exist. I work with two of them. :p

Moderator Message

No more racist terms or foul language.

They are NOT acceptable in here under ANY circumstances.

End of message.

GA

99% of the people i know have thrown the senseless in the bin

Then 99% of the people you know are looking at a potential £1000 fine.

i’ll never forget sitting in council training about ten years ago

a council big wig insisted that our biggest immigrant section was italians

i fully remember sniggering and muttering LANGUAGE

it was later found out that many other nationalitys were giving their nationality as italian

but even all those groups combined could nowhere near compare with pakistanis

i often wonder where council officials live and if they actualy hang around in real british areas with real british people !!

You’ll have some kind of evidence for this charming little anecdote, of course.

Care to share it with the rest of us?

Personally I have no wish to know where tornado 64 ‘is coming from.’ I suspect it’s a bit of an inhospitable place for anyone harbouring any humanity or compassion.

Regards,

kev35

woa woa….never said the Brits were bad! It was just a slight jab.

and it’s you’re not your. Funny in the context of this thread, yes? 😀

Never mind about my spelling, at least you understood what I meant, and thats the general idea of a discussion/debate.Not nit picking.

Lincoln .7

Let’s hope they ALL receive the maximum fine for so doing then. It might recoup a bit of the money spent.

Regards,,

kev35

Kev. I think we both know where Tornado 64 is coming from. I doubt if there are any folks who have been born here, whatever Nationality they are, since the computer was invented not known in every detail by any Government dept at the press of a button.

I cannot, I.M.H.O see any point in a Census, unless we include all that we know are living here but have no idea as to who they are,their nationality,WHERE they are etc, and whilst I am not going to bring up that old Horse Chestnut again, I guess you know what I mean.

Lincoln .7

I would like to think we BRITS have come a long way since the days you refer to have long since been confined to the History books.We are, I would like to think more civilised to other countrymen.
And we cannot be all that bad, as I see your bunking down in Cardiff.

Lincoln .7 :rolleyes:

woa woa….never said the Brits were bad! It was just a slight jab.

and it’s you’re not your. Funny in the context of this thread, yes? 😀

99% of the people i know have thrown the senseless in the bin

Let’s hope they ALL receive the maximum fine for so doing then. It might recoup a bit of the money spent.

Regards,,

kev35

I live next door to a Muslim family,originally from Pakistan,who are the best neighbours I could wish for.
This is only possible because all the family speak English well. If they hadn’t made the effort to learn it,I wouldn’t know what a nice family they are.I’m arranging a kind of street party for our close on the day of the Royal wedding,and they’re fully involved.
If I decided I’d had enough of this country and was off to make myself a new life in,say,Kyrgyzstan ( not likely,since I can’t even pronounce it,let alone point to it on a map ),I wouldn’t go expecting the Kyrgyzstani government to translate anything into English for my benefit.
Surely if anyone plans to settle in a country for any length of time,it’s in their own interest to learn the language of that country ?
Or maybe I should start swotting up on the 94 different first languages of schoolchildren in my town ?

Anne. Nail/head, all in a nutshell, exactly the point I was trying to hammer home.:)

Lincoln .7
:diablo:

I live next door to a Muslim family,originally from Pakistan,who are the best neighbours I could wish for.
This is only possible because all the family speak English well. If they hadn’t made the effort to learn it,I wouldn’t know what a nice family they are.I’m arranging a kind of street party for our close on the day of the Royal wedding,and they’re fully involved.
If I decided I’d had enough of this country and was off to make myself a new life in,say,Kyrgyzstan ( not likely,since I can’t even pronounce it,let alone point to it on a map ),I wouldn’t go expecting the Kyrgyzstani government to translate anything into English for my benefit.
Surely if anyone plans to settle in a country for any length of time,it’s in their own interest to learn the language of that country ?
Or maybe I should start swotting up on the 94 different first languages of schoolchildren in my town ?