Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Missed in translation?

A belated follow-up to this post I wrote last year:
Speeches made in the Welsh assembly in English should not be translated into Welsh in the record of proceedings, an independent review has concluded.

The Assembly Commission's plan to stop such translations to save £250,000 a year was opposed by the Welsh Language Board but backed by a review panel.

The Welsh Language Society called the decision "disgraceful" and it is looking at a legal challenge.

CBI Wales said it hoped the "sensible" approach would also apply to business.

Lord Elis Thomas, who is chair of the Assembly Commission as well as Presiding Officer, welcomed the review's findings.

He said the commission had appointed the independent panel to look at the assembly's bilingual services because it wanted the best possible advice and expertise, and to gather opinions from a wide range of people.
The other recommendations:

1. A verbatim text record of assembly proceedings be published in the language used in the chamber, together with a record of the "contemporaneous translation" of Welsh to English, as heard during Assembly proceedings.

2. The Assembly's online television service Senedd.tv should become the principal comprehensive stored record for researchers and future historians.

3. Creation of a guide to best bilingual practice for those holding functions on assembly premises.

4. All members of staff at the assembly should have or acquire some skills in the Welsh language.

That last suggestion is the most interesting.
Will the logical follow-up be that anyone applying to work at Assembly will also need "some skills" in the language?

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