School refusing to provide translator

@Tartareistasty @ZippedTop @LlynTegid
Expats are people sent by the company on short-term work trips the key element here is a company sponsored relocation package, private school paid for etc in a few years they will move them elsewhere. British retirees in Spain are certainly NOT expats.
There are expats of every colour and nationality not just British.
Expats are a type of immigrant but not every immigrant is an expat.

Agree, imagine all that money being used on translators being spent on more sen provision for our kids would be amazing.

English is an international language.
I’ve lived in a city in a non-English speaking country with several English schools.
They weren’t only attended by English/ American kids, but also by other expat kids from non-English speaking countries and even some locals.

And yet a HUGE number of Brits living abroad don't speak much, if any, of their local language. I've even had a British person tell me they integrated in the country, when they don't speak the language! They say their local friends say they're integrated too. Yet those friends can't speak their own language when this person is around, because she doesn't understand. And she's lived there 10+ years. That's nota one off!

That's true, but Brits abroad don't routinely demand interpreters and the use of translation services. They are also usually retirement age, don't have school age children and don't need access to many of the services that use interpreting and translation services here.

Should they make an effort to learn Spanish, for example? Yes, absolutely, but they won't need it as much as say a family with two children and an ailing granny who have come to the UK.

Haven't RTFT but what's all this nonsense about being 'unable to read and write' = can't learn?
I'm from a multilingual country in South East Asia. My grandmother couldn't read but speaks 4 languages. Equally we have people moving here from other countries, working in service jobs/labourers who pick up a couple of our languages quickly enough...

Totally understandable, parents who have been here for a year should be able to speak/understand basic English and also use free online translation tools.

I work with parents on a daily basis (in a different capacity). Too many parents nowadays want to be spoon fed and would rather make more work for somebody rather than taking responsibility themselves.

There needs to be a point at which the needs of the child are put first.
fair enough to stop routine translation but any really important intervention needs to be translated. Imagine discussing adhd, dislexia, neurodiversity, child protection or possible exclusion in a second language - if the stakes are high or is not fair in the child to penalise them for something totally out of their control (no child can force their parents to learn English).

Became more popular. Sorry

My cousin moved to Italy from England and had to learn the language pretty quickly as translators are not provided anywhere, not even in healthcare. Ex-pats to any country should learn the language to be able to function in society, especially if they have children. Translators by telephone don't come cheaply so well done the school.

Getting your kids to help translate has been the standard method for years when people move to new countries. It's insensitive when an adult has to seek medical care for their kids to act as translator, but it's completely appropriate when school is communicating about that kid. The school could also prioritise certain sorts of comms to be translated, such as safeguarding issues, where the kid can't act as translator reliably.

May I point out that the adults may not be literate in their own language? If they come from certain sorts of places where literacy is poorly taught, so they need a spoken translation anyway.

That's a rather rude reply to a perfectly reasonable point.

Caught up more in English? Sorry I don’t understand.

I think it’s reasonable when schools funding is so low that teachers pay out of their own pockets and redundancies are happening. Translators are so expensive. I honestly think you should be able to access language lessons so you can understand the language of the country you live in. It happens in my workplace people who have lived in the country for years and years demanding translators and it’s costing the NHS an absolute fortune. They are making no effort to learn the language but because of consent they have to be provided

HOWEVER how easy it is for these families that have been in te U.K. got a short time that may have little money, time, knowledge and so on to actually access language lessons I’ve no idea.

The worst paid work in this country does not require much English. And it’s honestly not that easy to claim benefits as a new immigrant. Don’t assume they are all on benefits.

It's not just Brits abroad who call themselves expats. Tbh I am pretty sure it caught up more in English so people don't confuse emigrant vs immigrant, which I've seen on here as well.

I think this is a reasonable move from the school. To be in a different country and have your kids in school for so many years and you haven't made the effort to learn the language even a tiny bit is the unreasonable part. I get that languages are difficult to learn but come on, 5+ years? It doesn't take that long to learn a few words and phrases!

This thread is providing the perfect outlet for some closet bigots to vent in an ‘acceptable’ manner! It’s a racist’s wet dream! I don’t mean all posters of course, but reading between the lines in a few of the posts, it’s obvious with some!

I lived in Belgium for a while. There were a lot of British families whose kids went to the British School from age 3 to 18. They did ballet, Brownies, Cubs, Scouts, Guides in English. Zero integration and zero effort to learn the languages. It as a real bubble set up, and the kids would go to U.K. - a country they had never lived in - for university. It seemed very odd to me.

The town hall and local schools refused to speak anything but Dutch. But this was as much animosity towards the Francophone community as the expats.

@MaudGonneOutForAFag my parents to were both economic migrants. Learning the language us a key part of being economically successful in a new country so they did. In fact they both started learning English before they arrived specifically so they would be able to survive and find work.

I don't think it comes as a great shock to most migrants that they have come to a country where English is spoken - and many asylum seekers come here for precisely that reason.

Yes well done. But you know, that that is not the point I am making or asking about.

Exactly. I thought all these immigrants were keen to work here ??

I think learning the language is crucial for integration. But learning a language is hard for some. Really hard. Kids struggle with MFL at school and take-up is dropping.

Whilst I can see that this is an obvious place to make cuts, it’s not as simple as ‘learn the language’. Some people really struggle, or get embarrassed and it’s not that easy to learn English.

Having said that, many people do. In my NHS work I come across them. Only this week I met a lovely young woman who had come here from Sudan aged 14 barely speaking English. She was bullied and suffered racism. Yet worked hard and got the grades for medical school. Another woman devoted her life to caring for her son who was the result of a rape by a soldier; she was attending classes with him so they could both learn English. I would say I see far many more examples of people who have learned English, despite adversity than those who haven’t.

I know many other countries don’t help people learn the language. Isn’t it great though that we are better than that and try and help others assimilate? It’s something to be proud of. Why should we aim to be as unhelpful as other countries?

How on earth do these parents who don’t speak English work…. Probably they don’t and get benefits. Sorry but after five years, this is appalling.

'This thread is particularly illuminating, given the overwhelming majority of British people who only speak English, but who are clearly labouring under the delusion that if they were economic migrants to another country, they would magically develop the time, determination and resources to learn the new language.'

It's both a blessing and a curse that English is so widely spoken I'd say. I still think that it's important to make an effort to learn the language, or at least one of the spoken languages, if you move to or visit a new country though. Even attempting to learn the basics will also mean others are more keen to adapt a little and help you too. It seems in OPs case that there are classes provided.

If you live in the UK, they are emigrants from your point of view, not immigrants.