Language Lesson
The Home Office's piecemeal and ineffective approach to foreign language interpreting and translation means immigration and border staff having to muddle through potentially life-changing interviews with non-English speakers by relying on inappropriate interpreters, Google Translate or attempts "to scrape by in English", say watchdogs.
There are severe shortages of interpreters for some languages on the Home Office's lists, including Vietnamese and Albanian, and none at all for Otjiherero (spoken in Namibia) or Rohingya. This leaves asylum seekers relying on fellow detainees in official
interviews, and a lack of female interpreters for some languages leaves women who are victims of sex crimes forced to rely on male interpreters, some of whom have been rude or coy using sexual language. Despite this, recruitment efforts to plug the gaps were "unsystematic" and "sluggish", according to the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.
Meanwhile officials confirmed that there is often "tension" between LGBTQI+ interviewees and interpreters who were "fairly old guys who have their views", with incidents of interpreters rebuking, judging or using derogatory slang.
Foreign language provider thebigword announced a new contract this month claiming to be "sole provider" to the Home Office, just
days after a damning report was released on interpreting within Border Force, Immigration Enforcement and UK Visas and Immigration.
Soon afterwards, the Home Office issued clarification to reassure the many freelance interpreters who work for it directly that the deal "relates to the historic externally procured interpreters services only and does not represent a change in our current arrangements".
The incident highlights the muddle found by the inspectorate, whose report says the directorates have no proper policy or budget to provide information and services in foreign languages. The department keeps a list of freelancers and was also relying on a previous
contract with thebigword, which expired in 2018.
Checks on the quality of freelancers were alarming. While many had submitted copies of their qualifications, 405 were listed as "no qual - rare" meaning they speak rare languages for which they don't need a qualification. Instead, they are meant to have references
showing a track record of interpreting for other organisations. Staff told inspectors they merely checked whether these were genuine
"by looking up the organisation on Google".
The inspectorate found the Home Office's record-keeping about interpreter use "inconsistent, incomplete and fragmented", with no idea how much it had spent or how often there were problems. Thebigword was able to tell it the department had spent £1.2m with the firm in 2018-19.
Will the new contract be any better? Alas, staff across the three directorates told the inspectorate that concerns about the quality of thebigword service were "commonplace".
Copyright: Private Eye N 1536, 4th - 17th December 2020, Page 41.