L101 Unit 11, Activity 1.
6: Example texts
Should all migrants speak English if they want to live in
Britain?
Example Text 1
On the whole I feel that migrants to the UK should learn to speak English to a reasonable standard if
they want to live in Britain permanently. In the case of seasonal workers who are in Britain on a
temporary basis, for example in the agricultural sector, a limited knowledge of the language may be
sufficient, although health and safety has to be a consideration. However, if migrants seek
permanent residence in the UK it makes sense for them to learn English.
In my view, the main reason for this is the cost to the taxpayer. By law, people who don’t
understand or speak English well enough are entitled to the free assistance of an interpreter if they
are going through the criminal justice system, or receiving local authority or NHS services. While I
agree that it’s important to provide translation services for witnesses, patients and service users
where these are absolutely necessary for safety or justice, this is far from cheap. In my local area, for
example, authorised interpreters cost £45 an hour – 30% more if the language is considered ‘rare’
which includes languages such as Urdu, Swahili, Kurdish and Slovak which are all spoken in the city
(Bristol City Council, 2018). These costs are usually met by public bodies such as the courts, the
police, health trusts and local councils, and so every effort should be made to reduce them.
It’s true that teaching people to speak English when they arrive in the UK would itself cost money.
However, I believe it’s better to spend public money on helping people to improve their English in
schools or adult education classes than on translation services, as speaking English is vital if migrants
and their families are to play a full part in their community and in wider UK society.
Reference
Bristol City Council (2018) ‘Translation and Interpreting Charging Policy’. Available at:
https://www.bristol.gov.uk/people-communities/how-to-get-a-translation . Accessed 22nd January
2019.
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L101 Unit 11, Activity 1.6: Example texts
Example Text 2
The idea that all migrants to the UK should be able to speak English or risk being turned away or
deported is draconian and unnecessary. One problem is that this notion oversimplifies the issue by
grouping all migrants together. Not all migrants arrive in search of work; many come to the UK to
study, others are refugees, children or arrive to join a loved one (Office of National Statistics, 2018).
Many migrants to the UK for work or study are attracted precisely because they already speak
English; those who don’t will quickly learn if their work requires it.
The case for expecting all migrants to speak English to live in Britain is further weakened if the
situation of British citizens who migrate to other countries is considered. According to the Pew
Research Center (2016), in 2015 about 4.9 million people born in the UK lived elsewhere in the
world. A report in Expat Insider cited in Tuck (Unit 11, 2019) found that ‘52% of Britons living abroad
spoke the local language “only a little or not at all”’. The call to require English in the UK is equivalent
to an insistence that British bankers in Japan speak Japanese, or retired Britons living on the Costa
del Sol speak Spanish.
The UK is a linguistically diverse nation and has always been so (Tuck, Unit 8, 2019). Linguistic
diversity is an everyday fact of life for many and people are able to draw creatively on a wide range
of communicative resources in order to achieve understanding, as Tagg (2019) has shown using the
example of the Birmingham city market. Where clear communication is vital, it is realistic to provide
some funding for translation and interpreting, for example to ensure patient safety or to prevent
miscarriages of justice, thus guaranteeing that equal treatment does not depend on a person’s
language repertoire.
References
Office of National Statistics (2018) Migration statistics quarterly report November 2018. Available at:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmi
gration/bulletins/migrationstatisticsquarterlyreport/november2018. Accessed 24th January 2019.
Pew Research Center (2016) 5 Facts about Migration and the United Kingdom. Available at:
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/21/5-facts-about-migration-and-the-united-
kingdom/ . Accessed 24th January 2019.
Tuck, J. (2019) Unit 11: ‘English, Nation and Identity’ in L101 Block 2: What is English? [online].
Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1403379
Tuck, J. (2019) Unit 8: ‘English in the UK’ in L101 Block 2: What is English? [online]. Available at:
https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1395804
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