Spanish Translation Blog

Translation Scandal

The UK Haringey council recently came under fire for unwarranted spending on its translation program after computer records showed that over one third of the translations it deemed necessary and spent tax money on were not read even once. With over fifty million pounds spent on translations annually, government officials began digging deeper into exactly where the money was going and their findings have caused a bit of a scandal in the UK.

Among the translations were a document for Gypsies translated into Polish and an FAQ on new secondary schools pamphlet translated into Turkish, Somali and Polish. Neither document was viewed once.

Community members spoke out against the waste, citing the fact that the money earmarked for the languages area, which totals over fifty million pounds annually, could have been spent on translating other documents into different languages or spent on ESL programs in London.