DIPLOMATIC INCIDENTS
Sometimes I think it's incredible that I'm running a language business, especially considering I was terrible at languages at school. My school offered pupils a choice of studying French or Russian and as I was completely mystified at how to conjugate a verb, I jumped at the chance to study Russian. My school at the time was very progressive, so even though I knew that Russian was difficult to learn, I thought it was quite a cool thing to tell my friends that I was studying it, not forgetting in those days it was at the end of the Cold War. My teacher, who will remain nameless, was horrific; a bully, unsympathetic and mean. Whose fault was it that I fell asleep in his lesson, certainly not mine! Anyway the year I stayed in the Russian class was totally miserable and was so depressing it led me to an early exit from formal education at that stage in my life.
Talk about justice, ironically I opened a language business and guess who applied to be a translator? Yes, yes, yes, that really rotten Russian teacher! We sent him the test, which he passed with flying colours and between you and me, and you must not share it with anyone else, and hope he doesn’t read my blog, if he is still alive, and again between you and me I don't care if he is or not, I wrote back and told him that he had failed the test and his services were no longer required. Who says revenge isn't sweet!!? The poor guy phoned the office a few times for more information.
Moving on - and I can now say that I'm glad I have written this blog as the experience has been cathartic - I want to comment on something I read this week, which is that only one in 40 British diplomats are fluent in the language of the country to which they have been posted.
With a level of indignation that only the Daily Mail can muster, the article went on to say that Britain could be losing vital overseas contracts because of its diplomats' poor linguistic skills.
Leaving aside the fact that the previous Government closed the Foreign Office's Language School to save £1 million a year (which seems a relatively small sum compared with all those lost contracts) how necessary or practical is it for diplomats to have these skills?
Most of us can manage schoolboy French and 'bar' Spanish, and anyone who spends some time in a country inevitably picks up some of the language. But diplomacy is out on its own in terms of the level of language skills it requires. Surely, during diplomatic negotiations, whether about major contracts or nuclear arms reductions, the nuance of every word is vitally important and it's hardly a job for an amateur.
Can we really expect our career diplomats, who go from one posting to the next over a number of years, to reach a level of expertise in every language that could take a lifetime to achieve? When the Rt Hon William Hague became Foreign Secretary he reopened the Language School but he could hardly be expected to devote all his own time to learning languages. Even the Queen, who speaks fluent French, doesn't try to learn every tongue in the Commonwealth.
Only a true egotist would believe they're good at everything and hopefully, through our working lives, we manage to concentrate on our core skills and buy in the services of a specialist for everything else.
In reality, fluency in a foreign language, although nice to have, is no longer essential. That's because companies like thebigword provide immediate access to interpreters, either over the telephone, which we can do In less than 30 seconds, or face to face, using our new Poppy system.
This means that career diplomats, business executives and public sector workers can concentrate on what they're good at and trust professional linguists to do the interpreting - even if it's Russian. (Especially if it's Russian!)
Have a great weekend,
Larry
Talk about justice, ironically I opened a language business and guess who applied to be a translator? Yes, yes, yes, that really rotten Russian teacher! We sent him the test, which he passed with flying colours and between you and me, and you must not share it with anyone else, and hope he doesn’t read my blog, if he is still alive, and again between you and me I don't care if he is or not, I wrote back and told him that he had failed the test and his services were no longer required. Who says revenge isn't sweet!!? The poor guy phoned the office a few times for more information.
Moving on - and I can now say that I'm glad I have written this blog as the experience has been cathartic - I want to comment on something I read this week, which is that only one in 40 British diplomats are fluent in the language of the country to which they have been posted.
With a level of indignation that only the Daily Mail can muster, the article went on to say that Britain could be losing vital overseas contracts because of its diplomats' poor linguistic skills.
Leaving aside the fact that the previous Government closed the Foreign Office's Language School to save £1 million a year (which seems a relatively small sum compared with all those lost contracts) how necessary or practical is it for diplomats to have these skills?
Most of us can manage schoolboy French and 'bar' Spanish, and anyone who spends some time in a country inevitably picks up some of the language. But diplomacy is out on its own in terms of the level of language skills it requires. Surely, during diplomatic negotiations, whether about major contracts or nuclear arms reductions, the nuance of every word is vitally important and it's hardly a job for an amateur.
Can we really expect our career diplomats, who go from one posting to the next over a number of years, to reach a level of expertise in every language that could take a lifetime to achieve? When the Rt Hon William Hague became Foreign Secretary he reopened the Language School but he could hardly be expected to devote all his own time to learning languages. Even the Queen, who speaks fluent French, doesn't try to learn every tongue in the Commonwealth.
Only a true egotist would believe they're good at everything and hopefully, through our working lives, we manage to concentrate on our core skills and buy in the services of a specialist for everything else.
In reality, fluency in a foreign language, although nice to have, is no longer essential. That's because companies like thebigword provide immediate access to interpreters, either over the telephone, which we can do In less than 30 seconds, or face to face, using our new Poppy system.
This means that career diplomats, business executives and public sector workers can concentrate on what they're good at and trust professional linguists to do the interpreting - even if it's Russian. (Especially if it's Russian!)
Have a great weekend,
Larry
