Ed Miliband: every Briton should speak English

[dipsydoodle]

Staff in all publicly funded jobs who interact with members of the public will have to show proficiency in the English language under a Labour government, Ed Miliband will announce on Friday.

Outlining a major initiative to improve social integration in Britain, the Labour leader will say that every citizen should know how to speak English.

Miliband will make proficiency in the English language a key priority for a future Labour government, which would seek to achieve what he calls a "connected nation" rather than a "segregated one".

In a speech in London on Friday morning, Miliband will outline a three-point plan:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/dec/14/miliband-english-language-integration

[Turbineguy]

1. Fock!

That's discrimnation against people from Yorkshire!

[T_i_B]

6. Now now, just cos we're getting the Tour De France next year!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/20724621

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. 'Appen you're getting t'Tour of France, wit' Big Start, now

None of this fancy French, lad.

[T_i_B]

9. We'll see if we can replace the yellow jersey.....

...With a yellow flat cap!

[non sociopath skin]

2. A perfectly worthy aim IMHO ....

... but it will be interesting to see whether it's presented as an entitlement or a diktat.

I'd also be interested in how Miliband would intend the programme to be delivered. The cynic in me sees a thousand bargain-basement Mickey Mouse "Schools of Language" blooming to little purpose ....

One "respectable" private TESL college not a million miles from here uses its trainees to give free English lessons to refugees and asylum seekers as teaching practice. The Deputy Principal told one cohort (in my presence), that it didn't matter how bad their teaching was or how many mistakes they made because "these people aren't paying us anything".

And that's the top end of the market ....

The Skin

[dipsydoodle]

3. Do you land up with some Julios ?

[oldironside]

4. Having worked in private language schools...

... I can tell you you are absolutely right. I have seen people employed to teach English who didn't have the first clue about it, but most school owners only worry about the bottom line. One guy who had left school at sixteen and found work in Essen as a barman was given a job teaching business English to executives and another incompetent thought it was enough to tell beginner students incredibly long boring anecdotes as though he was talking to his mates in the pub. Their jobs were safe because they were cheap and willing to do extra hours.Still, that's private enterprise for you, even if it would make some of my old teacher trainers throw their hands up in despair.

[T_i_B]

5. Immigrants insist politicians learn to speak English

An immigrant has apologised for his previous policy of nodding and smiling politely, and is now insisting politicians should learn to speak English.

“I’ve lived here most of my life, and I cannot understand what it on earth they are talking about”, complained postal worker Ahmed Kahn. “If you complain they just start waving their hands about, and repeating themselves, louder and louder.”

With millions spent each year on translating horse shit into something the public might go for, Kahn thinks the time has come to stop pandering to them.

“Politicians are bleeding this country dry”, he insisted. “They come here from where they really live, and get a free house in the constituency and another one in London, which they fill up with their relatives.”


Ed Miliband robustly defended politicians, pointing out they’re legally if not morally entitled to seek sanctuary in a big asylum by the Thames. “I’b beed berpectly frank oboud wob be neeb do do ob dis issue”, he stated clearly. Be neeb do debt ub a deering commidy and a parliamendary enquiry.”

Read more: http://newsthump.com/2012/12/14/immigrants-insist-politicians-learn-to-speak-english/#ixzz2F1oUuBg3

[non sociopath skin]

7. Not a chance.

If we understood what they really meant they'd all be on what's left of Jobseekers' Allowance.

The Skin

[Starboard Tack]

12. Hilarious!

[LeftishBrit]

10. No problem with this, as long as the funding is provided for teaching English.

Everyone needs to learn the language of their country, or they will always be disadvantaged.

It's not a panacea, but it's one of the things people need.

But as I say, if the government requires it, the government needs to fund it, or people will fall through the net or get fleeced by tenth-rate language schools.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Couldn't agree more

State funded / assisted tuition at existing colleges / schools - not Micky Mouse private schools. I mentioned assisted because even we have to pay for night school whatever.

[Jeneral2885]

13. So...

If you're local kebab or Chinese or ethic food seller can't speak English, will he be deported under a new Labour govt?

[dipsydoodle]

14. I've never come across an "ethnic" food seller who couldn't speak english

Matey peeps.

[Nihil]

15. I doubt it but you might have to watch out ...

> If you're local kebab or Chinese or ethic food seller can't speak English,

[geardaddy]

23. Brilliant!

[geardaddy]

16. Just as long as this isn't a way into

Denying the rights of Welsh or Gaelic speakers.

[non sociopath skin]

17. Now there's a hypothesis worthy of our attention

If an immigrant living in North Wales or the West of Scotland opted to learn Welsh or Gaelic rather than English, would that be OK and would funding be made available?

The Skin

[geardaddy]

18. I think in Wales it is acceptable for an immigrant

to learn Welsh as their new language. I doubt it happens very often, but the opportunity is there.

[non sociopath skin]

19. So, for example, are you able to take the citizenship test in Welsh?

The Skin

[geardaddy]

20. I believe you are.

I'll have to check though.

ETA: According to Wikipedia: Legally, sufficient knowledge of Welsh or Scottish Gaelic can also be used to fulfil the language requirement. Home Office guidance states that if anyone wishes to take the test in these languages (for instance Gaelic‐speaking Canadians or Welsh‐speaking Argentinians) arrangements will be made for them to do so. In practice, very few, if any, take the test in a language other than English.[4]

[non sociopath skin]

21. That's interesting.

My interest in this isn't esoteric.

As an "Englishman" who is half-Welsh and an eighth Scots and an eighth Irish, I am annoyed at successive London governments' tokenistic attitudes to the other official languages (and histories and cultures) in the UK.

The Skin

[geardaddy]

22. Very good.

Apparently, there was one request to take the test in Welsh, but the person never did it. Nevertheless, the option is there.