News / National
Pane munhu: Shona on 2011 UK census languages
25 Feb 2011 at 00:38hrs | Views
BRITAIN is printing census forms in 57 languages, including Shona, it was revealed.
In the most significant acknowledgement of Zimbabwe to Britain migration over the last decade, Shona has made it onto questionnaires to be sent to 22 million homes later this year.
But the move has drawn fire from the TaxPayers' Alliance which argues that if people can't read English, then they should not be in Britain.
"There is not an endless pot of taxpayers' money to pay for more administration and documents to be translated into scores of different languages," said Charlotte Linacre, Campaign Manager of the TaxPayers' Alliance.
"There is a huge cost for so much bureaucracy and time spent translating the forms, it's important that data is collected effectively but it's crucial that people who come to live and work in the UK are learning English so they can integrate.
"The government needs to stop spending so much money on translation across the public sector, in order to relieve taxpayers of this burden."
The Sun newspaper estimates that the census will cost £482 million, with the translations to various other languages including Swahili (Kenya, Tanzania), Lingala (Democratic Republic of Congo), Luganda (Uganda), Igbo (Nigeria, Cameroon) and Yoruba (Togo, Benin, Nigeria) costing over £50,000.
The majority of Zimbabweans in the UK are first-generation immigrants. According to census figures, in 1971 some 7,905 Zimbabwean-born people were living in the UK. This figure rose to 16,330 in 1981 and to 21,252 in 1991.
The 2001 UK Census recorded 49,524 Zimbabwean-born people and the Office for National Statistics estimated that, in 2010, the figure of Zimbabwean-born people living in the UK has risen to 122,000.
But unofficial estimates of the total Zimbabwean British population, including British-born people of Zimbabwean origin, vary significantly.Numerous newspapers have speculated that the population might be as large as one million, including an estimate of 600,000 by The Observer in 2003,but community organisations and leaders put the population in the range of 200,000 to 500,000.
In the most significant acknowledgement of Zimbabwe to Britain migration over the last decade, Shona has made it onto questionnaires to be sent to 22 million homes later this year.
But the move has drawn fire from the TaxPayers' Alliance which argues that if people can't read English, then they should not be in Britain.
"There is not an endless pot of taxpayers' money to pay for more administration and documents to be translated into scores of different languages," said Charlotte Linacre, Campaign Manager of the TaxPayers' Alliance.
"There is a huge cost for so much bureaucracy and time spent translating the forms, it's important that data is collected effectively but it's crucial that people who come to live and work in the UK are learning English so they can integrate.
"The government needs to stop spending so much money on translation across the public sector, in order to relieve taxpayers of this burden."
The Sun newspaper estimates that the census will cost £482 million, with the translations to various other languages including Swahili (Kenya, Tanzania), Lingala (Democratic Republic of Congo), Luganda (Uganda), Igbo (Nigeria, Cameroon) and Yoruba (Togo, Benin, Nigeria) costing over £50,000.
The majority of Zimbabweans in the UK are first-generation immigrants. According to census figures, in 1971 some 7,905 Zimbabwean-born people were living in the UK. This figure rose to 16,330 in 1981 and to 21,252 in 1991.
The 2001 UK Census recorded 49,524 Zimbabwean-born people and the Office for National Statistics estimated that, in 2010, the figure of Zimbabwean-born people living in the UK has risen to 122,000.
But unofficial estimates of the total Zimbabwean British population, including British-born people of Zimbabwean origin, vary significantly.Numerous newspapers have speculated that the population might be as large as one million, including an estimate of 600,000 by The Observer in 2003,but community organisations and leaders put the population in the range of 200,000 to 500,000.
Source - Byo24News
