Monday, October 26, 2009
IT WAS interesting to note your report (October 15) with regard to the waste of public money in the translation of public documents into Irish.
Surely the waste is that any such documents are being published in paper format at all when they could be made available on the internet for all to see free of charge and without any cost to the environment?
It would be preferable if all public documents were bilingual, with Irish side by side with English so that people could make their own choice as to which language they read it in. In the interests of equality, documents should also be available in other minority languages, such a Polish, so as to be accessible to as many of its citizens as possible. And again in the interests of equality, if documents are to be published in paper format, they should be in braille for people with a visual impairment and Easy Read versions for people with a learning disability of literacy needs.
It seems it is still OK to discriminate against some people because of their cultural heritage, in this case people who speak Irish. But this whole issue of translation of public documents to Irish is really a red herring. It does nothing for the development of the Irish language. I would much prefer to be able to phone or visit my local council or other public bodies and to feel welcome to do my business in Irish rather than read large public documents of 200-plus pages in any language.
Perhaps one answer is for all public documents to be produced only in short, accessible versions in any language. This would cut down the cost of translation and the boredom felt by people attempting to wade through them, and lead to publications being meaningful to all regardless of the language in which they are published.
Cabrana de Barra
Mí Casa
Sráid Sexton
Dún na Mainistreach
Dún Garbháin
Co Phortlairge
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