Friday 29 May 2009

White man he speaks with forked tongue

WHITE man, he speaks damn expensive languages! The cost to the public purse in Northern Ireland of translating English into Irish and Ulster-Scots was £70,000 in two years.

Which is ironic as translation from English into Spanish, Mandarin or Urdu would be more cost-effective.

Spanish is now the first language of more than 60million US citizens. India and China produce more maths PHDs in a year than the entire European Union does in three years. Each has millions (no exaggeration) of university graduates engaged in research and development that would make most UK and RoI companies eyes water in envy.

It may only be a sneaking suspicion but when the wonderful people at Invest Northern Ireland try to attract foreign investors, the said investors will be bemused by the obsession over English let alone the minority tongues.

We would now like to apologise for cultural heresy in suggesting that the languages being translated are irrelevant to economic development!

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