It was recently discovered that Somalis who had found refuge in the Manchester area of England were given leaflets that were full of errors due to improper translation.

There are about 10,000 Somalian immigrants in the Manchester area due to the east African nation suffering ravage and war in the 1990s. Many of these individuals do not speak English and rely on interpreters and translators to understand what is going on around them.

The inaccurate leaflets had many errors with one reading "is it difficult for him that you understand English," when it was supposed to say, "do you have difficulty speaking or understanding English?" Another, referring to domestic abuse prevention said, "you are not compelled to insist on domestic abuse."

Researcher Liban Ahmad is a Somalian journalist who has lived in Britain for eight years. He has been studying Somali translation in the public realm and says, "These mistakes are so common because people haven’t got the training to translate." Ahmad stresses, "Mistakes like this could confuse vulnerable people who agencies are trying to reach."

The Manchester Council claims they have hired an experienced Somali interpreter who will examine and correct the documents in question.

09 September 2008