The demand for
translators and interpreters in the UK is on the rise. Recent numbers show that
the Government’s expenditure on translation and interpreting services is higher
year by year.
Last year, NHS spent
more than £16million on interpreters to help their patients from foreign
countries communicate with healthcare specialists. Based on the information
from the 63 NHS trusts, the top-requested language in 2012 was Polish (which
has also been ranked as the second most commonly spoken language in the UK). The
demand for Arabic and Slovak interpreters is also significant – both were
classified as second.
The 20 most frequently
demanded languages are (in alphabetical order): Arabic, Bengali, Czech, Farsi, French,
Gorani, Kurdish, Lithuanian,
Mandarin, Panjabi, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Somali, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese
Source: Ministry of Justice