In light of the current refugee situation, the little city in Old Europe I call home is now seeking volunteer translators for the following languages:
- Arabic
- Persian
- Serbian
- English
- French
- Turkish
- Kurdish
- Pashto
- Afrikaans(!)
I understand the need, but why not pay people for their work?
The cities have no money. Under German law, it’s the job of the local authorities (not the Federal government) to house the refugees, feed them, pay for their medical expenses and pay them their monthly allowance (not in all states) and other benefits. I doubt that my local city government has any funds to pay for translators. They don’t even have the money to fix the cracks in the road.
Why on earth are they asking for Afrikaans translators? There is no refugee situation emanating from South Africa.
Indeed, very strange.
If it’s a volunteer scenario, they’re likely just being precautious by making sure they have someone available just in case they happen to wind up with an Afrikaans-speaking refugee.
IIRC, a psychiatric hospital in Oregon put out a want ad for a Klingon interpreter a few years back for much the same reason.
Donnerwetter can clarify, but I don’t think the languages listed are necessarily those spoken by refugees - for example, I’m unaware of any influx of refugees from Turkey or anyplace where Turkish is the dominant language.
It seems likely the languages listed are simply those that have a significant number of speakers in Germany - according to Wiki the Turkish community in Germany is two million strong.
I’m surprised as you are to see Afrikaans on that list.
And if I recall correctly, there has been a large Turkish community in Germany since the late 1960s.
Most Afrikaans speakers (as in overwhelming majority) can speak English with varying degrees of fluency. The possibility they have an Afrikaans speaking migrant who can’t communicate adequately in English is slim. I imagine English translators will be much easier to come by.
There are no native solely Klingon speakers, and if there is what a horrendous case of child abuse.
So why are they seeking that?
My guess? It’s a psychiatric hospital. I can well imagine that they might get a patient who believes he/she is Klingon and is unable to communicate in any other language.
Or you could just use a Dutch translator, the spoken languages are still close enough that you could get by if you had to.
My guess is that there are refugees from other African countries for whom Afrikaans might be a more workable common language than their own, but I’m hard pressed to think of one. Or maybe someone at the Town Hall just made a mistake under pressure?