The letter, ‘Learning Greek is important if you plan to live in Cyprus’ (Cyprus Mail, June 17) was critical of foreign residents, mainly Brits, living in Cyprus who expect election information for MEPs and local councils to be published in English.
The implication was that anyone who did not read good enough Greek to understand the information available was both rude to their host country and a colonialist. The author made the point that, ‘all Cypriots that emigrated to the UK learned English’, a country where the road signs are written only in English. In Cyprus we are lucky that they are written in Greek and English.
When I was in the UK recently, I received election information from my local council in at least six languages. I also regularly receive other information from the council about local services in the same number of languages. Pages on the council website are written in nine languages, including French, Somali, Turkish and a number of Asian and Eastern European languages.
The council in South London, serving a population of just over 200,000 people, also offers a translation and interpretation service. The council is one of about 30 London borough councils and is not unique in its approach to making information accessible to the large number of residents for whom English is not their first language; it recognises the many different languages spoken within that particular community and the fact that even if residents do speak English, they may find it easier to access important information in their native language.
In any modern European country there is a level of multiculturalism that stems from the principle of free movement. People are free to reside in any European country for as long or as short a period of time as they choose.
They may or may not, for any number of reasons, learn the local language and if they do choose to learn it, they may learn to speak and read fluently or they may just learn enough to have a basic conversation. It is reasonable for those residents to expect public information to be provided by the government in a number of languages that reflect the make-up of the community.
A request for information in English has nothing to do with colonialism or basic rudeness and everything to do with inclusive, European, multicultural living. It might be reasonable to expect Cyprus authorities to provide information in English, Turkish and Russian as well as Greek.
Tracy Phillips,
Nicosia
