FYI, from
http://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/the-world-banks-language-pol
icy-2009-07-06.html (link seen on Twitter)


The World Bank's Language Policy
July 6th, 2009 by Scott J

I never cease to discover new facts about the world that stun me to silence.
Rebecca Harris at Foreign Policy recently published an article addressing
problems that community groups in Yemen are having in receiving a translated
version of the World Bank's conditions on a grant they were given. When
confronted, the official response from the Bank was:

"like all other project documents - [the loan conditions are] available
only in English, since this is the official language to be used in all the
transactions and contracts between the Government of the Republic of Yemen
and the World Bank."

The letter specifically cites the Government of Yemen, but the idea that an
English-only means of communication could exist in one country whose mother
tongue is not English implies that it could exist in any, if not all,
countries. The recipients are then placed with the burden (in terms of time
and energy as well as financial) to accurately translate the documents for
comprehension in the local region.

All of that defeats a simple purpose: these groups went to the World Bank to
request funding for impoverished areas in dire need of assistance. The money
received will be the difference between life and death for human beings.and
some of the funds available to he group now must be divested to translation
when the World Bank itself will not take the time to provide a translation.
This cost-heavy aspect of the project leads easily into the idea of the
recipient group simply skipping the process of translation and thereby not
understanding the conditions or details of the deal in full. I find it
astounding that such a large hurdle is presented in the middle of a path to
assistance and I commend Ms. Harris for doing her part in bringing our
attention to it.

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