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Article: Here, in full, are the 150 languages spoken in London that the 999 services are having to translate.
- Article from:
- The Evening Standard (London, England)
- Article date:
- June 25, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: MARK PRIGG;ELIZABETH HOPKIRK
WALK down any street in London and the chances are you will hear numerous different languages. Of the city's eight million inhabitants, three million do not have English as their mother tongue.
London has always been regarded as culturally diverse but the decision by the Metropolitan Police to introduce a 999 service with translators - catering for 150 languages - has revealed the full extent of the capital's ethnic mix. In a three-month pilot of the service, six languages dominated 999 calls - Portuguese, Turkish, Punjabi, Spanish, French and Somali. Not far behind were Tamil, Bengali, Arabic, Italian and Polish.
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