Confusion in Glasgow
Source: Craig McKay on Unsplash
Firm seeks Glaswegian interpreter
A translation company is looking to recruit Glaswegian interpreters to help business clients who are baffled by the local dialect.Today Translations placed an advert in The Herald newspaper on Tuesday seeking speakers of "Glaswegian English".
Successful candidates, who could earn *up to £140 a day, must understand "vocabulary, accent and nuances".
The firm said, so far, 30 people had applied for the positions - some of them in Glaswegian.
Today Translations spokesman, Mick Thorburn said: "Over the last few months we've had clients asking us for Glaswegian translators.
"After some consideration we've decided this is a service we would like to offer.
"Usually, the role would involve translating documents but in this case its more likely to be assisting foreign visitors to the city whose 'business English' is not good enough to understand the local dialect."
Mr Thorburn said successful candidates may have to sit in on business meetings.
He added: "We're not necessarily looking for people who are particularly skilled in linguistics, just candidates who can help out clients who may struggle with native Glaswegian."
Today Translations said that depending on the volume of applications, it expected to contact the successful clients in the next few weeks.
Earlier this year a bus driver was recognised for teaching his Eastern European colleagues at First Glasgow bus company to understand Glaswegian slang.
James Lillis said: "When new employees come to Scotland and hear the Glasgow accent, it can be a problem. Drivers have to learn to understand what is meant when a customer says, for example, 'Gie us an aw day tae the toon' (Give me an all day ticket to the town)."
Spotlight on vocabulary:
We use *up to to say something is less than or equal to but not more than a stated value, number or level.
- The temperature can go up to 30 degrees here in the summer.
- I can spend up to 150 euros when I go out at the weekend.
- I can count up to 100 in German.
- We studied up to page 55 in the previous course.
Comments
Do you understand and speak Glaswegian slang? Is this slang ancestral or is a way to avoid that other people understand them? In the article is not clear if the Glaswegian slang is belong to Glasgow or it spreads out whole Scotland. Mr. Thorburn refers to native Glaswegian then, when people from Glasgow have to go to school have they to learn Glaswegian slang?
If the advert in the Herald newspaper it is said that they are seeking speakers of “Glaswegian English”, it means that there are English from Scotland, from Ireland, from England, from Wales, from London and so on. Everybody from these places speaks English with the different accent. Not only is necessary to know the accent but they must know too vocabulary and nuances. Will they understand each other?
I congratulated myself because I supposed that I could understand the English in England or in Scotland, but now I have doubts because if everybody told me please: “Gie us an aw day tae the toon”, I wouldn´t know what he told me.
The English boast that they have not to learn other languages, but I can see that they have to learn different slangs if they want to journey around their county.
See you.
I don't use Glaswegian slang. It may be tough to understand but I find it easier to follow a coversation in Glasgow than one in London.
Do you understand and speak Glaswegian slang? Is this slang ancestral or is it a way to avoid other people understanding them? In the article, it is not clear if Glaswegian slang just belong to Glasgow or it has spread throughout the whole of Scotland. Mr. Thorburn refers to native Glaswegian, so when people from Glasgow go to school, do they have to learn Glaswegian slang?
In the advert in the Herald newspaper, it says that they are seeking speakers of “Glaswegian English”, it means that there is English from Scotland, from Ireland, from England, from Wales, from London and so on. Everybody from these places speaks English with a different accent. Not only is it necessary to know the accent but they must know vocabulary and nuances too. Will they understand each other?
I congratulated myself because I supposed that I could understand the English in England or in Scotland, but now I have my doubts because if everybody told me please: “Gie us an aw day tae the toon”, I wouldn´t know what they had said.
The English boast that they don't have to learn other languages, but I can see that they have to learn different slang if they want to travel around their country.