I read a fascinating newspaper article recently explaining some of the reasons our interpreting service in Birmingham is in such high demand.
Birmingham has one of the youngest populations in Europe and students come from 87 different ethnic groups, with Asian pupils now the single biggest ethnic group in schools, accounting for more than 40%.
The report found a high influx of foreign nationals into the city has had an impact on the demographics of schools and a rise in the number of languages spoken.
Pupils at English Martyrs, in Sparkhill speak 31 different languages at home including Polish, Romanian, Arifkaans and Arabic.
The Catholic school, where the majority of pupils are from a Pakistani background, was ranked one of the best performing in Birmingham in SATs exams in 2011, with 91% of students getting level four or above in English, and 89% in maths. The most frequently requested interpreting service for individuals from Pakistan are for interpreters speaking either Punjabi or Urdu.
Teachers at the school specialise in teaching English as an additional language and also use interpreters to communicate.
The report was produced for Birmingham Community Safety Partnership (BCSP) by Sharon Rowe, Assistant Chief Constable of West Midlands Police.
It found 238,313 of Birmingham’s one million population were born outside of the UK.
The report examined the data on 31,737 pupils registered in Birmingham schools in 2011, and contained data on 29,847 of them. It found a mixture of languages are spoken in the city, with 14,636 pupils speaking English, 3,501 Urdu, 3,350 Punjabi, 1,600 Bengali and 1,164 Somali.
It also revealed Birmingham is one of the most youthful cities in the country. Around 22% of its population are under 15, while almost 46% were under 30 – compared with the England average of 37.6%.
Learn more
If you would be interested in learning more about the interpreting services we offer in Birmingham, do please get in touch and one of our project managers will be happy to help. You can find all sorts of useful information on our website about our interpreting services in Birmingham covering Polish, Romanian, Arabic, Pakistani Punjabi, Indian Punjabi, Urdu, and Bengali. You can view a full language list on our site, but if you do not see the language you are interested in, do please get in touch as we may well still be able to help.
Â
