The president of the Parish Council of Venteira, in Amadora, to which many immigrants, especially Indians, turn, has determined that services only be provided in Portuguese, to avoid errors of interpretation, and denies any discriminatory attitude.
With a strong presence of Indian immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, until a month ago, this board provided services in English, but João Pica realized that “neither the immigrants understand the employees’ English, nor do they understand the immigrants’ English”.
João Pica took office as president of the Venteira Parish Council, in the heart of the city of Amadora, a month ago and this was one of the first measures he adopted.
“What I noticed, in three or four services that I witnessed, was that, at the end of the service, neither our employee understood half of what the interlocutor was saying, nor the customer, in that case, understood half of what our employee was saying”, he told Lusa.
For João Pica, the fact that the English spoken by these immigrants is “very rudimentary” means that there is no understanding.
One of the consequences of this difficulty in interpretation was the complaint of some immigrants, who claimed that the board had given them incorrect information.
“I cannot have employees who are risking being collaborative with someone who then comes here and makes a complaint, and makes a well-made complaint, because they had information that they thought was correct and it wasn’t”, he observed.
The mayor explained that the services continued and an official translator was not needed.
“We do require that the person be accompanied by someone who does the translation, that there is someone who speaks Portuguese, who understands Portuguese and translates into the native language of the person who is there to be served”, he continued.
João Pica said that the changes are “going well”, having overcome “one or two constraints” related to serving people who were not counting on the need for a translator.