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April 10th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
Fifteen are recognised as having language ‘confidence’ – defined as being able
to read road signs and book a hotel room.
But some 1690 staff, or 90 per cent of the Diplomatic Service, have no
recognised language abilities for the country where they are posted.
A number of British embassies, including in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt,
Malaysia and the Philippines have no diplomats recognised as speaking the
local language.
There are no diplomats registered as speaking Latvian in Riga, the capital of
the European Union’s fastest growing economy.
There is only one Arabic-speaking diplomat registered in each of Britain’s
embassies in oil-rich Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
Similarly there is only one diplomat with a grasp of the local language in
each of Britain’s missions to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
By contrast, almost half of Australia’s diplomatic service are proficient in
local languages.
The figures were uncovered by Conservative MP Stephen Barclay, who sits on the
Public Accounts Select Committee.
The Foreign Office language school was reopened last year by William Hague,
the Foreign Secretary.
Its closure in 2007 was dubbed “moronic” and “profoundly mistaken” by Foreign
Office insiders at the time.
Mr Barclay said: “A lack of language skills could have cost Britain many times
over the supposed savings that Labour tried to make. It just shows how short
sighted that policy was.
“We may never know how many deals the UK has missed out on because of a lack
of language skills.”
Charles Crawford, the former British ambassador to Poland and a speaker of
Serbian, Russian, Afrikaans and French has volunteered his services to the
school.
“You are always going to be more efficient if you can speak the language,” he
said. “Translators can get it wrong. People relax more when they are
yammering away in their own language. You can go live on television if you
are good enough, and present your policy to the general public.”
The figures were revealed in Parliament by Foreign Office minister Henry
Bellingham. They show the number of diplomatic service staff in each country
who receive extra pay because they have passed Foreign Office language
exams.
It is possible that more staff have an understanding of local languages but
have chosen not to take advantage of the scheme, and as such are not
included in the official figures.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said this year funding for languages has
increased 30 per cent and there are 40 per cent more speakers of Arabic and
Mandarin than two years ago. He added: “The FCO recognises the importance of
languages and has a workforce able to communicate and negotiate effectively
throughout the world – from Latin America to the Far East. But we are
committed to strengthening our diplomatic network further – including
reviving core diplomatic skills such as language learning.”
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