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Newham Borough
Council Language Survey Albanian Speakers
Respondent
Characteristics
60 respondents answering the language survey spoke Albanian as their first language. Table 1 below provides a general summary of respondent characteristics.
· The vast majority (92%) of respondents were aged under 45, whilst the larger proportion of all respondents were female (62%).
· All the respondents considered their country of origin to be Kosovo, the largely Albanian speaking region of Yugoslavia.
· Respondents had mostly been resident in the UK for between 1 and 3 years (58%), with the rest being divided between 3 to 5 years of residence (25%) and less than 12 months (13%). Very few (3%) had lived in the UK for more than 5 years.
Table 1 Characteristics of Respondents Language
and Communication Skills
General Language Skills
Without exception, all respondents stated that the language they feel most comfortable using is Albanian, in terms of reading, writing and speaking, with no variation across these aspects. The respondent group also showed a low incidence of knowledge of other languages for conversational use, with one respondent each mentioning that they are comfortable using Serbian and Greek conversationally.
Formal Verbal Communication
Respondents were asked about their perceived ability to undertake a formal discussion, perhaps with the Police or their Doctor etc. This question was asked in terms of both their ability to understand and to talk themselves, and was asked in relation to both Albanian and English. Table 2 compares the responses given.
Table 2 Formal Verbal Communication Ability
The results show that, overall, respondents were uneasy about their ability to converse formally in English, although the majority felt that they would at least be able to attempt a conversation. Respondents were generally slightly more confident about their ability to understand than to talk formally themselves. None felt able to understand or talk very well, although 7% believed that they can talk quite well, with 32% feeling that they can understand formal English quite well. The majority of respondents placed themselves in the 'not very well' category for both talking (72%) and understanding (57%), leaving a significant minority who believe they cannot understand (12%) or talk (22%) in formal English.
In marked contrast, nearly all the respondents believed that their ability to converse in Albanian was very good, with 100% feeling capable of understanding very well, and 95% confident that they can talk formally in Albanian very well, with the rest stating 'quite well'.
Due to the small sample size, and the relatively small variation in both the ages of respondents and the amount of time they have lived in the UK, it is difficult to draw any significant parallels between these factors and respondents' abilities in formal English conversation. However, the general indications are that respondents' confidence in English increases with the amount of time they have lived in the UK, as one would intuitively expect, whereas it is difficult to see any connection between age and formal English verbal ability.
Formal Written Communication Ability
Table 3 shows how respondents feel they can read and write in a formal context, again in both English and Albanian.
Table 3 Formal Written Communication Ability
Unsurprisingly, the results follow a very similar pattern to the responses to questions regarding formal verbal ability, with respondents generally more confident in understanding than writing themselves, and being uneasy about their English ability whilst confident in their use and understanding of Albanian.
The significant difference is that respondents are less confident in their overall formal written ability than they are about their formal verbal ability. This is manifested in a much higher proportion of respondents believing they cannot write or read a formal letter in English 'at all' (50% and 70% respectively), as well as a lower proportion of respondents saying that they can write 'very well' (72%), in comparison to the verbal equivalent.
Again, as expected, the indication is that confidence in English ability generally increases in line with the amount of time the respondent has lived in the UK, although in contrast with verbal English ability it appears that younger respondents generally felt more confident in both reading and writing in formal English than older respondents did. However, the small sample size restricts the significance of these findings.
Ability to Read and Understand an English Daily
Newspaper
As Table 4 shows, respondents' confidence in their ability to understand an English language daily newspaper followed a broadly similar pattern to their perceived ability in understanding formal English. None had any real degree of confidence, with 77% choosing the 'not at all confident' option, and the rest stating they were 'not very confident'.
Base = All Respondents Table 4 Confidence in Ability to Understand an English Newspaper
Contact
with Council
Use of Council Services
Only 25 respondents (42%) had made use of council services when they responded to the questionnaire and the vast majority of these (92%) had done so in order to access benefits, although none specified the exact kind. Nearly half (44%) had also used council services for the purpose of 'education', including nursery, schools and college.
Table 5 below shows how respondents rated the ease of their contact with the council, with regard to both verbal and written communication.
Base = 25 Respondents who had used council services Table 5 Ease of Understanding Contact with Council
Verbal Contact with Council
All respondents who said that they had used council services had done so in person, with none using the telephone. Most of these (84%) experienced some degree of difficulty in understanding council staff, with 48% having great difficulty.
Nearly three quarters (72%) were offered the opportunity to use an interpreter, and all of those found that they were subsequently able to 'fully understand' with the interpreter's help. Of those who were not offered an interpreter, the large majority (86%) believed that this would have helped them to understand council staff.
When visiting council offices, respondents tended to either go alone (40%) or take a friend (36%), or family member (20%). One respondent each said that they had taken a project worker or interpreter with them. The results seem to suggest that younger respondents were more likely to go alone, whilst older respondents tended to be accompanied by a member of family, but again, with such a small sample size it is impossible to come to any concrete conclusions.
Written Contact with Council
Table 5 also shows how respondents had difficulty with written contact with the council (letters, leaflets etc.), even more so than with verbal contact, as 96% of these respondents had some degree of difficulty in understanding the written communication.
All respondents who had used council services stated that had the letter/leaflet been translated then it would have helped them, with most (92%) giving the reason that a translation would have made them feel more independent, as they would have found it easier to read and understand. Other responses included that it would save time, and that it would allow a response to information. Communication
Options
Newspaper Readership
Most respondents did not regularly read any newspapers, but 23% said that they regularly read Bota Sot, and 3 respondents also mentioned Koha Ditore.
Broadcast Media
With 88% of respondents not regularly watching any Albanian language TV channels and 93% not regularly listening to any Albanian language radio programmes, use of this type of media is obviously not prevalent amongst this group. In relation to radio stations, respondents mentioned BBC Doje Vele, Blue Sky and Radio Kosova, whilst Kosovan/Albanian News was mentioned in relation to TV channels.
Computer Ownership
Only one respondent lived in a computer owning household, and said that they would not be able to use the computer to access council information.
Along with the low incidence of newspaper and broadcast media users, and the lack of English language confidence, this would seem to suggest that this group is quite seriously isolated from most forms of communication. Other
Sources of Information
Voluntary Organisations
50% (30 respondents) said that they regularly visited a voluntary organisation, and of these, 28 respondents said that this was RAMP. The remaining 2 said that they had visited the children's society. Respondents who visited charitable organisations tended to be in the older age groups, with the 16-24 age group showing a particularly high proportion of respondents (82%) who do not use voluntary organisations.
Religious Venues
Only 4 respondents said that they regularly visited a religious place, mentioning both 'church' and 'Catholic Church', but not specifying any particular one.
Help and Advice
Most respondents felt that if they needed help or advice they would ask a Social Worker (65%) or RAMP (40%). A significant proportion also mentioned the Council Office/Town Hall (20%) or a Solicitor (13%), whilst a minority mentioned The Children's Society (5%), College/School (3%) or their Doctor (2%).
The results suggest a trend towards younger respondents favouring asking a Social Worker, but not the Council Office, whilst for respondents in the older age groups the exact reverse applies. Respondents in the middle age groups (i.e. 35-44) would appear to prefer going to RAMP for help or support.
Usual Information Sources
95% of respondents relied upon word of mouth to hear about information regarding events and benefits etc., with remainder utilising leaflets in Albanian.
Possible Information Sources
Although 35% of respondents had no ideas regarding what might be the best way that information could be made easily available for them to access, the remainder had quite a wide variety of ideas. The most popular choices were at Education Centres (27%), Medical Facilities (15%), and Cultural Organisations (5%) and in letters/leaflets by post (12%). A few respondents also mentioned each of Supermarkets/Shops and Libraries. The younger age group of respondents really only favoured the idea of using Educational Centres - if they did not give this answer then they were most likely to not give any ideas at all. Provision
of Council Information
Preferred Format for Council Information
Text translation was by far the preferred method of providing information in Albanian, with only 8% and 7% of respondents choosing Video and Telephone translation respectively, leaving 85% in favour of text.
The reasons given for this were -
· 'I can read it myself' - 55% · 'Easier to understand' - 45% · 'Convenience' - 22% · 'I can keep a record of it' - 16%
Respondents did not have such strong opinions on which would be the least useful method, with 87% not giving any answer at all.
Utilisation of Leaflets
As with other forms of written communication, respondents were not confident about their ability to understand leaflets written in English, with 93% saying they would have at least some difficulty in understanding the leaflet. Again, they were confident about their ability to understand in Albanian however, with all of them saying they would find Albanian language leaflets very easy to understand.
Table 6 shows a comparison between respondents' confidence in both understanding leaflets and in getting help to understand, for both languages.
Base = All Respondents Table 6 Understanding Leaflets
Encouragingly, respondents were more optimistic about their chances of getting help in understanding an English leaflet than they were about understanding it themselves. As Table 6 shows, over half (57%) thought that they would encounter any difficulty in getting help with an English language leaflet, and only 5% thought that they would find it very difficult.
Surprisingly, the respondents all gave an answer to how easily they thought they could get help with an Albanian leaflet - perhaps they took the question to mean an explanation of the contents rather than a translation. In any case, 97% of respondents thought that they would be able to access help with great ease.
Table 7 below shows whom the respondents felt they would be able to turn to in order to get help in understanding a leaflet. In order to translate English leaflets, 57% thought that they would turn to their friends, whilst 33% believed that help would come from within the family, with only 10% stating that they would turn to RAMP volunteers.
For an explanation of an Albanian leaflet, respondents' were much more likely to turn to their family (66%), with 33% getting help from friends.
Base = All Respondents Table 7 Source of Help With Leaflets
Preferred Options for Receiving Information from the Council
Respondents were enthusiastic about receiving details of an interpreter with any English leaflet, with 98% feeling that this would be useful. However, 65% felt that the most useful method of getting information would be a fully translated leaflet, with 27% preferring a place to go. Opinions were split over this however, as 35% believed a place to go would be the least useful option, and 27% selected a fully translated leaflet as the least useful option. Summary Sheet - Albanian
· Sample consists mainly of young/middle aged individuals, with slightly more women than men.
· All from Kosovo.
· Short UK residency, many under three years, none over five.
· Very low newspaper readership, very low Albanian TV/Radio access.
· Very low computer access.
· Around 50% regularly use a voluntary organisation (esp. RAMP).
· Attendance at religious venues is rare.
· Information/advice/help gained via word of mouth from local community/family.
· English - Verbal - uncertain, many feel they can make an attempt. Written - poor, many find it very difficult.
· Albanian - Verbal - Excellent. Written - Excellent, very high standard of literacy.
· Less than half have utilised council services (for Benefits).
· Contact evaluated as difficult, opinion on verbal contact polarised - either very difficult or easy.
· Most verbal contact is face to face; many take a friend/family member for help, although a sizeable minority go alone.
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Prefer full Albanian text translations of leaflets, due to high degree
of Albanian literacy.
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Young people suggest providing this information in Educational Facilities
- other age groups have few suggestions.
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