Ottawa: report on language services

[Harold Schiffman]

French Language Services Report

Council received the Report on French Language Services for
information. This report presents an overview of the delivery of
French language services at the City of Ottawa for the period spanning
from January 1, 2005 to March 31, 2007. The City of Ottawa has made
progress in offering French services to the community and to City
staff. For example, the City increased the number of subsidised child
care spaces available in French and recently published the first
edition of a guide of recreational activities offered in French.


However, the report concludes that there is room for improvement.
French needs to be better integrated in all City organized events. The
bilingual designation project is continuing. It is anticipated that
approximately 20% of all City positions will be designated. No
employees will lose their jobs as a result of the process.
Second-language training programs continue to be very popular, and
success (93.7%) and satisfaction (84%) levels are very high.


The volume of texts translated has steadily increased. Between 2005
and 2006, this increase was over 9%. Generally speaking, the quality
of texts in French continues to improve. Two new tools will soon
support the work of the Translation Service: an improved software
program for routing the work and a computerized text bank that will
help speed up translation times by providing translators with
previously translated texts.


The report concludes that the delivery of French language services
must be further integrated into the City's overall procedures. For
example, the report underscores the fact that the City's Bilingualism
Policy requires all municipal services to prepare an annual plan on
the delivery of French language services, supported by assessment and
monitoring measures. Such plans would allow all services to meet their
responsibilities with regard to the active offer of French language
services to the community and to municipal employees.

Note: parts of this report that were not relevant to language issues
have been deleted (HS).  For full report, go to
http://ottawastart.com/story/6675.php

**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a
message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
*******************************************