With a strong presence of Indian immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, this council had been providing services in English until a month ago, but João Pica realised that "neither the immigrants understand the English of the staff, nor do the staff understand the English of the immigrants".

João Pica took over as president of the Venteira Parish Council, in the heart of Amadora city, a month ago, and this was one of the first measures he adopted.

“What I noticed, in three or four consultations I witnessed, was that, at the end of the consultation, neither our employee understood half of what the interlocutor was saying, nor did the customer, in that case, understand 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” makes it difficult to understand.

One of the consequences of this difficulty in interpretation was the complaint of some immigrants, who claimed that the council had given them incorrect information.

“I cannot have employees who are risking being cooperative with someone who then comes here and makes a complaint, and makes a well-founded complaint, because they received information that they thought was correct and it wasn't,” he observed.

The mayor explained that the consultations continued and an official translator is not necessary. “We do require that the person be accompanied by someone who can translate, someone who speaks Portuguese, understands Portuguese, and translates into the native language of the person being served,” he continued.

João Pica said that the changes are “going well,” overcoming “one or two constraints” related to serving people who were not expecting to need a translator.