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National Weather Service no longer translating products for non-English speakers (apnews.com)
64 points by geox 84 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 75 comments



Taking an extreme example, if I go to France, I don't expect government announcements to be provided in English for me. I'm in France, their official language is French, I need to figure out the French myself.

I don't think anyone would debate that point (feel free to swap France for any other country).

While for some reason it does feel more borderline in the case of Spanish in the US, I'm not sure why?


First off, if you take your extreme example and go to France, you'll be surprised ;-).

In fact, taking your extreme surprise even further, you'll find things in Southern France translated into languages you've never heard of, too, simply because there are a lot of French citizens who speak them.

> While for some reason it does feel more borderline in the case of Spanish in the US, I'm not sure why?

Because:

1. English has only recently (as in, about a month ago) become the official language of the US at a federal level. It's not necessarily super controversial (since it's singularily spoken by roughly 78% of the population) but six weeks isn't exactly tradition.

2. English is either not the official language, or has co-official status, in 18 states, and the NWS is a federal agency, so it does need to provide services to those 18 states, too.

> I don't think anyone would debate that point (feel free to swap France for any other country).

Practically all democratic countries debate that point, actually. State-level services are obligated to cater to their citizens, not the other way around.

Swapping France for my country, yeah, it's been a settled debate for more than 25 years now (and we've been late to the table): state institutions have to provide their services in whatever language the citizen who requests them primarily speak, and under specific circumstances (law enforcement, judicial, health etc.) in whatever language a foreign citizen who is detained or in need of assistance speaks. If they need to, they can hire translators, but they can't say no, because they're the ones providing a service to the people, not the other way around.


I understand everyone has different experiences and I have the advantage of having personal experience to the contrary so I don’t judge this opinion, I knew people where I grew up that believed this to be fact.

To better inform everyone their are plenty of French laws and announcements that are translated to English ( I moved there right before Covid and had to rely on said services at first ).

https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/R2771?l...

And they provide state news services in various languages including English

https://www.france24.com/en/ https://www.rfi.fr/en/

More complicated for your argument is there are parts of the USA that have had Spanish as the primary language since they joined the USA. San Antonio, Texas for example I don’t believe has ever been majority anglophone and it doesn’t become more anglophone the further south you go. My wife’s family has been in Texas since it was Spain, and they only in very recent generations switched to English primarily.

I’m not sure if you find any of this convincing, but I hope at least realize it is a bit more complicated than you may have realized.


> To better inform everyone their are plenty of French laws and announcements that are translated to English

This is not the point. The point is that there should not be an expectation. French is the language of France. Moving there and expecting people to communicate you in English is not something we should be celebrating.

> San Antonio, Texas for example I don’t believe has ever been majority anglophone

This is not true. 2/3rds of San Antonio households speak English at home. Then you add in people who speak another language at home but still speak English.

https://satxtoday.6amcity.com/most-common-languages-san-anto...


This isn't about expecting "people" to communicate to you in a language they don't speak, it's about expecting state institutions to communicate in their citizens' language. French public institutions definitely use languages other than French where it's regionally relevant. It's not mandated (only French language is mandated) but they do it because when you take taxpayers money to function and provide services to them, you don't get to be fussy when they show up and ask that you speak their language.

France is in a league of its own in this regard, since French is not just the official state language (and has been for some time, not a few weeks like in the US), but it's also the mandated language for commercial and business use. However, the French state doesn't just mandate that, it also creates the conditions for it, for instance by providing (and requiring) free, universal French-language elementary education for all its citizens.

And even so, they're still not universally French-only, even though they're probably the most centralist of all EU countries in this regard.


> when you take taxpayers money to function and provide services to them, you don't get to be fussy when they show up and ask that you speak their language.

Citizenship and residency have both benefits, but also obligations. GP moved to France without a good grasp of the local language.

Note: I'm importantly not talking about the native minority languages in France.


> Citizenship and residency have both benefits, but also obligations. GP moved to France without a good grasp of the local language.

A good grasp of French language is not a requirement for French residency. Some visas require it, but not all, and if you can travel and reside in France without a visa, you don't have to know it. For EEA and Swiss citizens, all you need is a valid ID and a clean record.

> Note: I'm importantly not talking about the native minority languages in France.

Why not? NWS translated languages in minority languages of the US, that's exactly what this is about.

English was mentioned above the GP, which is why it was brought up, but European institutions commonly provide English translations along with regional languages in part because a lot of the EU population is bilingual. That actually helps a lot, especially since state regulation is a little slow to catch up with society at times. E.g. where I'm from we have a sizable Turkish population, and while Turkish is an officialy-recognised minority language, some local institutions are slow to catch up with population dynamics, so a lot of Turkish residents end up perusing the English version instead and they're fine with it.


>Citizenship and residency have both benefits, but also obligations. GP moved to France without a good grasp of the local language.

It's an interesting one. I guess it's a requirement to learn French to naturalize as a French citizen, but there isn't an obligation to speak it if you already are a citizen. It's pretty subtle difference.

On the other hand citizenship in question is not really French citizenship, but European citizenship. It's polite and makes total sense to learn French when living in France, but not a legal requirement. As a citizen of another member state I can just move there and have the same rights as citizens with the sole exception of not voting in the national elections.


That's where we differ. Of course, you're not obligated to speak French, but to go and expect people to communicate you in your language, not theirs, is highly entitled.


I learned fast enough it was my 4th language. I have passed the C1 level exam (advanced, I would have struggled in my mother tongue), responses below you are correct though, you can learn as you arrive. This is IMO the best of all worlds, as it brings in talent and encourages integration.


You are very right! For example, my work contract was in French and English. The French was the legally binding text. I found this an excellent balance.


Re France listen the French are super duper proud of their language and rightfully so, it’s still practical to communicate to your residents important information.

Re San Antonio, they actually are counting the metro area which brings in a lot of white suburbs and throws the numbers off a lot but in the interest of being balanced, let’s say I’ll concede the point.

There are still a lot of US citizens in San Antonio that speak Spanish primarily, I think you’d be surprised by this, I know I was the first 200 times I met someone like that, lots of people there with roots back several generations still speaking with English with an accent.


Considering I grew up outside in San Antonio, I don't think I'd be surprised at all...


Well met, I love that part of the world and I have many happy memories of my time there.

So I guess I just misunderstood where you were coming from but I’m interested as I also see in another thread you commented on this :

> Citizenship and residency have both benefits, but also obligations. GP moved to France without a good grasp of the local language. Note: I'm importantly not talking about the native minority languages in France.

So can you elaborate a bit on your comment about minority languages? I believe there are way more multigenerational Spanish speakers in the former Spanish/Mexican parts of the USA than there are Basque, Alsacien, or Breton speakers, so if I understood you correctly you’re ok with some carve outs for the Alsaciens, Catalans, Bretons and Basques of France. If you disagree with the above statement or if I just misunderstood I’d be interested too.

PS yes I moved without perfect French, but it wasn’t for lack of trying and experience in learning similar languages, in the end, I just wasn’t willing to bail on my employer last minute who’d put all this money and planning into this, so I just muddled through. It worked out after all.


> if I go to France, I don't expect government announcements to be provided in English

In Netherlands they'll translate things in various languages. If you get stopped by the police and they need to communicate they'll get a translator; pretty much doesn't matter which language you're speaking (within reason). Easily 50+ languages.

The French are really particular. The USA often used the phrase "melting pot". So I find the comparison with France quite odd.


For one thing, the US has never had an official language. English is obviously the most widely used there, but contracts and official documents written in other languages are also completely valid.


English is the lingua franca of the US. Pretty much all business and government paperwork is done in English.


At least in California plenty of government paperwork is available in a variety of languages. For example you can take a driver’s license test in 32 languages.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-wo...


> lingua franca

It's pretty hypocritical to unironically use an Italian idiom for a Mediterranean pidgin that literally means `language of the Franks`, i.e., French, in a comment supporting neo-reactionaries' attempts to shut minorities out of the government services they deserve per the democratic social contract not to mention pay for with their taxes.


>It's pretty hypocritical to unironically use an Italian idiom for a Mediterranean pidgin that literally means `language of the Franks`, I don't know if that has an argument fallacy like ad hominem, would we call this "ad etymology"?

>i.e., French, in a comment supporting neo-reactionaries' attempts to shut minorities out of the government services they deserve per the democratic social contract not to mention pay Shut out? They came of their own volition to a nation known to primarily speak English, did not learn English or have a means to communicate in English, and that's on us if we don't bend a knee? I can tell you any american living in France, they're gonna find situations where businesses say straight up (in French), speak French or I won't help you. I guess those poor Americans were just getting shut out


It's interesting to learn that this means "language of the Franks"

I've always thought it meant more "language of the francs (old french currency)", ie "the language of doing business"

Learn something new every day


> Pretty much all business and government paperwork is done in English.

TIL.


>> the US has never had an official language

The US has an official language. It is English. See https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/desi....

"To promote unity, cultivate a shared American culture for all citizens, ensure consistency in government operations, and create a pathway to civic engagement, it is in America’s best interest for the Federal Government to designate one — and only one — official language. Establishing English as the official language will not only streamline communication but also reinforce shared national values, and create a more cohesive and efficient society.

Accordingly, this order designates English as the official language of the United States."


I admit that I was unaware of that order, as I currently live overseas and don’t follow US news that closely.

However, the order opens with the line “By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America,” and I know of no law or constitutional clause that grants the President the power to designate an official language.

I could easily be mistaken, as there are a lot of laws on the books and this isn’t my field of expertise. Usually, though, an executive order will cite the relevant authority so that everyone understands where the power comes from; this one doesn’t.

It’s also mostly symbolic, aside from rescinding a previous order— None of the executive agencies are directed to halt producing or processing non-English documents, for instance.


Executive orders are not laws, they're fancy memos. Puerto Rico is in the US btw where the official language is also Spanish.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States

> On March 1, 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14224 to symbolically designate English as the official language of the United States for the first time.[2][23] The U.S. Congress has never passed legislation declaring an official language at the federal level,[24][25] but English is typically used by the federal government and in states that do not have an official language.


This was also my first thought, that for example if you interact with official bodies in Germany, there is definitely an expectation that you speak German, even though you'll be accommodated if you're lucky and the other person speaks English.

But then again, I noticed that in the last few years more and more offerings were in other languages, too. During covid, many announcements or the app paid for by the government supported multiple languages. There might not be a right to perform official duties in languages other than German, but more and more it's a possibility. Sibling comments found similar examples.

My point being: much of the western world seems to move towards openness, inclusiveness, and accessibility, whereas the US currently moves backwards, as exemplified by the OP.


>My point being: much of the western world seems to move towards openness, inclusiveness, and accessibility, whereas the US currently moves backwards, as exemplified by the OP.

US doesn't just move backwards, it has a very specific behavior mode -- one of a culture that perceives itself to be under a threat of disappearing.

It's usually a behavior of a diaspora community that doesn't want to give in to assimilation or a country resisting colonization. Thus a focus on token symbols -- ash crosses, fetishization of language, grandstanding on the most nonsense and minor token issues.

The group that exhibits this behavior struggles to put up boundary between "them" and "us".


You'd be surprised. Just yesterday we had a 'tempest simulation' exercise in my city, we received warning in french by text and a link to a website that was translated in English. The announcements were translated in English, Spanish and German.

If I was in Brittany, I would also have a Breton translation, and in Perpignan, a Catalan translation.

The reason is just basic respect.


Just for the record, in my country (which isn't France, but I suspect it's not very different there) interpreters have to be provided by law, by hospitals and the like, where needed. And for residents (temporary or otherwise) who don't have a good grasp of the language (or should I say, languages, as there are more than one official one), interpreters have to be provided for a wide range of services. This is pretty common to various degrees across Europe. As for weather forecasts or other kinds of non-critical announcements there won't be any interpreters, but some of those are provided in several languages as well, just not on the main forecast shown on TV. Around here weather forecasts aren't normally particularly critical, but in those cases where they actually are, warnings are provided in several languages including English. And snow avalanche warnings and the like.


> if I go to France, I don't expect government announcements to be provided in English for me.

How many French cities have English names?

Thousands of American cities have Spanish names because they were founded by Spanish explorers. 20% of U.S. states have Spanish names.[1] I'm not arguing that this is reason enough for government announcements to be in English, but I think that comparing the use of Spanish in the U.S. to the use of English in France is invalid.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_place_names_of_Spanish...


Their capital was named after a Texas city, no?



I don't think those are directly comparable, as they're intended for press communication.

To stay on the topic of weather, after a quick scan of https://meteofrance.com, I don't know how to have it show a different language.


Indeed meteofrance appears to be monolingual. I would say they're a bit unusual in that though. Most other national meteorological services I know of have forecasts available in at least two languages.

E.g.:

Finnish/Swedish/English: https://www.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/, https://sv.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/, https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/

Italian/English: https://www.agenziaitaliameteo.it/, https://www.agenziaitaliameteo.it/en/

A dozen or so languages (full forecasts available in about half): https://www.jma.go.jp/jma/kokusai/multi.html


The German weather service also provides an English version:

https://www.dwd.de/EN/Home/home_node.html


Where I live that attitude is often summed up as "speak white".

Needless to say I moved here from a region where that would be shocking and offensive, and I don't really fit in culturally. But the land was cheap.


Emergency services are supposed to be for everyone in your country. Now its easy to narrow down just to citizens or residents but the US will have at all times a large quantity of visitors who are not expected to speak english I would suppose. If you get an emergency alert or message related to safety of a particular area it is in the best interest of society in general for that message to be understood by everyone in that area.


The US did not have an official language until last week.


The US still does not have an official language.

It has an executive order from the Chief Executive directing all federal government services be conducted in English only. Congress has enacted no law declaring English as the official language of all states, nor can it do so without a constitutional amendment unless it does so as a further amendment to the interstate commerce act.


If I go to Japan, I am more than happy that earthquake and typhoon warnings are provided in English too.

Putting peoples in harm's way just because they don't speak the language is petty, especially for a country as rich as the US, even more especially when they make such a big thing of their superior technology and Silicon Valley and AI...

Artificial intelligence can't beat human stupidity, apparently.


All of the road signs, news, etc. in Bretagne are written in both French and Breton. So it is simply not true that you should expect only french language in France. It is quite ironic that a country like USA that claims to be a "melting pot of the world" cannot handle the idea there are more than one language spoken inside of that country.


You seem to be forgetting that English is commonly the lingua franca of Europe.

When I went to Norway I was a little disappointed that I hardly needed any of the Norwegian I took the time to learn. Though it did come in handy when I was able to read the sign stating the tram stop we were waiting at was actually closed and to go to a different one.


I find it baffling for anybody to take this stance. Accessibility doesn't matter anymore, I guess. Doesn't matter that the US is basically the melting pot for the entire world or that US citizens are so incredibly diverse, nothing matters but English. I would've argued otherwise. I don't think anybody would debate the point that providing translations for government services is a great idea and incredibly helpful to many people.

That's what we do in Germany. Many of our services on a city, regional and national level provide at the very least English translations.

Case in point: https://www.stadt-koeln.de/index.html

Click on the button at the top with the translation icon and it'll show you tons of languages. Are any of these official languages in Germany or in Cologne? Nope. But we generally care about people who visit or might not be fluent in German, so we provide it anyway. It's the right thing to do.

But I guess wanting to help people, or in general being helpful to others, is a dying value in many places.


Did you actually go to France and experience this? Because it's not actually true.


The United States is a conglomeration of French, Spanish, Russian, and British colonies. Then there are immigrants from all over the world. Language translation is a pretty basic service to provide. Especially now that the internet is a thing. The only reason I can think of to limit the entire country to a single language would be bigotry.


I have mixed opinions on this yes you shouldn't expect government services to be in a foreign language, but some services (e.g. weather, health information) can be important for tourists too and if it is no trouble to provide the service in multiple languages, then it is beneficial to the tourism industry to do so.


> you shouldn't expect government services to be in a foreign language

But that's the thing about America. We don't have ein Volk. Or to put it another way, what does foreign mean to a nation like America? Lots of languages are spoken natively in America. That most people speak English is an accident of history and a matter of convention reinforced by bigots trying to "other" their neighbors. Americans could have just as easily ended up mostly speaking German.


It’s because it’s a matter of public safety, which is often over-translated compared to other government announcements.


s/France/Switzerland/


In Switzerland you'll have your grammar corrected by beggars on the street even if you're talking in a regional dialect


That's ok, just go 1 train stop. The grammar will change


>(feel free to swap France for any other country)

Taking an extreme example, if I go to North Korea, I don't expect to criticize Dear Leader and not be disappered and sent to labor camp.

...Did I swap it right?


Honestly, American tourists are the worse at assuming other people speak English, so I would keep things into perspective


It would only cost a few dollars for LLM based translations. I do not see why those cannot be spent.


The translations they were using (and have discontinued) were from Lilt, which uses LLM: https://lilt.com


The cost of this is not the real reason it was removed.


Putting aside the public safety problems an AI mistranslation could cause: for the current administration, making foreigners more welcome in America would be counterproductive.


the US doesnt have english as the law of the land, only as a very recent emergency order by the president.

its very likely that plenty of US citizens have never spoken no read anythjng in english in their life


If they were born here and schooled here they had to have learned English, if they came here and gotten citizenship they have to know English.Its a requirement.


More abstract arguments about taxpayer money aside, English expertise on a citizenship level is actually quite the counter-argument for this move.

A significant number, or possibly a majority of, adult native English speakers in the US actually speak English significantly below their formal education level: around 90% of them have at least graduated high school, but 54% of them read English below sixth grade level.

Standard English competency testing for the citizenship test is a joke (you have to read and write one of three sentences in a manner that demonstrates basic comprehension and familiarity with the language). But even so, there's a sizable number of native adult English speakers who would fail it.

So while they may have had to learn English in school or used it to pash their citizenship test, that's no guarantee that adults still speak it well enough. That's not particularly surprising, given that there are large, non-English speaking communities in the US. Someone who's passed their citizenship test in the 1980s and has spoken English maybe once a week afterwards in a shop or a restaurant is likely to have forgotten most of it.

inb4 "but you have to know it to come here": kind of (adjusting for the barebones testing), but the largest group of low-English literacy adults is actually white, native-born Americans, and most low-English literacy adults are native-born: https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019179/index.asp


what language do you think the amish speak at home? which schools do you believe they attend?

do you expect this to be the sole example you've failed to consider?


PA Dutch at home but they are certainly taught English in their schools, they do in fact interact with their local communities and would need to know it.


... And the 50 millions yearly tourists be damned. Too bad for them if they are stricken by tornadoes or floods or hurricanes or...

In the end it is pure xenophobia. Pure, cruel xenophobia, putting people in harm's way because you couldn't care less about them.


> ... And the 50 millions yearly tourists be damned.

It does seem like the plan is to slash that number too, and they're succeeding.


If you can afford to travel to the US, you can afford a cell phone with access to the huge variety of free and accurate translation apps.


Very useful when the network and power lines are down. You've never been in a distater zone, have you?


What scenario do you imagine where you're in a disaster zone in a foreign country with a different native language, with no access to network or power, and that country is somehow providing you translated emergency weather announcements in your own language?



TBF they just lost 2billion USD/day by scrapping tariff duties so the money has to come from somewhere...


https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/desi... is most likely the main reason. Currying favor with Trump.


The government cannot do anything for a few dollars.


Hallucination in extreme weather warnings could get people killed. I'd rather have something more reliable used.


Depending on the language, personally, I haven't seen a great deal of hallucination with the models I use (llama 3.1 often). I wouldn't expect, say Spanish, to be a problem. I think you'll find more potential issues when it comes to more domain-specific terminology.


A number of free LLMs would do that. But if it costs, I agree, people can spend some of their dollars to translate it.


Sounds like a necessary change to send a message. I find it normal that when you go somewhere, you adapt and learn the language. You shouldn't expect other to adapt to you.




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