Language no more barrier for the police

Thousands of police officers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai have learned new languages in the past four years, according to a report in 999 magazine.

The report says it had become common at UAE airports to see police officers talking to tourists in their own languages thanks to extensive programmes aimed at enabling police staff of all ranks to speak foreign languages.

Lt Col Thani Butti Al Shamsi, Director of the Training Department at Abu Dhabi Police Headquarters, said attention had been paid to language courses since 2007.

Courses were at first offered only to officers but were later made available to all police employees. English was the focus initially, but other languages including Chinese, Russian, Japanese were also introduced. "There are various divisions that require language courses for their staff, such as the CID, corrections and reformation centres, immigration and others," said Lt Col Shamsi.

 

Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here.