National Weather Service no longer translating products for non-English speakers
78 comments
·April 10, 2025Incipient
alxlaz
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.
trchek
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.
huhkerrf
> 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...
alxlaz
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.
trchek
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.
bkor
> 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.
kd5bjo
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.
oldnetguy
English is the lingua franca of the US. Pretty much all business and government paperwork is done in English.
SequoiaHope
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...
xenophonf
> 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.
subsection1h
> Pretty much all business and government paperwork is done in English.
TIL.
rufus_foreman
>> 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."
kd5bjo
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.
guax
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.
mr_mitm
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.
Muromec
>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".
orwin
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.
Tor3
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.
subsection1h
> 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...
guax
Their capital was named after a Texas city, no?
randomtoast
It would only cost a few dollars for LLM based translations. I do not see why those cannot be spent.
keane
The translations they were using (and have discontinued) were from Lilt, which uses LLM: https://lilt.com
bgro
The cost of this is not the real reason it was removed.
labster
Putting aside the public safety problems an AI mistranslation could cause: for the current administration, making foreigners more welcome in America would be counterproductive.
8note
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
oldnetguy
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.
jawilson2
Because The Cruelty is the Point. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/the-cruelt...
4ndrewl
TBF they just lost 2billion USD/day by scrapping tariff duties so the money has to come from somewhere...
unsnap_biceps
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/desi... is most likely the main reason. Currying favor with Trump.
KevinMS
The government cannot do anything for a few dollars.
int0x29
Hallucination in extreme weather warnings could get people killed. I'd rather have something more reliable used.
fortyseven
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.
byyll
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.
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?