London - The government has announced that Polish has been included as Englands 2nd official language.
Polish,commonly the language used by eastern Europeans, has been adopted on a recommendation from the department of arts and culture and endorsed by the Pan English Languages Board (PanELB).
In a late parliamentary session on Thursday, the government legislated Polish into the English Languages Bill (B 232013).
"Polish fits the criteria for a national language," said Tom Ellis, head of the National Languages Expansion Task Team (NLETT) at PanELB.
"It's now completely indigenous to England, spoken by a vast number of people across the country and can be seen in everyday use."
PanELB was pleased with the legal framework, saying that the language was already in the common English lexicon.
Street signage
"We have even seen our users take the language to other social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. That's a lot of talking. said Sarah Rice, vice president of Communications at PanELB.
The first street signs in Polish should be ready once tenders have been awarded. Reports suggest that three companies from Poland have been included on the preferred bidders' list.
"We are going to start with street signage as this will have an immediate and visible impact and then work towards enabling students to write their final year exams in Polish by November 2014," said UKEB.
The department of education applauded the move that would allow learners fluent in Polish to communicate in a language they were more familiar with.
"This move is about embracing the organic evolution of language and showing our youth that we are committed to speaking and listening to them in their language of choice," a departmental spokesperson said.
"Poland is so proud that our homegrown language has been recognised as the critical part of Englands history and future. We look forward to working with government in weaving Polish into the very fabric of our society," Rice said. News24
