Hello, hello, hello, or should I say jak sie masz? Police in London to learn 18 languages to communicate better with capital's ethnic minorities The Met's 31,000 officers offered the chance of taking special lessons Handy phrases like 'co tu się dzieje potem?' could become commonplace Classes aim to offer a level of knowledge comparable to a GCSE PC Plod is about to get even more PC. Met Police officers in London are being trained to take on crime in the multi-cultural melting pot that is the nation's capital. The Met's 31,000 officers will be offered the chance to learn 18 languages, ranging from French to Farsi, so they can speak in the mother tongue of the capital's burgeoning ethnic communities. Handy phrases like 'jak sie masz, jak sie masz, jak sie masz, co tu się dzieje potem?' - or, according to Google Translate, 'hello, hello, hello, what's going here then?' in Polish - could soon become commonplace. [capt The courses will cost £400 per officer and include 40 hours of learning over six weeks designed to help the Met communicate better with minority groups. Lessons aim to offer a level of knowledge comparable to a GCSE, with vocabulary tailored to the needs of policing. It is hoped an increasing number of London's beat bobbies will soon be able to dish out crime prevention advice and ask questions about suspects without reverting to a dictionary. The project follows a pilot scheme last year, which saw more than 150 police taking part in computer-based courses. That was judged so successful that a second wave of courses will run this year. An internal briefing document seen by The Independent states another of the goals of the programme is to 'change public perception' of the force. Language test: New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police in London It said that so far, the most popular courses taken up so far are Arabic, Polish and Spanish. A Met Police spokesman said: 'Policing a city as diverse as London requires our officers... to engage with different communities and the languages spoken with them. We have recently offered officers and staff the opportunity to develop their language skills in order to improve direct communication between police and the communities we serve. There is already a list of 1,000 Yard staff who are already registered as having specialist language skills because of their family background or previous experience. The courses, run with the Chartered Institute of Linguists, range from mainstream European languages such as French, German and Italian to Bulgarian, Korean, Lithuanian, Romanian, Russian, Somali, Turkish and Vietnamese. Candidates are even offered the chance to learn rare languages like Amharic, Hebrew and Shona. The institute's website says: 'Candidates should make themselves as familiar as possible with police terminology before taking the test. Successful candidates will have outstanding skills. However, though the standard is high, the Metropolitan Police Test is available to everybody regardless of qualifications or experience. The Met expects to fill the 120 places available this year for the courses, which culminate in a three-day assessment. Opinion among the rank and file, once they have recovered from the shock of swapping charge sheets for role-playing as a Bengali businessman, seems positive. One officer told the Independent: 'Probably the hardest course I have done for 20 years in the Met. But also probably the best and very rewarding.