E-mail error ends up on road sign

[Richard W]

This is a much better story than the headline makes it sound:

When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7702913.stm

The English says "No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only".

The Welsh (apparently) says "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated."

[Chloe]

I can vouch that it does say that. Oh dear!

(It should say something like "Dim mynediad am gerbydau nwyddau trwm. Safle preswyl yn unig." Sorry; very rusty).

[Scout]

This one:

In the same year, a sign for pedestrians in Cardiff reading 'Look Right' in English read 'Look Left' in Welsh.

made me laugh.

Scout.

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Scout

This one:

made me laugh.

Scout.

Yes, I think that one should be reported as a subtle attempt at genocide...

[Andrew of Ware]

It is great that the Welsh language is flourishing, but it does make it a bit of a farce when a Welsh council writes everything in English (which 99.9% of Welsh people speak) and then translates it into Welsh - but do not have anyone in the council offices who can translate it correctly.

[Andrew of Ware]

Originally Posted by Scout

This one:

made me laugh.

Scout.

Originally Posted by Richard W

Yes, I think that one should be reported as a subtle attempt at genocide...

Ah, but which one is correct?

[Lambda]

Originally Posted by Andrew of Ware

It is great that the Welsh language is flourishing, but it does make it a bit of a farce when a Welsh council writes everything in English (which 99.9% of Welsh people speak) and then translates it into Welsh - but do not have anyone in the council offices who can translate it correctly.

It's not a real surprise to me, having spent a bit of time studying in the country. The proportion actually speaking the language is somewhere in the region of 25%. However, there are wide regional differences. A high proportion speak it in some areas such as Gwynedd - it was certainly normal to hear people using it to comunicate with each other.

Conversely in some areas it's really not spoken at all, presumably a Welsh as a second language GCSE is common, but that really doesn't require a particularly good understanding of a language. The translator is quite possibly one of the only guys for his organisation to be fluent.

Of course, as anything official should be in both languages, why wasn't his out of reply message similarly formatted? The appearance of the English would be enough to realise the Welsh wasn't a translation.

[Hans Off]

I'm just stunned that the translator didn't have the foresight to make his out of office repy bi-lingual...

Didn't it occur to him that someone emailing him might not be able to understand Welsh?

What an [insert welsh expletive here] !

[Andrew of Ware]

Originally Posted by Hans Off

I'm just stunned that the translator didn't have the foresight to make his out of office repy bi-lingual...

Didn't it occur to him that someone emailing him might not be able to understand Welsh?

What an [insert welsh expletive here] !

That's what I thought. His colleagues sent him the message to translate into Welsh because they did not speak Welsh. So why did he only reply in Welsh? What's the Welsh word for plonker?

Oh - and does Welsh have expletives? Whenever I hear Welsh people swear they also do it in English?

[Odd Tree]

How do you know it didn't say it in English and they just thought the Welsh part was their answer and the English was to inform them he was gone.

And if the message was just his out of office auto-reply he might have it written in only Welsh because maybe english isn't the only other language he deals with.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Odd Tree

And if the message was just his out of office auto-reply he might have it written in only Welsh because maybe english isn't the only other language he deals with.

Well it does appear that he was working for the Local Authority.

the local authority e-mailed its in-house translation service

One would think that in his role, almost all af the requests he received would be Welsh-English or English-Welsh. Swansea council don't have a lot of call to translate French into Portuguese.

I agree, if it was his out of office reply, then it would have made sense to phrase it in English as well.

[Mosherette]

Originally Posted by Andrew of Ware

Oh - and does Welsh have expletives? Whenever I hear Welsh people swear they also do it in English?

Stwpydd fwcr would probably cover it.

[Hans Off]

Originally Posted by Odd Tree

How do you know it didn't say it in English and they just thought the Welsh part was their answer and the English was to inform them he was gone.

And if the message was just his out of office auto-reply he might have it written in only Welsh because maybe english isn't the only other language he deals with.

{Head smacks desk}

[Odd Tree]

Originally Posted by Hans Off

{Head smacks desk}

I don't get it?

[1958Fury]

My SO, who is learning Welsh, was very proud of herself. I showed her the article, and she could almost translate it without help.

[Kamino Neko]

Originally Posted by Mosherette

Stwpydd fwcr would probably cover it.

Stoopith vookr?

(I'm pretty sure that should be 'stwpyd ffwcr'.)

[Ieuan ab Arthur]

S'mai, bawb / Hi All:

Unfortunately, we have quite a history of sign mistranslations in Wales. Almost every week, Golwg, the Welsh language news and current events magazine, has a collection of "Sgymraeg" - bad translations from English to Welsh on signs and such. The Hydref / October 30 edition has two examples (including the "Not in the office" example). The second one translates "Cyclists Beware" as "Arosfa Beika". The first word means a stop as in "bus stop". The meaing of the second word may mean bicycle in some language, but it certainly's not Welsh.

And by the by, if you want to learn how to "rhegi" ("swear") in Welsh, there's always Y Rhegiadur Cymraeg. I would say that its NFBSK, but as it is a Welsh language site, non-Welsh speakers are safe (and if you're a Welsh speaker, you probably know many of these words anyways)

Ta ra 'wan,

Ieuan "Allan o'i go" ab Arthur

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Odd Tree

How do you know it didn't say it in English and they just thought the Welsh part was their answer and the English was to inform them he was gone.

Originally Posted by Hans Off

{Head smacks desk}

Originally Posted by Odd Tree

I don't get it?

"I am out of the office today. Here is the translation you asked for in the email you just sent me." Do you not see the problem with that theory?

And if the message was just his out of office auto-reply he might have it written in only Welsh because maybe english isn't the only other language he deals with.

All the more reason to type the auto-reply in multiple languages. But what other language would he translating road signs into in Wales? Portuguese?

Originally Posted by Mosherette

Stwpydd fwcr would probably cover it.

Snerk.

[Hans Off]

Originally Posted by Mosherette

Stwpydd fwcr would probably cover it.

33 hour latter the penny drops....

I think I need a holiday!

[Ieuan ab Arthur]

Hi All:

Originally Posted by Hans Off

33 hour latter the penny drops....

I think I need a holiday!

Don't feel bad. I read it first using Welsh orthography and didn't get it either. A more correct Welsh spelling of the phrase in question would be "Stwpid ffycwr" (not that I would use or post such words ).

Ta ra 'wan,

Ieuan "lembo gwirion" ab Arthur