Sign Translation a Bother
A Swansea council official asked for an online Welsh translation of a street sign which excluded lorries from a small street but what he got instead was an email reply in Welsh which stated that the language translator was away. Regrettably, the official, not fluent in Welsh himself, misidentified this for the sign’s translation and gave the green light for it to be made. All street signs in Wales are translated from English into Welsh and vice versa, but often the Welsh translations are prepared by people who have little idea of the native Welsh language. Managing Editor of a Welsh language based magazine, Dylan Iorwerth, who is well-spoken in the language himself said, “When they’re proofing signs, they should really use someone who speaks Welsh”. The mistake was only picked up when emails of the erroneous sign started circulating on email. What was supposed to read “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only” now said as, “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated”. Iorwerth from Golwg magazine said, “(The pictures) are circulating among Welsh speakers because, unfortunately, it’s all too common that things are not just badly translated, but are put together by people who have no idea about the language”. He added, “It’s good to see people trying to translate (Welsh) but they should really ask for expert help”.In the early nineties, following a large revival of the language, Welsh became compulsory in schools in the land. Regrettably, the signs are all too apparent for Welsh-speaking nationals, that numerous people cannot translate to Welsh. In another disturbing incident, a sign told English pedestrians to “Look right” when in fact it was supposed to read “Look Left”. Such mistranslations have potentially serious consequences and legal significances.Legal translations should be done with the utmost care by qualified and responsible legal translation agency. Londons’ BBC correspondent said that this is not the only Welsh translation sign mishap: it is just the last in a series of similar incidents.
