National Left - Wales needs a progressive left future.
Tuesday 7 January 2020
We need laws not "rules" on bilingualism.
Many years ago I remember being as a child being at Cardiff Central wondering who "Tony Pandy" was and had a similar experience when at the Cinema the adverts that were for local restaurants had a similar mangling of pronunciation of Welsh Place names. Things have improved and we see much more use of the Welsh Language , but still have to here appalling pronunciations and even after 50 years since they elected the first Plaid Cymru MP, we see other politicians some of who show of their mastery of ancient Greek and Latin mispronouncing that name let alone Welsh constituencies.. We should expect better and especially companies in Wales to obey the rules. The BBC reports that.
Transport for Wales has broken Welsh language rules six times, according to a Welsh Language Commissioner's draft report. It said the train operating company failed to provide some services in Welsh and treated the language less favourably than English. TfW said changes had taken "longer than anticipated" since it took over the rail franchise in October 2018. The rail company is overseen by the Welsh Government. It said it took its language commitments seriously and expected TfW to do the same. The commissioner's office began a probe following complaints last year. The draft report said six complaints were received by the commissioner from members of the public and other issues were investigated following reports in the media and by officers. Welsh ministers were given notice of the proposed scope of the investigation in January 2019. The draft report has made findings which include that Welsh was treated less favourably than English on TfW self-service machines, its website and on its mobile app which is a breach of language standards. Ministers have been asked to act within three months of the final judgment being published. If they fail to do so, the commissioner's office can make an application to a county court to makes it compulsory for ministers to comply with recommendations. What are the concerns? The draft report said the company was found to be in breach of standards by:
Failing to provide announcements bilingually
The Transport for Wales app was only available in English
Its website was automatically set to English, and not fully functioning in Welsh
Self service machines were automatically set to English and not fully functioning in Welsh
Train tickets were only printed in English
Correspondence was not all bilingual
Suzy Davies AM, Welsh Conservatives spokesperson on the Welsh language, has criticised the way TfW is run by the Welsh Government. "It seems that not only is this Labour administration incapable of running a rail service in Wales, but it is also incapable of providing services in both official languages of this nation," she said. A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "We take our commitment to Welsh language very seriously and expect Transport for Wales to do likewise. 'More to do' "We will be monitoring TfW's response closely along with regular updates on Welsh language compliance." A spokesperson for the commissioner said its investigation was "not yet finalised, so it is not appropriate for us to make a further comment at this stage". TfW north Wales development director Lee Robinson said: "We recognise that there is more to do and [we] have ambitious and exciting plans, which we will share once the commissioners' report is finalised and agreed. "Updating our plans in line with the... recommendations will enable us to make sure that everything we publish is as comprehensive as possible and addresses all the remaining gaps. "As a fully bilingual organisation, we recognise and support the importance of a thriving Welsh language and culture and believe that our customers should always have the opportunity to interact with us, equally, in both Welsh and English."
We need to strengthen the Welsh Language Act by imposing financial penalties , on those who do not obey bilingual policies and this should be the Law not "Rules or Guidelines".
But perhaps we also need a Government Translation service which oversees and helps companies in how to make the correct use of the Welsh Language and make sure we do not see signs such as these
1: Cyclists get inflamed bladders
Welsh-speaking cyclists were told that they had problems with an 'inflamed bladder' by a temporary bilingual road sign between Cardiff and Penarth. Instead of the Welsh translation telling cyclists to dismount it actually read "bladder disease has returned".
The problem here seems to be that there is no Welsh word for 'dismount'. Perhaps a better translation might have been 'Dim beicio' which simply means 'No cycling'. 'Llid y bledren' means inflammation of the bladder, and 'dymchwelyd' means 'return'.
2: It's a one-way street
English pedestrians in Cardiff were told to "Look Right" but Welsh pedestrians were told to "Look Left".
3: Sheer madness!
This RSPB temporary sign to an event about shearwater birds, unfortunately translates into Welsh as 'Cneifio Gwallof' - "Mad Sheep Shearing".
4: The lights are on, but there's no-one in
This sign in Swansea told Welsh-speaking lorry drivers that "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated".
An e-mail sent by the Council to its translations department asking for "No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only" to be translated into Welsh triggered the automated email response "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated". Unfortunately, the English-speaking official thought the automated e-mail was the actual translation, so went ahead and had it printed on the road sign.
5: Ghost image
This Welsh translation became "Wines and Ghosts".
6: What bridge?
This road sign with a small typo appeared on a lane between Ammanford and Pontadawe in South Wales. Instead of saying "Hidden Dip" the Welsh translation reads "Hidden Bridge". It should have read "Pant Cudd" not "Pont Cudd" - 'pont' being 'bridge' and 'pant' being 'hollow'. 'Cudd' is 'hidden'.
7: No snooping now!
This "Business open as usual" sign became "Snooping closed as usual" when translated into Welsh - which I suppose is good news!
8: Warning: blasted workers
This temporary sign read "Rhybudd: Gweithwyr yn ffrwydro" in Welsh but actually translates as "Warning: Workers are exploding" not the intended "Warning: Blasting in progress".
At least they got "Rhybudd" translated as "Warning" correct.
Welsh-speaking cyclists were told that they had problems with an 'inflamed bladder' by a temporary bilingual road sign between Cardiff and Penarth. Instead of the Welsh translation telling cyclists to dismount it actually read "bladder disease has returned".
English pedestrians in Cardiff were told to "Look Right" but Welsh pedestrians were told to "Look Left".
This RSPB temporary sign to an event about shearwater birds, unfortunately translates into Welsh as 'Cneifio Gwallof' - "Mad Sheep Shearing".
This sign in Swansea told Welsh-speaking lorry drivers that "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated".
This Welsh translation became "Wines and Ghosts".
This road sign with a small typo appeared on a lane between Ammanford and Pontadawe in South Wales. Instead of saying "Hidden Dip" the Welsh translation reads "Hidden Bridge". It should have read "Pant Cudd" not "Pont Cudd" - 'pont' being 'bridge' and 'pant' being 'hollow'. 'Cudd' is 'hidden'.
This "Business open as usual" sign became "Snooping closed as usual" when translated into Welsh - which I suppose is good news!
This temporary sign read "Rhybudd: Gweithwyr yn ffrwydro" in Welsh but actually translates as "Warning: Workers are exploding" not the intended "Warning: Blasting in progress".
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