Translator wasn't in, so silly Swansea
put his email message on a traffic sign
by Sue Davies
Cymru is a bilingual nation, just like Catalunya, and official road signs go up in both English and Welsh. Regretfully, there are those in Wales opposed to the Welsh language, just as there are those in Spain opposed to the Catalan language. Such opposition often leads to stupidity.

Here is a road sign recently raised to direct traffic outside a works depot in Swansea, a city in South Wales. The city and surrounding area has many Welsh-speakers. In English, the sign says, 'No entry for heavy vehicles. Residential site only'.

But the Welsh version reads, "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated".

What happened was that somebody in Swansea City Council's highways department emailed the English words to a translator. The translator wasn't in and what the council received back was an automated reply which they thought was the translation.

At the time, for several days the report topped the list for the most emailed story on the BBC News website. I saw the report carried in foreign newspapers. So it has gone round the world, making Swansea (Cymru's second biggest city) an international laughing stock. And you can bet your life it will continue to crop up for years on TV shows  devoted to this sort of official nonsense.

It's hilariously stupid, of course, but it's also very sad as well. Think of how many people must have handled that Welsh message within the Highways Department and none of them with any knowledge of Welsh because, surely, even someone with the most basic grasp of the language would have spotted something wrong.

So why no Welsh-speakers?
The department is constantly involved in bilingual signs so why is it they are so short of Welsh-speakers?

The answer, I believe, is that among the officials of Swansea City Council there are too many who do not see Welsh as important and, when Welsh speakers apply for jobs, refuse to see their knowledge of Welsh as a qualification.

It's a policy that has bounced back to bite them in the bum. Swansea City Council should hang its head in shame.