Beware - TRANSLATISH in road!

deaddirty

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This thread is for Alexonedeath, who loves Tranlatish and must certainly visit Wales!
Welsh is a beautiful language, and actually very logical once one knows the rules. Though they can take a bit of getting used to for a monoglot Anglo - like the way he first letter of a word or syllable can change to sound right with the previous word or syllable. So 'c' (always a 'k' sound) can change to 'g', 'ch', or 'ngh' which could make using a Welsh dictionary a tad hard to use if one didn't automatically know the difference between one's hard aspirate and and one's glottal stop - but how could one not?
Since Wales is a bilingual country, road signs are in both languages - but in some parts of Wales there isn't actually much Welsh spoken, so Council highways departments have to resort to someone whose Welsh is very much a second language, or Translate, or even a real-life translator.
Sign first, with correct translation of the Welsh below.
 

Bladder disease has returned
 

Mad Sheep Shearing
 

Hidden Bridge
 
Others not illustrated on the website I got this from:

"Rhybudd: Gweithwyr yn ffrwydro" in Welsh - translates as "Warning: Workers are exploding"

"Dim mynediad ar gyfer Hyfforddwyr", translated correctly as "No access to coaches" - but coaches as in the guy who trains the tram, not the vehicle they travel on.
 
And the real classic:


"I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated" :aha:
 
HAHA...these are wonderful, deaddirty! I do thank you for going to the trouble of opening a thread which caters to my peculiar interest. As for Wales, I have always liked the IDEA of it. I imagine Wales to be full of GOOD people. However, their writing looks like one of Tolkein's fantasy dialects, and their spoken language is beyond any hope of mastering unless one is born there.

That's where Google Translatish comes in! Its cutting edge software makes it possible for people the world over to vaguely understand each other and get a good laugh at the same time.
 
Wales, particularly North Wales, is a beautiful country. I remember many happy holidays in Llandudno both with my parents and later with my wife and kids. Anyone who has a chance to visit there should grasp it with both hands. And I particularly salute their desire to keep their culture and language alive.
However I am concerned about the bi lingual road signs. Since road information has to be absorbed very quickly in the interests of safety I wonder whether the double repetition might lead to the occasional accident.
But thanks deaddirty for adding to the gaiety of nations.
And though I have no examples to post the interesting choice of road information, both on official and unofficial signs, is not limited to the Principality. Try driving in Yorkshire. And we don't even have the excuse of a 'foreign' language.
 
Lindier, do you think signs with (supposedly) recognizable international symbols could replace the words altogether?

In theory it should be a good idea. The snag is the difficulty in agreeing the symbols across the world. But if that could happen then it would seem sensible although it may be necessary in the short term for some wordage also to appear. But that wordage should be in a major language rather than one such as Welsh or Gaelic or whatever applies in your area.
But I can already hear the howls of protest from those who speak such languages and are rightly concerned to preserve them as living languages. But road safety must have priority.
 
Wales, particularly North Wales, is a beautiful country. I remember many happy holidays in Llandudno both with my parents and later with my wife and kids. Anyone who has a chance to visit there should grasp it with both hands. And I particularly salute their desire to keep their culture and language alive.
However I am concerned about the bi lingual road signs. Since road information has to be absorbed very quickly in the interests of safety I wonder whether the double repetition might lead to the occasional accident.
But thanks deaddirty for adding to the gaiety of nations.
And though I have no examples to post the interesting choice of road information, both on official and unofficial signs, is not limited to the Principality. Try driving in Yorkshire. And we don't even have the excuse of a 'foreign' language.

On Yorkshire (I think this is true):
When 'new-style' (then) level crossings were introduced in the 1970s, the warning sign read 'Do not cross while lights are flashing'. After a few days of long queues when there wasn't a train coming, and near-disasters when there was, the signs were hurriedly changed. Because in Yorkshire, 'while' means UNTIL.
 
Touche mate
 
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