Unfortunately, nobody bothered to check the translation with a native Welsh speaker, and it was later found to read "I am not in the office at the moment. Please resend any work to be translated".
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Lost in Translation.....again
More proof that you should really know what you are saying before you write it on a signpost. This is a fairly old story now, but still funny. There is a legal requirement in Wales that all public signs should be written in both English and Welsh. This sign appeared on a Swansea street a few years ago:
Unfortunately, nobody bothered to check the translation with a native Welsh speaker, and it was later found to read "I am not in the office at the moment. Please resend any work to be translated".
Unfortunately, nobody bothered to check the translation with a native Welsh speaker, and it was later found to read "I am not in the office at the moment. Please resend any work to be translated".
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I can't quite believe that the out of office wasn't in both English and Welsh... it just doesn't make sense. It's probably more likely that the official just didn't scroll down. But even if it wasn't in English as well, the speed with which the "translation" came through should have given him a hint. I don't imagine that there are many translation companies who are going to have the text back to you in a matter of seconds, no matter how good they are.
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