43 civil servants unable to translate eight English words into Welsh after a day of trying

Amelia Jones

43 civil servants spent an ‘away day’ trying to find Welsh alternatives for eight English words, but were only able to translate four.

The project was carried out as part of an academic research project examining how people describe sound environments in different languages. The terms were being considered for use as part of a new environmental assessment about how noise affects people’s wellbeing, which required agreement on consistent Welsh language descriptors.

During the Soundscape Attributes Translations Project, officials and academics discussed whether some of the English words could be translated directly, or whether Welsh-adapted loanwords of descriptive phrases would be more appropriate.

The discussions were spread over a four-part initiative, that involved over 43 officials and 8 academics.

While many took part remotely via Microsoft Teams, the project also included a day described as a ‘Translation Service away day’ at Welsh Government offices in Cathay Park, Cardiff.

Welsh translations were agreed for four of the eight terms, including ‘llonydd’ for ‘calm’, ‘undonog’ for ‘monotonous’, ‘caotig’ for ‘chaotic’ and ‘bywiog’ for ‘vibrant’.

However, participants concluded that there was no one-word equivalent in Welsh for the words: pleasant, uneventful, annoying or eventful.

According to a report in the Telegraph, “the research explained how members of the Welsh Government’s translation service struggled to find a Welsh word for ‘chaotic’ before eventually opting for ‘caotig’, an “English loan word”. The word ‘annoying’ was equally problematic, with staff choosing ‘niwsans’, a Welsh-sounding version of the English word “nuisance”.”

Niwsans, which was one of the proposed Welsh translations for annoying, caused disagreements among the group owing to it being a term of “Wenglish” origin.

Unanimity was only achieved for the words ‘vibrant’ and ‘monotonous.’

Welsh language specialists have previously noted that translation into Welsh often involves interpretation rather than direct substitution, particularly when dealing with abstract or technical terminology.

In such cases, meaning is often conveyed through phrases or context rather than exact equivalents.

It was said that a proper translation of the project was a ‘necessity’ as part of the Noise and Soundscape Plan for Wales project.

The work formed part of a broader research programme involving external experts, with officials emphasising that developing agreed terminology is essential to support the use of Welsh in specialist and academic settings.

It is not known how much the research cost, it was funded by Research England and involved academics from the University College London (UCL).

Andrew RT Davies, a Conservative member of the Senedd for South Wales Central and the party’s former leader in Wales, said it was “ludicrous” to put such efforts “towards translating eight words”.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We did not fund this research. A small number of staff voluntarily contributed their expertise to an international multilingual research project as part of their usual work.”