‘Deleting Wales’? BBC makes waves after referring to Llyn Tegid as ‘Bala Lake’
The BBC has been accused of erasing Welsh place names after referring to Llyn Tegid as ‘Bala Lake’ in a news report.
The corporation reported on the lake near the town of Y Bala after tourists were warned about toxic algae found in the water, which could cause illness and irritation.
But the BBC’s decision to dub the freshwater glacial body of water ‘Bala Lake’ cause irritation in and of itself, with almost a hundred social media users replying, with some accusing them of “deleting Wales”.
Ian Clarke, a former Chair of Ofcom’s Advisory Committee for Wales, wrote that BBC Wales needed to “get a grip”. “These clowns aren’t doing BBC Wales any good,” he said. “And it’s getting worse.”
“Thanks BBC, I’ll avoid swimming in Bala Lake, wherever that is, and swim in Llyn Tegid as you haven’t reported that might be unsafe,” Paul Elliott said.
“No such place as Bala Lake – for godness sake do your research – it’s not that hard!” Emyr Thomas wrote.
‘Indigenous’
The name Llyn Tegid goes back at least as far back as the Cronica Walliae published in 1568. Bala Lake, meanwhile, has been in written use since at least the early 19th century.
Consternation over the name ‘Bala Lake’ comes after a 5,000 signature petition was presented to bosses at the Eryri National Park asking them to use the name Yr Wyddfa rather than Snowdon.
Meeting in April, the Snowdonia National Park Authority kicked a motion calling for the peak to only be known as Yr Wyddfa into the long grass after authority chiefs instead set up a working group to consider its future policy on Welsh place names.
Such calls, which would also see the national park also referred to as Eryri rather than Snowdonia, were prompted by Gwynedd councillor John Pughe Roberts who felt it would be “a real chance to make a statement on the need to protect our indigenous Welsh place names.”
Previous efforts have been made to drop the English forms including one from language pressure group Cymuned in 2003, who claimed that the area only became known as Snowdonia due to Victorian day-trippers.
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BBC = GB News = John Redwood = ART Davies.etc.
………and, presumably I can visit Lake Lomond and look for the Lake Ness monster next time I’m in Scotland?
And Skomer is not Skomer Island just as Anglesey is not Anglesey Island. Epic Wales producers please note!
But it is referred to as the Isle of Anglesey.
That’s a tautology. In the quirkily spelt English word “island”, the “i” sound at the beginning already means island without the “land” suffix, similar to the Norwegian “øy”; so Anglesey, Lundy, Guernsey, Swansea and others don’t need an “Isle” or an “Island” in their English names. We could just keep things simple and call them Ynys Môn, Ynys Wair, Ynys Y Garn and Abertawe… But I digress. Returning to the subject of the article, Llyn Tegid is not the only one to have picked up a secondary name from a nearby settlement: there’s also Llyn Syfaddan, known to the BBC… Read more »
But the Isle of Wight is never referred to as Wight Island.
There is a sign for a “Loch Café” on the road along the northern shore of Llyn Tegid.
The BBC is anti-Welsh and insists in allowing its journalists and commenaters to use the word “Welshing”. There is no point complaining to the BBC as someone will just reply saying it is not offensive, unaccontable.
I agree, I complained to Boris’s Broadcasting Conservatives a few months back after they wrongly reported that Wales had a higher death rate than the rest of the UK (which it doesn’t). They insisted that they were only referring to one specific local authority. Even after I forwarded a transcript of the report showing that they made no mention of any local authority and that they had referred to the whole of Wales they still wouldn’t accept they were wrong.
As far as I’m concerned I wouldn’t trust them to correctly report the time of day.
Yes totally unaccontable and they just give ridiculous reasons why they are right, I call it Englishplaining. A waste of time complaining to them.
Yes. We are a bilingual nation and it works both ways. That does not however mean that the BBC is not a propaganda tool of the London establishment because it manifestly is (usually Tory but now and again both national and class traitors masquerading as socialists as well). The sickening daily drip drip of anti Celtic slyness displayed by producers is obviously policy. But there you go if it brings our sovereign Wales closer I’ll just swear and switch Channel.
There was a move to promote the use of the name ‘Lake Pimblemere’ for Llyn Tegid in the late 19th Century to make it more tourist-friendly. That died a quick death.
Nothing surprises me with the BBC, or as like to call them. The Bigoted Broadcasting Corporation. I notice when refering to a placename’s in , say Gwynedd, they refer to it solely as North Wales. Lazy journalism borderline ignorant. Oh, but they do their homework when pronouncing French placename’s and do the accent too. The BBC have a long record of Anti-Welsh propaganda , from Anne Robinson’s Cymrophobe rant that was transmitted twice by the BBC, even after Welsh licence payers protested. The Jeremy Clarkson burning a map of Wales in a microwave on his show, the list goes on,… Read more »
BBC journalists and commenaters, Paul Mason on Newsnight, Andrew Marr and Laura Kuenssberg have used the word Welshing.
Jeremy Clarkson very depressed after visiting China, and realising England (GB) was nearing sunset. We should be prepared also.
The BBC is anti Welsh because our politicians let it be.
Our historic placenames are a key element of our culture since they embody a rich treasury of historical memories, folk tales, cultural allusions and associations.
It should be common ground among our politicians of every stripe that our cultural heritage should be defended against those that wish to erase it.
Where are the ministers of the Welsh Government? Also on the beach in Crete?
Y Bala is named after a feature of the lake, bala is the Welsh word for the outflow from a lake, which most lakes have . So logically llyn bala describes the outflow from any lake but not a specific lake. Y Bala (The Bala) because it is the biggest natural lake in Wales.
Seems to me the article was a aimed at tourists ( see article ) and the report was aimed at ‘tourists’, as 90% of tourists are from England of the other 10% could be Welsh tourists of which 8 out of 10 would also not speak Welsh. It makes sense to use the title Bala Lake.
LLyn Tegid.
OK, but only if you agree that Derwent Water is now Keswick Lake and Oulton Broad is Lowestoft Lake.
Why don’t they call Wales Cymru? They call Bombay Mumbai… Just a thought..