Welsh gone wrong: Council accidentally translates Skewen street as ‘Highlands of Scotland’
A Senedd Member has written to Neath Port Talbot Council after the English street name ‘The Highlands’ to ‘The Highlands of Scotland’ in Welsh.
The new sign on the road in Skewen, Neath which has now been taken down said ‘Ucheldiroedd yr Alban’ rather than ‘Yr Ucheldiroedd’ which would have been a direct translation of ‘The Highlands’.
The council said: “The sign was quickly taken down for correction after the translation error was noticed.
“The translation was carried out by translators who work regularly for the council. They have apologised for the error.”
Sioned Williams, Senedd member for South Wales West region, said she had written to the council.
The error was first spotted by University of Brighton Media Studies lecturer Iestyn George who took to Twitter to point out the error.
“Remarkable signage work by Neath Port Talbot Council,” he said, adding that it was “Skewen not Scotland”.
Remarkable signage work by @NPTCouncil #skewenorscotland pic.twitter.com/6aXS9SIBcl
— iestyn george (@iestyngeorge) September 24, 2021
The mistake drew comment on social media, with Ifan Gwyn Davies noting that “As typos go, this is a pretty big one.”
Others suggested Google Translate might have been used, but when checked by Nation.Cymru both Google and Microsoft’s machine translation service offered the correct translation.
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Hope they keep it “Highlands of Scotland”. Splendid name for street. They should change the English.
… Gàidhealtachd na h-Alba !
They’re too lazy to ask a Welsh speaking colleague somewhere in the building, so they take the easy option and do a google fail.
In most cases street signs are made by English companies. I once saw a sign in Merthyr Tydfil say Church Street Y Reglwys 🙄😒
Complete rubbish.
Of all the pathetic things to blame on the English.
The text on those signs is solely the responsibility of someone in Wales.
As it states in the article both Google and Microsoft translate are correct. But! The Modern Welsh Dictionary (OUP) gives highland as ucheldir pl. ucheldiroedd then the Highlands as Ucheldiroedd yr Alban! So they did actually look it up but didn’t understand the context!
Too lazy to read the whole article?
No.
They could have had a correct translation easily, and straight away, if they’d asked someone. It’s obvious to everyone that they mistakenly relied on a translation off the internet.
I wonder how they’d have translated The Welsh Highland Railway?
Seriously though, does anyone use proof readers these days? It dosn’t loook loke it ti me.
Ucheldiroedd Ethiopaidd would have been more exotic. Come on Neath Port Talbot Council: where is your sense of adventure and romance?