We all know about those automatic email replies that read, “I am not in the office at the moment [etc.]” – and, usually, we can understand them. According to a BBC News item, the Swansea, South Wales Council wasn’t so fortunate. It seems that the Council officials requested a Welsh translation for a bilingual road sign that was to read “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only.” And, when they got a reply in Welsh, they automatically assumed it was the requested translation. No such luck – the presumed Welsh translation turned out to be Welsh auto email. The error wasn’t discovered until the large road sign was erected near a busy Welsh supermarket, and Welsh speakers noticed that “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only” had been translated as “I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated.” Not surprisingly, Welsh nationalists considered the gaffe a “sign of the times” and were quick to point out that the sign should have been in Welsh first, followed by an English translation, and not the other way around.
