“We have a fully bilingual website but nobody uses the Welsh version”
When your translation looks like it’s been done by a monoglot feeding individual words into Google Translate, it tends to be opaque at best (top left) and unusable at worse (bottom left). I had to switch to the English version to see what “Cadw at Eto” was supposed to mean.
All the staff in my local library are Welsh speakers, and I assume the majority of users throughout the county are as well. Why was this released to the public without being proofread?
cc @golwg @NationCymru (not that anyone will see this)
Bad and sloppy translation has been treated as a joke in Wales for far too long — I bear some responsibility for this, having encouraged the idea of “Scymraeg”, collecting and laughing at particularly bad examples — but it should be making us angry, not making us laugh.
I’ve just noticed that the and
feedback icons aren’t available on the Welsh version either, presumably because Google Translate doesn’t do emoji.
More sloppiness on the Ceredigion Libraries website - “benthyciwr” can be spelled without the <i>, but at least be consistent; “rheif” is wrong; nobody has noticed the &amp;amp business; “rhif PIN” is wrong; “yn pedwar” is wrong.
The last two look like Google Translate errors, but GT would probably get the mutation right.
Again, it’s so frustrating that institutions are *paying extra* for bilingual websites, but not bothering to check the final product.
As a final cherry on top, the revamped website now uses 4-digit PINs, rather than the 6-digit ones they had before, so every single user will have to do what I’ve just done, and reset their PIN with a less secure one.
@marijeangordon Mae’n bosibl ei fod wedi’i wneud yn ganolog. Mae’r app BorrowBox ar gael ym mhob sir, am wn i, ac mae’r fersiwn Gymraeg ohono’n dda, o beth dw i wedi’i weld.
@nic :/ I seem to remember the old web system (SirsiDynix?) was procured as part of an all-Wales consortium arrangement - Caerdydd seems to have moved over to the same new system (but on cardiff.spydus.co.uk) so I wonder if that’s still being done on an all-Wales basis and everyone’s moved? Even less excusable if so
@sambeaven they're on Spydus too https://gwella.spydus.co.uk/
@sambeaven Looks like Flintshire has avoided the problem caused by having two different names for the county by choosing a random Welsh word instead!
@nic What should "save for later" be? (I realise that's not the point but I'm curious now).
@DramatisPaws Lots of possibilities: Cadw at nes ymlaen, Cadw am y tro, or even just “Cadw” on its own. It’s one of those words in English which is more ambiguous than we realise, until we try and translate it, with no other context. Diweddarach, hwyrach and bellach could all be translated as “later”, but none of them fits here.