A town council in south Wales wants to "opt out" of Welsh

[peredur_glyn]

I'm a little upset by this story. Basically, the town council of Aberdaugleddau (Milford Haven) in Pembrokeshire in south Wales have drawn up plans to go against the law, as posited by the Welsh Language Act 1993, and not automatically provide both Welsh and English versions of council documents, just English ones. Their argument is that it costs

Comments

[ceirdwenfc]

Personally, I don't think that the phrase "opt-out of Welsh" should be used in any part of Wales. Certainly, people can choose not to speak it.

On traveling there, I would expect that signs (and documents) be in both Welsh and English, just as when I travel to Canada, it is in both French and English. Does it make it a bit more difficult on me - a native English speaker? Certainly.

I am bothered by people that move to a community for certain reasons (whatever they are) and then try to change that community to be exactly the way their last home was. In the US, I live in a borderline rural area. I don't consider it rural, but the state does. We have no farms in our town that I'm aware of, but the next town over does, and they have something called a Right to Farm community, which (to my limited knowledge) means that if I move from the "big city" to the "country" and the tractors and farm equipment at 3-4 in the morning bother me, too bad. You've moved into a right to farm community. Know before you buy.

In Wales, I would expect bilingualism especially more so as mid age adults find their "roots" and want to learn the language of their fathers and grandfathers.

I especially think that governmental documents should reflect this bilingualism, not only in a cultural way, but in a civil libertarian way. I think that if you're elected to a position, your job is not to undermine what others have fought years to get into the public system - bilingualism and equality for native Welsh speakers.

And if I'm wrong on any facts or interpretations, take me to task for it. It's not even a week since our Election Day, and my soapbox hasn't been put away yet, so tangents and shrieking are inevitable.

Sorry for the edit: Read the article, and it seems the main argument at the bottom of it is that they're afraid of legal action if the translation is wrong. It would seem that being a freelance translator would be a profitable endeavor. Here's an interesting article, but I'm sure you've seen it:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7702913.stm

[peredur_glyn]

None of your interpretations are off, AFAICT.

Being afraid of legal action if their translation is wrong is a load of codswallop. They just need to hire a competent English-to-Welsh translator, of which there are loads. The kind of translation cock-ups that do occur (like the sign you linked to) are always the result of a council (or whatever) taking a supposedly easy route, by using an online translation programme or somesuch. The Welsh Assembly, I hope, is bending over backwards to help Wales become more easily bilingual, and it should be able to help out in places like Pembrokeshire where there are many English-dominant communities. People like the councilmen in this article just don't like what they don't understand. It's sad and irritating.