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Welsh boys’ choir Only Boys Aloud secured third place in the grand final of Britain’s Got Talent. After wowing the judges with their rendition of Calon Lân (Pure Heart), one of Wales’s best-loved hymns, during their first appearance on the hugely popular talent show, Only Boys Aloud sang another hymn in Welsh at the semi-final, this time impressing with Gwahoddiad (Invitation). It was again Calon Lân which moved the judges and audience to vote them into third place for the final.

Only Boys Aloud could have easily decided to sing pop songs, or to sing in English, with the aim of getting more votes, but they were true to their roots and proudly belted out the old chapel and rugby match favourites.

The choir was formed a few weeks before the Ebbw Vale National Eisteddfod (cultural festival) of 2010. They followed in the footsteps of the adult choir Only Men Aloud who had previously come second in a TV choir competition, losing in the end to another Welsh choir. Wales has the highest density of male voice choirs anywhere in the world, linked to heavy industry as well as the singing traditions of the chapels and the eisteddfodau competitions, but their members are growing older. Both Only Men Aloud and Only Boys Aloud are trying to overturn this decline and inspire younger men and boys to sing. It is also an opportunity for youngsters from relatively deprived areas to develop their confidence and a sense of responsibility through their commitment to the choir.

Simon Cowell remarked that he was touched by Calon Lân even though he had never heard it before and could not understand a word.

Calon Lân means ‘pure heart’ and it emphasises the importance having a pure heart rather than any amount of wealth or beauty; not exactly the values associated with celebrity-obsessed teenagers these days.

Gwahoddiad (Invitation), also known by its first line ‘Mi glywaf dyner lais’ (I hear thy welcome voice), is often believed to be a Welsh hymn, but was actually written in English by an American and later translated into Welsh. With its message of the redeeming power of God’s love and forgiveness, it struck a chord with the Welsh congregations of the Revival and became hugely popular.

Although the boys came third, losing out to Ashleigh and Pudsey, the girl and the dancing dog who took first place, there are now calls for them to perform at the Olympics, and it’s certain that this is not the last we’ve seen or heard of these talented teenagers.

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Spring has well and truly sprung here in Wales, bringing with it bright yellow daffodils, gambolling lambs and scorching sunshine. And what’s more, it’s still not even April! Don’t forget to look out for the inevitable April Fools’ stories in our national newspapers this Sunday. Below is a selection of my favourite examples from the last few years.

In 2011 the Daily Express revealed a new product known as a ‘Micro Zimmer’, a scooter-style wheeled Zimmer frame. It conjures up visions of pensioners tearing up the streets on skateboards, Back to the Future-style. The Independent chose to scam us with a sports story, reporting that Portugal had ‘sold’ the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo to Spain for the princely sum of €160 million, in an attempt to clear some of the nation’s €12 billion debt.

Also last year, notoriously anti-monarchist paper The Guardian launched their live Royal Wedding blog, claiming that it would post real-time updates as the preparations unfolded. As plausible as that sounded, given the public’s appetite for the undisputed event of the year, I think it was the leaking of the Queen’s intention to present the happy couple with Tupperware as their wedding gift that really gave the game away. And in advertising, BMW unveiled their Royal Wedding-inspired M3 series, in Regal red, Imperial blue and Bridal white. The giveaway? The contact email address: pauline.yorlegg@bmw.co.uk!

In 2010 the Daily Telegraph revealed that Virgin Media had been using specially trained ferrets to install underground cables. The Daily Mail, meanwhile, tried to convince its readers that the AA would start issuing James Bond-style jetpacks to its mechanics, in order for them to get to breakdowns more quickly.

So have we become more gullible in recent years? Well back in 1957, when April Fools’ jokes were less commonplace and BBC presenters were widely revered for always telling the truth, Panorama (then presented by Richard Dimbleby) ran a feature on how the Swiss harvested spaghetti from trees; the BBC was consequently inundated with hundreds of letters from viewers asking where they could get their own spaghetti trees. When will we learn?!

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Today, women and men all over the world will be marking International Women’s Day to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future as well as considering those areas where inequalities persist. Women have come a long way since the first International Women’s Day more than one hundred years ago in 1911, and efforts have been made to adapt our languages accordingly.

Traditionally men were seen as the dominant human beings and language reflects this. Some writers still use the word ‘Man’ to mean any human; feminists might argue that whether capitalised or not, the word ‘man’ invokes a male person and a sentence such as the following would seem strange: ‘Man breast feeds his young’. Thankfully the old habit of using ‘he’ to also mean ‘she’ is becoming less common, although a good substitute has not been found. We are saddled with either the awkward he/she and him/her or the grammatically incorrect ‘they’.

Job titles are another thorny issue – to some ears a woman being called ‘chairman’ sounds odd while others hate the shortened form ‘chair’. Should workmen be called work people, even if women are rarely seen repairing the roads? How about a male nurse, is it necessary to point out that the nurse is male while we do not do so for women, and how do the titles of midwife, sister and matron suit men? The ‘wife’ in midwife actually refers to the woman giving birth and not to the practitioner, but this has not stopped some preferring ‘birth attendant’ for male midwives.

Languages whose nouns have genders cause even more problems for those of us interested in the equality of the sexes. As a child learning Welsh I simply had to accept that, while two boys or two masculine objects are dau (masculine form of the word ‘two’) and two girls are dwy, a girl and a boy together are dau. Similarly, in French le masculin l’emporte sur le féminin – any mixed group will be considered masculine in grammatical terms.  Women’s rights activists have attempted to challenge this, insisting for example on the longer chers et chères collègues rather than simply chers collègues for ‘dear colleagues’.  In Spanish, father is padre, mother is madre but parents is padres, the same word as for ‘fathers’. A few years ago the Spanish minister for equality used the word miembra for a female member causing quite a scandal with critics pointing out that miembra is not correct and that miembro serves for men and women, even if it is grammatically masculine.  Whatever your opinion, what is clear is that discussion over gender equality in language will continue to rage as long as the debate on the equality of the sexes persists.

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Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Saunders Lewis’s speech on the fate of the language in which he warned that Welsh would cease to be a community language within half a century, the Welsh Language Board released a report on the state of the language last week. The Board, which is soon to be replaced by the new Welsh Language Commissioner, says its report is the most comprehensive statistical portrait of any minority language in the world.

The report precedes the results of the 2011 census, which are expected in a few months’ time. The findings paint a depressing picture for supporters of the language: 3,000 fewer people speak Welsh every year. The decline is due to the death of older speakers, emigration of Welsh speakers and immigration into Wales; 6,500 Welsh speakers die annually and 5,200 move away. The number of children and adults learning Welsh is not high enough to compensate for this loss. The report puts the number of fluent speakers at 300,000, whereas the number of speakers of all abilities had previously been estimated at close to 500,000. This decline is despite the growth in Welsh-medium education and in the teaching of Welsh as a second language in schools.

Although Welsh speakers are now more evenly distributed over Wales, with fewer living in the Welsh heartlands (broadly Anglesey, Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire) these areas, also known as Y Fro Gymraeg, are still home to 56% of fluent Welsh speakers. The report points out that as fewer areas have a concentration of Welsh speakers, speakers are less likely to come across other people with whom they can converse in the language and are less likely to have children with other Welsh speakers.

Whilst acknowledging that nobody can foretell the future, the WLB does not expect a significant increase in the number of Welsh speakers in the near future. The remedy recommended by the Board is for existing speakers’ skills to be maintained through more opportunities to use the language in every aspect of people’s daily lives. It had been believed that the resistance of the Welsh language co-existing with one of the most widely spoken languages in the world was somewhat of a miracle. We can only hope that the current decline is not the first nail in the language’s coffin.

This post is from Business Language Services read the full post Welsh dying as a community language – 3,000 fewer Welsh speakers every year

Around the world, in many different countries, people celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day on 14 February. Originally a day of commemoration for a Christian martyr, it is now largely a day for lovers, when couples exchange romantic gifts (heart shapes, chocolates, flowers, etc.) and cards, but the way it is marked varies from country to country. In Finland, for example, the festival is dedicated to platonic friends rather than romantic partners, while in Slovenia it is said that birds marry on this day. In Japan, women are expected to buy chocolates for each of their male colleagues.

Although Saint Valentine’s Day is celebrated all over the world, some countries have their own customs. Here in Wales, for example, Saint Dwynwen’s Day (25 January) is celebrated in addition to Valentine’s. In Romania, traditionalists are resisting Valentine’s Day in favour of the traditional Romanian day of lovers, Dragobete, celebrated on 24 February. In Saudi Arabia, the festival is banned; however, in recent years there have been rumours of a thriving black market in roses.

Below is a list of translations in different languages of the phrase ‘I love you’. Should you wish to send your loved one a longer message in his or her own language, Business Language Services can provide you with a translation into any major world language.

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Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! Happy New Year!

You may think I’m 13 days too late, but if you were following the old Julian calendar you would realise that I’m bang on date. 13 January is known in Wales as ‘yr Hen Galan’ (the old New Year’s Day). Some areas, notably the Gwaun Valley, near Fishguard, will see children collecting ‘calennig’ today rather than on January 1^st. Calennig is the New Year’s gift and was traditionally collected house-to-house on the morning of New Year’s Day. It’s similar to the current ‘trick or treating’ custom on Halloween.  However, the ‘calennig’ does not involve dressing up and there is no ‘trick’ element. Children greet householders with verses wishing them a happy and prosperous new year and asking for a little something in return.

A separate event also celebrated on Hen Galan is the revival of the old tradition of the Mari Lwyd (grey mare) pictured above. Until the early 20^th Century, groups of men would visit houses accompanied by a horse’s skull dressed in sheets and ribbons similar to the one in the image above. They would sing verses to the householders asking to be invited in for food and drink. Householders would then reply with their own witty verses and the verbal jousting known as ‘pwnco’ would continue until the horse and company were allowed in. This tradition, as opposed to the calennig, might have included an element of threat similar to that in trick or treat as the group might claim that the ‘horse’ would cause havoc unless invited in. Today, the Mari Lwyd is often taken from pub to pub rather than house to house. Cardiff’s version of the event will include the appearance of the Mari and group who will sing some of the traditional songs in the dialect of south east Wales and collect money for charity.

We wish you a Happy (old) New Year’s Day – watch out for the Mari Lwyd on the streets tonight.

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Image from Lolfa publishers

Sgymraeg is a new word coined in the last few years meaning ‘bad Welsh’. So many examples have been collected that a new book has recently been published gathering the ‘best’ or ‘worst’ examples. The image on the book’s cover (left) is perhaps one of the best known ‘Sgymraegs’. The Welsh translation has nothing to do with heavy goods vehicles but rather is the translator’s out of office reply.  Another famous sign showed ‘cyclists dismount’ in English but llid y bledren, dymchwelyd (cystitis upturn) in Welsh.

Many Welsh speakers confronted with horrendous bilingual signs are left torn between laughing and crying, being grateful that our language now has more visibility than ever before, but offended that such bad Welsh is tolerated. Volunteers have been busy taking photographs of similarly idiotic signs and posters and many are available on websites such as Flickr.

I explored the 53-page discussion on Welsh language forum Maes-e to try to ascertain what goes so wrong with these translations. While the examples above presumably result from a lack of proof reading and possibly also an absence of common sense, many of the worst examples seem to be caused by incompetent use of a dictionary or are from translation websites, proving that while technology can be a wonderful tool to aid translation, human beings who can understand the context are still the only good translators.

The management of a restaurant in the town of Mold (Yr Wyddgrug in Welsh) are to be commended for their decision to erect a sign welcoming Welsh speakers to the town for the Eisteddfod, but it’s a shame it read Croeso i’r Llwydni (Welcome to the Mildew).

Some examples stem from typing errors, for example it is claimed that a manager in a Cardiff department store has the word preseb (manger) on his badge. A viewing gallery has been rendered in Welsh not as oriel wylio but as oriel wylo (crying gallery). The sign ‘keep out’ should be ‘cadwch allan’ in Welsh, but has been spotted with a ‘c’ instead of a ‘d’, the meaning of which I’ll let you guess. With others the omission of a word or two leads to a change in meaning with a Cardiff pub showing ‘Fire Exit Only’ in English and Allanfa Dân Unig (Lonely Fire Exit) in Welsh. Another sign in Cardiff instructed English speakers to look right while Welsh speakers were to look left.

A South Wales bookshop has tystlythyr (recommendation letter) on the sign for the reference section. Another establishment has diolch am eich arfer (thank you for your habit) for ‘thank you for your custom’. Cyngor cyfreithlon does indeed mean ‘legal advice’ but in the sense of lawful, not in the sense of ‘related to the law’. Morlo swyddogol Llywelyn displayed in an exhibition does mean ‘Llywelyn’s official seal’ but he was reputed to have a faithful dog, not a sea mammal. Modrwywch am gymorth on a poster in a police station instructs Welsh speakers to use a ring, such as a wedding ring, for help. Oedolion sy’n cyfeilio (adults who accompany with musical instruments) is a translation of ‘accompanying adults’ but probably not what was originally meant. Dibwys Ffrwythau (unimportant fruit) is a rather strange translation of ‘fruit trifle’ as is natur tawedog (of a quiet nature) of ‘nature reserve’ and cymhlethdod UCI (UCI complexity) of ‘UCI complex’. Welsh speakers may be surprised by the command ymostyngwch (be submissive) when trying to submit a form on the internet, baffled by amheuon (doubts) for the ‘reservations’ counter and completely confused by baladr ond (‘baladr’ is the staff of a spear, followed by the Welsh word for ‘but’) for a room reserved for employees.

To avoid ‘Sgymraeg’, Business Language Services can help you with your Welsh translation needs. All our translations are carried out by professional, qualified translators and proof read by an independent linguist. To contact us, drop us an e-mail or give us a call, but don’t try twisting your wedding ring.

This post is from Business Language Services read the full post Sgymraeg – new book collects bad Welsh translations

Christmas is nearly upon us once again. Recently, having been asked so many times the dreaded question “What would you like for Christmas?”, I remembered reading a review of a book called Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything, by David Bellos. It appeared in the ‘non-fiction’ section of The Times’ Saturday Review supplement, and the article was called ‘Lost in translation: the art of communication’ [The Times, Saturday 10 September 2011, Michael Bynon].

Translation is not often discussed in the general media, let alone in the books section! I haven’t read the book myself but the Times article and the reviews I’ve subsequently seen on the Internet give a taster for a great, informative, witty, thought-provoking and in places provocative work on translation and its challenges (with a few solutions we are told!), but more broadly speaking, it is aimed at anybody who has an interest in languages and communication, cultural differences, history and anthropology. The book is full of anecdotes from the interpreting and translation worlds. Various examples are given from ancient cultures, recent history (such as the Nuremberg trials and the use of simultaneous interpreting for the first time), EU institutions and the United Nations, the various contexts in which written translation is used (from literature to technical manuals and the difficult task of rendering jokes in a foreign language). It is also an exploration on how the increasing use of English has changed the face of communication and the nature of other, less dominant, languages.

I haven’t quite made up my mind as to whether I will add this book to my Christmas wish-list but I would be interested in receiving feedback from anybody who has actually read it. I certainly hope it makes translation more accessible and portrays it not as a necessary evil, but as a great communication enhancer, which I believe it is.

This post is from Business Language Services read the full post BOOK REVIEW – IS THAT A FISH IN YOUR EAR? by DAVID BELLOS

The United Nations recognises 21 November as World Television Day. Television is arguably the most powerful communication medium today, with ever-advancing technologies enabling it to easily cross borders. Television can be a fantastic educational tool, able to promote mutual understanding and tolerance. The role of languages on television is an interesting one, as is the phenomenon of programming being transferred to different cultures.

There is a European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, established in 1992, whereby countries in Europe undertake to encourage and/or facilitate the creation of at least one television channel in their regional or minority languages, or the broadcasting of television programmes in these regional or minority languages on a regular basis.

The BBC states that it “is committed to supporting indigenous languages through various broadcasting initiatives”, for example BBC Alba for Gaelic and the new strategic partnership with S4C for Welsh. “These services will support original programming, help to nurture the indigenous language production base, and ensure that the BBC plays a central role in supporting diversity, identity and cultural expression.” S4C is the only Welsh-language public broadcaster. Please click here to read our news post about the recent restructuring of S4C. BBC Alba is the digital Scottish Gaelic channel. It is a general entertainment channel with news, documentaries, children’s programmes, dramas, sport and films broadcasting to the UK and Ireland, although it is aimed at a Scottish audience.

The BBC Asian Network, despite being broadcast primarily in English, also provides programming in a range of South Asian languages, connecting listeners with each other and with their cultural and linguistic roots.

Television has the power to transcend cultures and languages; just take the example of Mr Bean, which has been a huge success all over the world. Of course, Mr Bean doesn’t speak much, so there’s no language barrier to contend with. There are also many shows that began life in one country (and, therefore, language) but went on to be adapted for other audiences, e.g. Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (conceived in the UK but franchised to over 100 countries worldwide, making it the most internationally popular TV franchise ever) and Big Brother (first broadcast in the Netherlands in 1999 and subsequently achieved success in almost 70 countries).

‘Allo ‘Allo was a hugely popular sitcom in the UK in the 1980s, and enjoyed similar levels of success in France. The portrayal of language was key to the comedy, with dialogue spoken in English but using exaggerated accents to determine the languages the characters were speaking. It was finally screened for the first time in Germany in 2008, following a relaxation of the law regarding the appearance of Nazi symbolism on screen.

It’s relatively unusual in the UK to watch TV shows in other languages, but The Killing is one recent exception. An English-language version was produced in the USA, but in fact the original Danish version (Forbrydelsen) has been very successful here, attracting record numbers of viewers, especially given its broadcasting on BBC4. Wallander was another successful Scandinavian import; originally in Swedish and broadcast in its original language on BBC4, while the British adaptation, starring Kenneth Branagh, attracted increased interest and aired on BBC1.

As English speakers we are less used to watching films or television with subtitles, and accordingly a large section of the audience are put off when faced with such a prospect. In non-English speaking countries, however, it is often par for the course to watch programmes and movies in English or other languages, either dubbed or subtitled (depending on country conventions). In Latin America, some of the best-loved soap operas in the Spanish-speaking parts are actually Brazilian, and therefore originally in Portuguese.

My mission for this year’s World Television Day will be to only watch programmes in a foreign tongue. Will you join me?

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As an English native speaker, a fluent Spanish speaker and having learned French, German, Portuguese and Italian to different levels, it’s safe to say that I have a healthy interest in languages. I love to read and am well aware of the benefits of reading in other languages as a learning tool. However, there are hundreds of languages out there and unfortunately I don’t have the time (or the talent!) to learn them all. And so I choose to read English translations of foreign novels to expand my knowledge of foreign literature and culture, even if I can’t get to grips with the language itself. Some people pooh-pooh the idea of reading translated literature, but don’t forget that even novels you grew up on may have been translations, e.g. Anne Frank’s Diary (originally in Dutch) or Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales (translated from Danish) such as The Ugly Duckling.

It can be hard to know where to start when you’re suddenly faced with a world of publications as opposed to the literary stock you’re used to, but your options are limited anyway. Ever-decreasing numbers of English translations of foreign language novels are being commissioned, but the good news is that those which do cut the mustard tend to be the best of the best. A perfect example would be the recent phenomenon of Stieg Larsson’s Swedish Millennium Trilogy. The books were so well received in his home country that they were quickly snapped up for translation and now both Swedish and American film versions have also been produced. They might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but they are certainly page-turners, and I enjoyed them immensely. Of course, just because a novel has been a bestseller in another country – or your country, for that matter – does not guarantee that you’ll like it, but it gives you a head-start.

Many people feel that they should read the ‘classics’ from each language, e.g. Proust in French or Cervantes in Spanish. I would hazard a guess, though, that the majority would find it easier and more enjoyable to read more modern novels. I don’t think many folks I know would reach for War & Peace to take on a beach holiday, so why not be a bit more flexible? The Three Musketeers, for example, could still be considered a French ‘classic’, but it’s a familiar story and a great romp to boot. Paolo Coelho is a very popular Brazilian writer and most, if not all, his titles are available in English (The Alchemist is probably the most well-known, but Veronika Decides to Die is my personal favourite). If you fancy dipping into Gabriel García Marquez, as much as I loved and would highly recommend perhaps his most famous novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, why not ease yourself in by reading some of his short stories first (Eyes of a Blue Dog, for example).

If you do want to take on a classic, it can be more economical as the copyright will have expired. Project Gutenberg offers free titles to download, either to your PC or to a mobile device (such as a Kindle or iPhone).

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