Road signs.

[rhythmaning]

They were talking about this on 5Live this morning...

In Wales, road signs are in both English and Welsh. The people who put up this sign sent the English text to a translator, took the response and put it on the sign.

So the Welsh on this sign reads "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated".

(From BBC Wales.)

Edit: kittenexploring has pointed out some of the other signs that the BBC article talks about:

• Cyclists between Cardiff and Penarth in 2006 were left confused by a bilingual road sign telling them they had problems with an "inflamed bladder".
  
  
• In the same year, a sign for pedestrians in Cardiff reading 'Look Right' in English read 'Look Left' in Welsh.
  
  
• In 2006, a shared-faith school in Wrexham removed a sign which translated the Welsh for staff as "wooden stave".
  
  
• Football fans at a FA Cup tie between Oldham and Chasetown - two English teams - in 2005 were left scratching their heads after a Welsh-language hoarding was put up along the pitch. It should have gone to a match in Merthyr Tydfil.
  
  
• People living near an Aberdeenshire building site in 2006 were mystified when a sign apologising for the inconvenience was written in Welsh as well as English.

Comments

[kittenexploring.livejournal.com]

I once spent a few weeks teaching myself Welsh before giving up (in need of the sound rather than the written word, which was not feasible at the time). Even I know that sign is wrong! Surely there was someone who knew better?

In the same year, a sign for pedestrians in Cardiff reading 'Look Right' in English read 'Look Left' in Welsh. Now that sign, that's different. If I had noticed the error (which I wouldn't have) I'm not sure I would have had it fixed. It's just too good a sign.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Ha! I hadn't actually read the whole of that article - I just went in grabbed the picture and the URL.

Those other mistakes are brilliant!