Jeff KonnenSep 22, 2025
Mark Holtom (aka Kingbeard)

This has got to be one of the best. In Wales, UK, there is a legal requirement for road signs to be in both English and Welsh. So, in this case, the official of the Highways department emailed the English wording to the translator and, after receiving a reply, proceeded to have the sign made and installed.

Unfortunately, a few weeks later, Welsh-speaking drivers began to call up to point out that the Welsh reads..... "I am currently out of the office. Please submit any work to the translation team."

Sep 22, 2025 at 9:16amWeb
Show threadHeddersSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom What an absolute joy.
Show threadjackSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom there's even a proper, language-agnostic "no heavy goods vehicles" sign they could've used instead
Show threadokapiSep 23, 2025
@jackeric @MarkHoltom The generic sign fully blocks any vehicle over 7.5t. So an especially heavy camper owned by a resident. Or a military, builders or farming vehicle. I'd guess there was a reason for the worded sign such as only wanting to prevent through-traffic of HGVs.
Show threadjackSep 23, 2025
@okapi @MarkHoltom no, this sign only applies to goods vehicles. there's a different sign that applies a blanket weight limit on any vehicle type
Show threadBart AllenSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom I feel like there's an easy "yo momma" joke in there
Show threadAdam R. WoodSep 22, 2025
@barryallen2023 @MarkHoltom Yo mamma so dumb, when her boss needed her to make a sign in Welsh, she welched on it.
Show threadRobSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom the Welsh should be at the top, and the English underneath...so, the fact the English Highways Agency put this up, without knowing what they were putting up is their just desserts!
Show threadJmvarsSep 22, 2025
@robchapman @MarkHoltom it is the same in northern Norway with Norwegian and Sámi. Sámi should be at the top but it never is.
Show threadRob WoodSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom I remember this when it happened and started to wonder when it was. A bit of research tells me 2008. 😳 Tempus does, indeed, fugit.
Show threadJimmySep 22, 2025
@DiBosco @MarkHoltom So someone lost their contract 17 years ago.
Show threadBodlingSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom What I have written, I have written.
Show threadNicolas HolzschuchSep 22, 2025

@MarkHoltom Remember, in Portal 2, when the evil boss claims to be able to speak in multiple languages, and says (in perfect Spanish) : "you are using the translation software incorrectly. Please check the user manual".

*update:* a short video with this moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3TG1AzBJYo

Portal 2 Wheatley Speaks Spanish

YouTube
Show threadThe SkeptatorSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom The complete story: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/man-responsible-welsh-translation-gaffe-15214716
The man responsible for the most infamously bad Welsh road sign translation

Andy Kirby was working for Swansea council's highways department when his Welsh translation gaffe went viral

Wales Online
Show thread�Sep 22, 2025

@skeptator @MarkHoltom and this dude didnt even make a mistake.

when you contact a translation company and you receive only welsh text in roughly the same length as thr text you wanted to translate, what should he have done better?

Show threadpunIssuerSep 22, 2025
@utf_7 I would have expected an English "here is your translation:", followed by said translation...
But yes, I see that being a translator and having out-of-office mails in only one language might cause confusion
@skeptator @MarkHoltom
Show threadMichael WeissSep 22, 2025

@utf_7 @skeptator @MarkHoltom you take the received text and send it to a Welsh-to-English translator. If you get back something relatively similar to what you started with, you can have confidence in the results.

Though there's a fun story about one such case, where the English input was "Out of sight, out of mind." After the round trip: "Invisible insanity."

Show thread�Sep 22, 2025
@mweiss @skeptator @MarkHoltom name 1 company that is paying for translation twice
Show threadThe SkeptatorSep 22, 2025
@utf_7 @mweiss @MarkHoltom A simple dictionary could have helped.
Show thread�Sep 22, 2025
@skeptator @mweiss @MarkHoltom i get your point but i dont agree
Show threadMichael WeissSep 22, 2025
@utf_7 @skeptator @MarkHoltom you'd do the first as a paid, because you want to get it right. You'd do the second as a free translation, because you want to get a sense of whether what you got back is close.
Show threadNiko TrimmelSep 26, 2025

@utf_7
Well, they should have been confused about receiving an email completely in Welsh, without any commentary in it. Copy paste the text into an online translator at least to check what it vaguely might mean.

@skeptator @MarkHoltom

Show threadifraudingSep 22, 2025

@MarkHoltom
I pasted the welsh sentence into deepl:
"English (detected)".

😬🕳️

Show threadNatanox 🇺🇦🇵🇸Sep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom your post & alt text fails to mention what the sign is supposed to say. 😉
Show threadIrinaSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom
Show threadBeeCycling has movedSep 22, 2025
@irina @MarkHoltom Fine, I'll smoke in English then. 😏
Show threadDolden GomeSep 22, 2025
@irina @MarkHoltom Is this one of those Walmart cakes?
Show threadIrinaSep 22, 2025
@christopherbrown @MarkHoltom Context, please?
Show threadDolden GomeSep 22, 2025

@irina @MarkHoltom Sure thing.

Now I don’t know how many of these are fakey now or even if the original was real, but this is allegedly a cake someone ordered at a Walmart store in the USA some years ago.

Show threadDreySep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom - Very Funny indeed 😂 . Some one wasnt listening.
Show threadxs4me2Sep 22, 2025

@MarkHoltom

😬

Show threadWillSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom @Lolicanthe look at this you'll love it 😉
Show threadLolicanthe 😺Sep 22, 2025
@will @MarkHoltom Amazing ^^
Show threadSvavar the NeurospicySep 22, 2025

@MarkHoltom

What I love about this is that the translator is so petty that they don't have an out of office message in English as well as Welsh, and that nobody involved in making the sign had even a passing familiarity with Welsh that would enable them to catch the mistake.

Show thread𝐉𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫Sep 22, 2025
@svavar @MarkHoltom That's what's always struck me about this. So this person works as an English-to-Welsh translator for at least one government agency, but never considers the possibility of receiving email from a non-Welsh-speaker? I wouldn't say "petty" so much as "wildly irresponsible"; the job by its nature requires communication with people who don't speak Welsh and email has been an essential communication tool since the 90s. But that was apparently the situation, because Snopes rates this true.
Show threadmirabilosSep 22, 2025
@jonberger @svavar @MarkHoltom someone said Welsh was a legally recognised language in the UK, English is just a common default…
Show thread𝐉𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫Sep 23, 2025
@mirabilos @svavar @MarkHoltom Oh, it certainly is. We have good friends who live in central Wales; he's English and she's American and they don't speak Welsh, but their two young daughters do because they're taught it in school..
Show threadFaraiweSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom 💀
Show threadMichael HorneSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom I want this to be true! Is it?
Show threadvaderSep 22, 2025
@recantha @MarkHoltom https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/man-responsible-welsh-translation-gaffe-15214716
The man responsible for the most infamously bad Welsh road sign translation

Andy Kirby was working for Swansea council's highways department when his Welsh translation gaffe went viral

Wales Online
Show threadResunaSep 22, 2025

@MarkHoltom

Machine translation is pretty good these days. Hopefully people will get accustomed to checking.

Show threadDavid JONESSep 22, 2025
@resuna @MarkHoltom yes, checking. With a Welsh translator.
Show threadResunaSep 22, 2025

@drj @MarkHoltom

Google Translate is plenty good enough for a first pass check. I wouldn't use it to draft an actual document but making sure that what you got back is actually a translation should be a reflex by now.

Show threadNic DafisSep 22, 2025

@resuna @MarkHoltom well, yes, lots of things have changed since *checks notes* 2008

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7702913.stm

BBC News - E-mail error ends up on road sign

An automated e-mail response reading in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment" is mistakenly put on a road sign.

Show threadAvi Rappoport (avirr)Sep 22, 2025
@nic @resuna @MarkHoltom maybe time to retire the joke
Show threadResunaSep 22, 2025

@avirr @nic @MarkHoltom

Pivot to large language models hallucinating court cases.

Show threadಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)Sep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom I've studied a *tiny* bit of Welsh...enough to know swyddfa and "ar hyn o bryd". The fact that *no one* who approved the sign knew even that much Welsh is...depressing.
Show threadDoomsdaysCWSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom 😂
Show threadMaddad ☑️Sep 22, 2025

@MarkHoltom

😂 😆 😂

Show threadRobert0Sep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom @briankrebs Reminds me of the “Chest Paint Center” sign that was put up in front of the A&E at the hospital. I guess if you had a tattoo emergency they were the place to go.
Show threadMichael WeissSep 22, 2025
@jd9c5m @MarkHoltom @briankrebs not if it's on your arm...
Show threadGordon FawksSep 22, 2025

@MarkHoltom Every message has an audience and a transmitter. If the capabilities of either of these parties are not taken into account the message may as well not have been sent...

...or in this case would be better off if it had not.

Show thread0x10f/kalle/qalleSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom A sign in a hospital in Helsinki in 2013. The left column has locations of the hospital in Finnish (waiting rooms etc.). As required by law, the right column has the Swedish translations... except they all read "same in Swedish" in Swedish.
Show threadNine Oh RealSep 22, 2025

@0x10f
Had to double-check whether this posting came from you @olafurw

@MarkHoltom

Show threadÓlafur WaageSep 23, 2025
@mythlfrythtyg @0x10f @MarkHoltom that is very me coded yeah
Show thread❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Sep 23, 2025
@0x10f 🤣 😂 @MarkHoltom
Show threadTor LillqvistSep 23, 2025

@0x10f @MarkHoltom Is there btw any better source for this? It seems fairly incredible that such an obviously bogus sign would have been produced and even displayed. In Helsinki, even, where knowing Swedish is not at all uncommon.

Swedish texts in public institutions is mandatory only in bilingual municipalities. You won't find any Swedish signage in the university hospitals in Kuopio or Oulu, for instance.

Show thread0x10f/kalle/qalleSep 23, 2025
@tml @MarkHoltom Here is the source. (I found a better photo elsewhere.)
https://web.archive.org/web/20131109092943/http://www.seiska.fi/Viihdeuutiset/Kaikkien-aikojen-kylttimoka-Malmin-sairaalan-seinassa-kuva/1022661
Kaikkien aikojen kylttimoka Malmin sairaalan seinässä - kuva!

Malmin sairaalassa Helsingissä tehdään parhaillaan mittavaa laajennusremonttia.

Show threadmsaari 📚Sep 25, 2025
@0x10f @MarkHoltom So... I was curious, and about only reference I could find was Seiska, which had exactly the same photo. It's also very low-quality journalism and not trustworthy. I also found this in Reddit, where someone says that was made on purpose as an example of how the signs should look like: https://www.reddit.com/r/Suomi/comments/mzvn8y/samma_p%C3%A5_svenska/. Of course, someone is using Seiska to dispute that in the thread, but the Seiska news piece is so vague that it doesn't really proof anything. Also, it's exactly the same photo in every source. Someone making a funny sample sign sounds like a more plausible explanation.
Show threadAoi_X_KaizakiSep 22, 2025
@MarkHoltom 12 vowels in this sentence. May I buy another one? or five?
Show threadmirabilosSep 22, 2025

@Aoi_X_Kaizaki @MarkHoltom I count 27 or so* in the Welsh sentence. The trick is to know what is a vocal…

*) assuming they count the Schwa as one, I do