The Welsh Language… or something like that!

The one’s worth spreading around the wider web. I’ve translated the gist, below the fold…

Stori wych am agweddau “Welsh Labour” ar maes-e. Yn fras, mae Hedd Gwynfor, is-gadeirydd cyfathrebu a lobio Cymdeithas yr Iaith, wedi anfon ebost trwy wefan ddwyieithog Welsh Labour, a oedd yn gofyn:

Beth yw polisi y Blaid Lafur ar yr iaith Gymraeg yn yr etholiadau Seneddol yma? Ydy’r Blaid Lafur yn cefnogi’r alwad dros Ddeddf Iaith Newydd?

Cwestiwn digon syml. Mae’r boi yn wneud ei job.

Mae’r ebost yn cyrraedd mewnflwch Karen Bradbury, Gweinyddydd, a chan bod hithau ddim yn medru’r Gymraeg, mae hi’n anfon fe ymlaen at rywun arall i’w hateb – o leia dyna oedd ei bwriad. Mae’n mor hawdd i wasgu’r botwm rong ar eich rhaglen ebost. Dyma’r neges anfonodd hi yn ôl at Hedd Gwynfor, sef, os dych chi’n cofio, is-gadeirydd cyfathrebu a lobio Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg:

Hi Dave,

I have it on good authority (as I cant understand a word of it myself!!!) that this e-mail is asking what we think about using the Welsh Language in Wales or something like that.

Thanks.

Karen Bradbury – Administrator
Welsh Labour

Clasur.

Here’s the story, and a bit of context. Hedd Gwynfor is the communications and lobbying office for the Welsh Language Society, a group which lobbies for civil rights for Welsh speakers and equal status for the Welsh language within Wales. You may have thought that this was a no-brainer, and that Welsh would already have equal status with English, at least in, uh, Wales. But you’d be wrong.

Anyway, Hedd, being a good activist, sends an email to Wales@new.labour.org.uk asking some fairly general questions about Welsh Labour’s commitment to the Welsh language. Since Wales is, on paper at least, a bilingual country, Hedd writes the email in his native language. He doesn’t provide a translation. This is Wales, remember. His original is up there at the top of the page. I’ll translate, because if you don’t read Welsh, you won’t have realised how funny the response is.

What is the Labour Party’s policy on the Welsh language in these Parlimentary elections? Does the Labour Party support the call for a new Welsh Language Act?

The person who received this, not being a Welsh speaker, tried to forward it along to “Dave”, who, it appears, is able to decipher this weirdness. To save you scrolling back, here’s the note that Karen attached to Hedd’s query:

Hi Dave,

I have it on good authority (as I cant understand a word of it myself!!!) that this e-mail is asking what we think about using the Welsh Language in Wales or something like that.

Thanks.

Karen Bradbury – Administrator
Welsh Labour

Unfortunately for Karen, she pressed the wrong button on her email program, and sent the message back to Hedd Gwynfor, who is, you’ll remember, the member of the Welsh Language Society with responsibility for propaganda (not his official job description, but that is what he does). Hedd, being a nice man, and a Christian to boot, wrote back immediately to point out her error. Then he posted the correspondence on maes-e.com, a popular Welsh language bullettin board (not as good as it used to be).

I don’t think I’ve ever written so much English on the web, all at once. But I thought maybe this story might interest the web-literate, as an example of what happens when email goes wrong.

And I think it’s pretty funny.