Sgymraeg Am Byw!
Sgymraeg - n. A poor-standard version of Welsh (Cymraeg) often used when translations need to be made from English. Frequently seen in Wales now as the nation increases its efforts to be politically correct and bilingual, whilst at the same time Welsh-language fluency levels remain low.
Welsh signs of all sorts, menus, etc. are becoming more consistently bilingual. The problem creating the phenomenon of 'Sgymraeg' is that Welsh-language fluency levels aren't on a par with widespread efforts to have just about everything written in Welsh as well as English. The Welsh Language Society (Cymdaithas Yr Iaith) views Sgymraeg as an indication of ignorance and disrespect for the language. In some cases this seems true. On the other hand, you might choose to cut people some slack, since a lot of Welsh speakers have had to learn the language from scratch and are obviously trying their best. Like this person, maybe:
You can probably figure out what happened in this case:
But how the hell does something like this one below happen?
This next one could have been just an obvious, unfortunate spelling mistake (Busnesau / Busnesa), except for the translator completely reversing the original meaning as well:
This one originates from a cannibalistic Tesco's in Haverford West:
View more Sgymraeg signs here, or buy a whole book of them here. Please also check out my latest eBook,, or download a fiction ebook for free.Hwyl!
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