Welsh announcements

[Michael.Y]

For some reason it did not appear as written. It should have read:

'Since only the island platform is in normal use at Newport, it would not be difficult to quickly inform anyone about any changes.'

The second sentence is correct and makes perfect sense.

Platform 4 is used for all Portsmouth and Taunton services (1tph), most ATW Manchester services, all ATW Holyhead services, the WAG set, the morning 7:15 Voyager and occasionally Cheltenham Spa and Nottingham trains also go from this platform. It is bidirectional, with at least one regularly scheduled ATW Cardiff service. Platform changes from 3/4 and from 2/1 occur, in fact I have been caught out several times by them.

The second sentence is subjective. The word dileu, as pronounced by the Welsh anno at ATW stations, sounds to me like "delay." So there.

 

[merlodlliw]

Platform 4 is used for all Portsmouth and Taunton services (1tph), most ATW Manchester services, all ATW Holyhead services, the WAG set, the morning 7:15 Voyager and occasionally Cheltenham Spa and Nottingham trains also go from this platform. It is bidirectional, with at least one regularly scheduled ATW Cardiff service. Platform changes from 3/4 and from 2/1 occur, in fact I have been caught out several times by them.

The second sentence is subjective. The word dileu, as pronounced by the Welsh anno at ATW stations, sounds to me like "delay." So there.

Gerald and his enlarged stock used platform four yesterday on the 1820 return Cardiff to Holyhead with Rugby traffic, yet again Wrexham was left out of the stops, a strange practice considering Wrexham is the largest town in North Wales. No doubt the 1721 would have been over full,yet the relief left two hours after the march has ended,

 

[Michael.Y]

Gerald and his enlarged stock used platform four yesterday on the 1820 return Cardiff to Holyhead with Rugby traffic, yet again Wrexham was left out of the stops, a strange practice considering Wrexham is the largest town in North Wales. No doubt the 1721 would have been over full,yet the relief left two hours after the march has ended,

No pathing as I understand it. A brief glimpse at RealTimeTrains indicates to me it could have conflicted with the Birmingham-originated HHD. It was routed via Crewe on the way down too.

There was meant to be a Chester-Wrexham rugby special yesterday morning too, but it was started from Shrewsbury at 0852 due to "lack of servicable train sets". The 9:15 HHD-CDF off SHR was F&S and as the WAG set left SHR at 0923 (8 mins later) a lot of PAX got off the 9:15 and joined it then.

 

[oglord]

I grew up in Newport; bilingual announcements have been standard for quite a long time

If by "quite a long time" you mean about three years then you are right! It was nonsensical to go from English only to Welsh first, so the sensible thing was done and the order reversed.

 

[dvboy]

Quite amusing sometimes when a non-automated announcer at Birmingham New Street attempts all stations to Holyhead.

 

[Michael.Y]

Quite amusing sometimes when a non-automated announcer at Birmingham New Street attempts all stations to Holyhead.

What about Pwllheli?

 

[swcovas]

What about Pwllheli?

I remember the non automated days at Shrewsbury and the announcer battling his/her way through the Central Wales stations......13 "Llans" and a few other tricky ones for a non Welsh speakers. They were probably grateful mit was only 5 times a day! (Yes, I know, it's now only 4)

 

[Prairie_5542]

What about Pwllheli?

Pwllheli isn't on the Holyhead line. It's on the end of the Cambrian coast line.

 

[PHILIPE]

There are trains to Pwllheli as well, splitting portions at Machynlleth between Aberystwyth and Pwllheli. Even if not on the Holyhead line they still have to be announced with many "Welsh" place names involved.

 

[Prairie_5542]

There are trains to Pwllheli as well, splitting portions at Machynlleth between Aberystwyth and Pwllheli. Even if not on the Holyhead line they still have to be announced with many "Welsh" place names involved.

Yes you are quite right. I know this line well I used to live in the area.

 

[Butts]

I'm suprised "our man" Alex has not introduced announcements in Gaelic at Stations in Scotland - notwithstanding the fact less than 2% of the population would actually understand them. Most of them live in areas where there are no Railways

Quite similar to Wales, most Gaelic speakers are on the West Coast and Islands thereabouts.

I was interested to note 41% of Irish people can understand the mother tongue, do Irish Railways have announcements in Irish ? (Eire)

 

[tbtc]

I'm suprised "our man" Alex has not introduced announcements in Gaelic at Stations in Scotland - notwithstanding the fact less than 2% of the population would actually understand them. Most of them live in areas where there are no Railways

There's Gaelic signage at a few places that have never had any Gaelic speakers like An Ard-Ruigh - but then it's not about being of practical help, it's about ticking a box

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I'm not a welsh speaker, but I don't have any real problem with them - unless it's with the length of the announcement.

The most annoying thing about the Welsh announcements is that whilst they know that "double Ll" is pronounced "LLLLL" (I'm sure that you know what I mean), they also think that it applies every time, even when the "double Ll" is in the middle of the word.

This means that Llanhilleth (on the Ebbw Vale line) is pronounced with two "double Ll's" when the middle one shouldn't be. It drives me made every time I hear it - which is often!

 

[Butts]

There's Gaelic signage at a few places that have never had any Gaelic speakers like An Ard-Ruigh - but then it's not about being of practical help, it's about ticking a box

Airdrie is actually a hotbed of gaelic culture

Can anyone really describe themselves as Welsh if they can't speak the language ?

I bet it's like Scotland where gaelic speakers consider themselves the "real Scots"

 

[Gwenllian2001]

Quite similar to Wales, most Gaelic speakers are on the West Coast and Islands thereabouts.

I was interested to note 41% of Irish people can understand the mother tongue, do Irish Railways have announcements in Irish ? (Eire)

Welsh speakers are by no means confined to the West coast although the language is stronger there. There are many thousands of Welsh speakers in the Valleys of Glamorgan and Gwent; Swansea and disrict as well as in the North East around Wrexham and Rhos. Neither is it that uncommon in rural Mid Wales. You would be far more likely to hear Welsh spoken in Cardiff than Gaelic (Erse) in Dublin.

Whether or not 41% of Irish people can understand the language, apart from a few everyday phrases is, shall we say, a little on the optimistic side. Every dog that I ever owned could understand Welsh but not one of them could speak it.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I'm not a welsh speaker, but I don't have any real problem with them - unless it's with the length of the announcement.

The most annoying thing about the Welsh announcements is that whilst they know that "double Ll" is pronounced "LLLLL" (I'm sure that you know what I mean), they also think that it applies every time, even when the "double Ll" is in the middle of the word.

This means that Llanhilleth (on the Ebbw Vale line) is pronounced with two "double Ll's" when the middle one shouldn't be. It drives me made every time I hear it - which is often!

Interesting but you are quite wrong. The 'double l' is one letter in the Welsh alphabet and is always pronounced as such, wherever it occurs. The problem with Llanilleth seems to be that is neither correct in Welsh or English. The correct form is Llanhiledd and the English approximation carries a superfluous 'l'.

 

[6Gman]

I'm not a welsh speaker, but I don't have any real problem with them - unless it's with the length of the announcement.

The most annoying thing about the Welsh announcements is that whilst they know that "double Ll" is pronounced "LLLLL" (I'm sure that you know what I mean), they also think that it applies every time, even when the "double Ll" is in the middle of the word.

This means that Llanhilleth (on the Ebbw Vale line) is pronounced with two "double Ll's" when the middle one shouldn't be. It drives me made every time I hear it - which is often!

er, except you're incorrect.

The two LLs in Llangollen are both pronounced as LL !

If it is to be pronounced as a single L then the spelling would involve a single L - as in Llangelynin.

 

[tbtc]

Can anyone really describe themselves as Welsh if they can't speak the language ?

Just my opinion but I don't think that a language is the only definition of a culture. Was Dylan Thomas not truly Welsh?

 

[Butts]

Whether or not 41% of Irish people can understand the language, apart from a few everyday phrases is, shall we say, a little on the optimistic side. Every dog that I ever owned could understand Welsh but not one of them could speak it.

I got the 41% from The Irish Census ....I did think it sounded a bit high.

Do Welsh Sheep Ba in Welsh - particularly when being chased around a field by an Englishman with dishonourable intentions

 

[Welshman]

Can anyone really describe themselves as Welsh if they can't speak the language ?

My Father was born and raised in Gorseinon, near Swansea, and lived there for the first 18 years of his life, but couldn't speak Welsh.

But he was proud to be Welsh, and I suspect there are many others born in South Wales in a similar situation.

 

[Gwenllian2001]

My Father was born and raised in Gorseinon, near Swansea, and lived there for the first 18 years of his life, but couldn't speak Welsh.

But he was proud to be Welsh, and I suspect there are many others born in South Wales in a similar situation.

There are plenty of Welsh speakers in Gorseinon. There are many from all parts of Wales who do not speak Welsh, you don't have to come from the south.

 

[BestWestern]

Most.streets in CardiffCatsuits don't speak Erykah to be fair!

Predictive text disaster?

Perhaps it's in Welsh?!

 

[krus_aragon]

I got the 41% from The Irish Census ....I did think it sounded a bit high.

Do Welsh Sheep Ba in Welsh - particularly when being chased around a field by an Englishman with dishonourable intentions

Everyone knows Welsh sheep say 'mee', not 'baa'... :P

 

[island]

I was interested to note 41% of Irish people can understand the mother tongue, do Irish Railways have announcements in Irish ? (Eire)

Automated announcements on Iarnród Éireann services are made bilingually. On intercity services the full announcement is made in Irish and then in English. On short commuter and DART (Dublin area local services) the station name is repeated in Irish after the announcement in English. Some on-train PIS messages are partially or fully bilingual. Signage is mostly bilingual as well. Irish is a language selection on TVMs but the translations are pretty cack-handed.

However, announcements and PIS at stations are entirely done in English, manual announcements on board will be in English, and so on.

I speak and understand Irish but can probably count on my hands the number of times I have done so outside an educational context.

 

[D1009]

If by "quite a long time" you mean about three years then you are right! It was nonsensical to go from English only to Welsh first, so the sensible thing was done and the order reversed.

I can remember this arising when there was disruption on the up road, and a Cardiff-Holyhead booked to use platform 3 was replatformed to 2, and immediately behind was a Cardiff-Paddington formed with a class 180 which was replatformed from 2 to 3. By the time announcement of the Holyhead train had finished, the 180 was already in the platform and was dispatched before the English version of its announcement had even started. There were some VERY unhappy people that night!

 

[merlodlliw]

Welsh speakers are by no means confined to the West coast although the language is stronger there. There are many thousands of Welsh speakers in the Valleys of Glamorgan and Gwent; Swansea and disrict as well as in the North East around Wrexham and Rhos. Neither is it that uncommon in rural Mid Wales. You would be far more likely to hear Welsh spoken in Cardiff than Gaelic (Erse) in Dublin.

Rhos WX did have a large number of Welsh Speakers when the pits and railways were open, I am in Rhos WX every day & it is rare to hear anyone speak Welsh in the village, as for Wrexham Welsh is usually spoken by those who travel in to shop from Denbighshire.
Rhos will have a good number of Welsh speakers, but alas don't bother.
I have a friend whose grandmother ran a pub in Rhos WX, and she could only speak Welsh he often tells me ,circa 1940s
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I got the 41% from The Irish Census ....I did think it sounded a bit high.

Do Welsh Sheep Ba in Welsh - particularly when being chased around a field by an Englishman with dishonourable intentions

depends if he his wearing a velcro suit

 

[rf_ioliver]

depends if he his wearing a velcro suit

Oversized wellies surely?

Getting back to topic...are bilingual announcements really a problem or is it just because they happen to be in Welsh?

Here in Finland we get at minimum two languages (Finnish + Swedish) and often English and Russian too (the first 3 all by the same announcer). Now given practically nearly all Swedish speakers in Finland speak Finnish, and as far as I can work out, nearly 100% of the population speak fluent English, no-one really complains?

Actually I'd like to hear more UK indigineous langauges being used in announcements; it would be wonderful to hear Cornish and Scots Gaelic. Actually is the latter used in announcements at all in Scotland?

t.

Ian

 

[W.Tregurtha]

I know of no-one in Wales who doesn't speak English. Standing on Newport station last year waiting for a Nottingham train was a nightmare listening to a language that practically no-one in Newport communicates in.

 

[Prairie_5542]

I didn't learn to speak English until I was 8 or 10, Welsh is my mother tongue.

If you're in Wales, expect to get an announcement in Welsh as well as English!

 

[PHILIPE]

Legal requirement so far as public and public funded bodies are concerned.

 

[Michael.Y]

Actually I'd like to hear more UK indigineous langauges being used in announcements; it would be wonderful to hear Cornish and Scots Gaelic. Actually is the latter used in announcements at all in Scotland?

Not sure about announcements, but there are Kernow agas dynnerch signs on the Cornish side of the Brunel bridge at Saltash station.