The story of the Welsh sign error highlights the importance of speaking a second language. In Wales it is a requirement that all road signs are bilingual – Welsh and English. But many of the staff in the Highways Department, as elsewhere, don´t speak any Welsh. So the practice was that they would email the English text to a translator who promptly emailed back the Welsh translation. And on this occasion everything seemed as normal: the English text was sent and a Welsh text was received, the sign was made and put up. Only some weeks later, they received a call from a Welsh speaker to say that the Welsh text actually read: “I am currently out of the office. Please submit any work to the translation team”!
An interesting article appeared on the website, https://www.foreigntongues.co.uk, which compared the linguistic ability of people in different European countries.
The main findings were that:
- Some 50% of Europeans are proficient in at least two languages
- Some 65% of Europeans can converse in a language other than their own, a notable contrast to the United States where only about 20% of adults speak more than one language
- Language proficiency varies considerably among European countries with Nordic nations excelling in bilingualism while Southern European countries faced more challenges
- The lowest scores of all were among English-speaking countries, with 50% of Irish individuals and only 34% in the United Kingdom being bilingual.
Why does this matter? Well, not only is bilingualism highly valued in the professional world but it is also very good for the brain. Apparently, a study in Toronto showed that people who speak more than one language develop dementia four to four-and-a-half years later than those who don’t. So get out and learn that second language!
Read the full story here.