How would the RAFAC respond to a request for official documentation to be provided in Welsh in light of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011?
Meltdown is probably the closest word lol
3 Likes
Badly, is the other word.
1 Like
Confusion and disarray?
I’d like to see it announced though so I can run a sweepstake on which language they accidentally translate it to. My money’s on Helvetica…
2 Likes
I don’t think the documents would make any more sense…
3 Likes
What a waste of time, money and effort that would be.
Although I bet it would be done faster than any other relevant stuff, because it has that buzzword diversity, all over it.
On a serious note, one assumes (perhaps wrongly) that a. the Civil Service has a mechanism for providing translators; and b. that HQAC would be charged for this service.
I’m not familiar with the act in question. What duties does it place on a body to provide what types of documents in Welsh? Presumably an individual could request e.g. consent certificates for parents to sign to be provided in Welsh?
It depends how well things translate both ways, any ambiguity and it becomes a task.
Most translations result in some degree of confusion and HQAC get confused enough in one language.
If something was translated and translated back with a slight change in meaning/context and got onto the internet, it would be pandemonium and that’s without different versions.
Wales has two official languages English and Welsh with about 25% of the population speaking Welsh. Welsh is mainly spoken in the rural part of wales but many of the industrial valleys north of Swansea and Llanelli still have a strong welsh speaking element.
In basic terms public bodies or publicly funded organisations has to be able produce all documentation, forms etc, in English or Welsh. Also all contact either by voice or mail has be in English or Welsh.
In the past HQAC has produced recruiting material in Welsh.
Incidentally England does not have an official language.
Do you want to give drill commands in Welsh too?
Obviously not.
My point is that there is a well established precedent in Wales of government bodies having to provide bilingual documentation and that as far as I’ve seen there’s no mechanism for us to do the same.
In addition to the traditional Welsh speaking areas Cardiff has a growing population of first language Welsh speakers so I wouldn’t be even remotely surprised if some squadron comes up against this issue in the near future.
And ‘treating Welsh no less favourably than English’. Which only publishing documents in English would come under.
Gotcha, don’t publish them in English in the first place! 
Can you imagine Bader with Welsh documents to add to the existing chaos??
2 Likes
You can choose you Facebook language as welsh.
Remember it is not only the current staff or cadets who could choose to use Welsh. You could get somebody wanting to join and would want the 3822A in welsh.
The 1 btln R Welsh have a Welsh company where the majority speak Welsh and much of the Coy radio traffic is done in welsh.
I thought you were repeating yourself in Welsh at the start of that last paragraph! 
1 Like
Isn’t there an obligation to provide important documents in other languages and in braille?
You can see HQAC pushing the costs for such things on to squadrons, putting it on the AI questionnaire and then get snotty if they don’t.
How do squadrons in large towns/cities where there are East Europeans, Asians, Africans et al get on with recruiting?
Do they try and recruit from these groups? If so do they put their recruiting lit into these languages, after all we are supposed to be equal opps, diversity and all that.
If you have cadets join where their English is weak and parents non-existent, how do you cope?
Should HQAC make things available in \ raft of languages, that may have a greater speaking population than Welsh.
Do some of the far flung Scottish squadrons have literature in Gaelic?
Perhaps focussing on english language to the exclusion of others counts as “training which will be useful in both the services and civilian life.”
6 Likes