Translator's Snapshot... Getting place-names right

Why are Welsh place-names important? And why do we need better resources for them? Here’s a translator’s snapshot of an average working day to illustrate:

So you’ve got a text to translate and it refers to Broad Haven South. The text tells you it’s in Pembrokeshire. You’re not from that part of the world so you don’t have any local knowledge.

You ask yourself: Is there a Welsh name for Broad Haven? This is important. If there’s a Welsh name and you don’t use it in the Welsh text, you risk upsetting a local community. Not good and your client won’t thank you.

First port of call: the Welsh Language Commissioner’s directory of Standard Welsh Place-names, THE authority on Welsh place-names. Whatever it says, that's what you'll use.

For ‘Broad Haven’ it gives you ‘Aberllydan’.

‘Great!’ you think. ‘So then Broad Haven South is, what? De Aberllydan?’

You’d be forgiven for thinking this. Broad Haven South sounds a lot like the southern end of Broad Haven. Looking at a number of Welsh-language web pages, that’s precisely what many Welsh translators have assumed.

WRONG!

…screams anyone from Pembrokeshire reading this. There are, in fact, two Broad Havens in Pembrokeshire. They do both have fine beaches (I’ve since learned from experience). But one looks out west over St Bride’s Bay and the other is twenty miles away on the southern tip of the county. That’s what the ‘South’ refers to. Broad Haven South is NOT the south of Broad Haven.

Without local knowledge, you’ll only know this if you go the extra mile and investigate.

Broad Haven (top) and Broad Haven South. These are not the same place!

But practically for your translation, what to do?

First things first: which Broad Haven does the Welsh Language Commissioner have as Aberllydan? The website offers a grid reference. You type it into your search engine ... which shows clearly that Aberllydan is the Broad Haven on St Bride’s Bay, not ours. There is no other entry for Broad Haven.

Well, can we use Aberllydan for Broad Haven South anyway? No! One golden rule of place-names: just because two places share the same name in one language doesn’t mean they share the same name in another language. Newport is a case in point – Casnewydd where the river Usk washes out into the Bristol channel, but Trefdraeth looking out to the Irish sea (another fine Pembrokeshire beach).

So does Broad Haven South have a Welsh name? To cut a long story (a bit) short(er), you look up some other resources, but find no answer. You’re left scratching your head.

Ideally there would be some direction on this question, some help, some resource to turn to that would make a translator’s life a little bit easier and that would give you confidence you’d found the right answer. In an ideal world, maps would show reliable Welsh place-names alongside their English names. The Welsh Language Commissioner’s list of standard place-names would be more comprehensive and include both Broad Havens. The relevant Local Authority would have a well-used bilingual list of standard place-names for all the places within its boundaries, and all the pages on its website would be reliable sources of information.

Sadly, this isn’t yet the case. The Welsh Language Commissioner’s list is a good start, but there’s much more work to be done. You don’t realise how many place-names there are, even in a small country like Wales, until you find all the ones that aren’t on the list. That’s why it’s encouraging to see the Welsh Government launching a new service to allow the Welsh public to upload Welsh and historical place names. And why I’m looking forward to seeing how the information collated will be used eventually so that we’re in fact referring to places in Welsh with their proper names.

In the specific translation text I was working on, I did find a way of working around the name. Finishing the piece I reflected that I now know where Broad Haven South is, have visited and picnicked on the sand, have swum there in the sea, but I still don't know what the name of the place is in Welsh.

If you do, please let me know in the comments.

Photo Credits: Broad Haven by Sjaak Kempe, licenced under CC BY 2.0.

Broad Haven South by Matthew_Hartley, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.