The mistranslation has since been corrected after the issue caused much hilarity
Would you care for some chips as you pay for parking? That was seemingly an option if you happened to park at a car park in Cardiff city centre last week thanks to a translation mishap.
The eagle-eyed who parked at Cardiff Central railway station would have noticed that the dual language used on a pay and display ticket machine was quite amusing.
On the machine the instructions told users they could ‘tap or chip and pin’ – meaning of course that you could just tap your card or enter it into the machine and then enter your four-digit pin to complete payment. For the latest Cardiff news, sign up to our newsletter here.
However whoever signed off on the Welsh translation maybe needs to brush up on their Welsh.
‘Tap neu sglodion a phin’.
Now then. ‘Tap’ is self-explanatory. ‘Phin’ is ‘pin’ due to mutation.
But the machine also included the direct translation for ‘chip’ which is ‘sglodion’ – as in a chip you would get from a chippy.
So in Welsh the instructions on the machine actually said: “Tap or chips and pin.”
The error has led to much hilarity on social media. One Facebook user reacted to a picture of the machine by asking “dim pysgod?” (no fish?), while another said “fili stopio chwerthin!” (can’t stop laughing).
Another Facebook user called the error “ridiculous”.
On Instagram one user said: “Genuinely thought Cardiff had an ATM for chips at first glance!”
Technically the translation is largely correct although ‘sglodion’ is the plural word meaning ‘chips’.
The Welsh word for ‘chip’ is ‘sglodyn, so they weren’t far wrong however in this context the machine obviously is not offering those paying to park a bag of chips.
The writing on the machine has now been altered after the matter was reported to Network Rail who seemed to take the issue in good spirits.
A spokesman for the company said: “Network Rail and APCOA (parking operator) apologise for the mistranslation at Cardiff Central Quay car park.
“We do hope this didn’t cause too much confusion for customers.
“Thankfully we haven’t noticed any salt or vinegar on the machine.”
The error has now been corrected, it has been confirmed.
