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Welsh automated announcements

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You should find that although they are in Welsh first, the message is always repeated in English shortly after.

Certainly in the English speaking parts of our country (can't be sure about the north or the west)

Anyway, I'll give it a bit of a go: (not sure of all spelling)

'Y tren yn sinedd sair blatfform (platform number) ydy'r (time) gwasanaeth (operator) i (destination), yn galw ym (stations)'

'The train now approaching platform (platform number) is the (time)(operator) service to (destination), calling at (stations)'
 
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Greenback

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They are all bilingual, no matter where you are. Welsh first, then English. PIS screens are also shown in the two languages.
 

manaichain

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I done a few searches on Google to not much avail, i want to find out how it is in their announcements they say The next train at x is for x, it's delayed, it's cancelled etc
I know town names, majority of station names, and numbers, just don't know grammar much, so anyone able to help that'd be lovely
 
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The next train - Y trenau nesaf

is delayed by (number) minutes - wedi oedi (number) mined

has been cancelled - wedi am dileu

example for part 1:

'Y Trenau nesaf am blatfform pedair ydy'r dau-ddeg-un mined wedi pimp o'r glock gwasanaeth Trenau Arriva Cymru am Faesteg, yn galw ym Bontyclun ...'

'The next train at platform 4 is the 17:21 Arriva Trains Wales service to Maesteg, calling at Pontyclun...'

& actually that may have pointed out what you mean

dau-ddeg-un mined wedi pimp o'r glock = two-tens-one minutes past five o clock
 
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manaichain

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Thanks Kinston Flyer, is that their script or is that your own Welsh? If you or anybody can provide a link or website or something to a variety of announcements, that'd be excellent, have wanted to find this out for years, might even put it to use on model railway
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just seen your edit Kingston Flyer, i'm familiar with the 20s counting, and i know reasonable bit about the mutations Caerfyrddin = Caer + Myrddin etc, many thanks
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
So that means they'd use the pum pedair chwe dwy forms rather thn pump pedwar chwech dau for the platforms?
 
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It is my own Welsh, but as I commute into Cardiff every day, and our automated announcements seem to be plentiful, it should be correct.

As to the platforms, they should be ferminine (i.e. un, dwy, tair, pedair ...), but I am no longer sure.
 

kentuckytony

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Probably too much to ask, but a brief pronunciation explanation would be nice for me here in Yank-land. (If a brief one is possible.)
I have watched quite a few Welsh train DVDs so I am somewhat familiar with listening to some Welsh station name pronunciations vs. (English) spellings and some Welsh station signs.
 
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thefab444

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Interesting to note that there are a number of different recordings of "yn galw ym", with varying amounts of stress on the "ym":

Un gallow *UNG* Caerydd Canalog...
Ungallowung Cyfford Twnel Hafren...
Un gallow ung? Parc Ninnian...

(NB: Phoenetic spelling)

There's also at least two words for "and"; "a" and "ack". I guess this is to do with the next word.
 

manaichain

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in these "iy" sounds like the word eye, "dh" sounds like the voiced th sound of this, that, further etc "ow" as in cow or Slough not as in mow, kh as in the scottish loch and german bach

Blaenau Ffestiniog bliy-niy fest-in-ee-og
Cardiff Central/Caerdydd Canolog kiyr-deedh kan-o-log
Cardiff Queen Street/Caerdydd Heol Y Frenhines
kiyr-deedh he-ol uh vren-hee-ness
Llwyngwril hlwing-uh-ril
Llwynypia hlwin-ip-ia
Llandanwg hlan-dan-oog
Morfa Mawddach mor-va mow-dhakh
Merthyr Tydil/Merthyr Tudful mer-thir tid-vil
Machynlleth makh-un-hleth
Penmaenmawr pen-miyn-mowr
Penrhyndeudraeth pen-hrin-de-ee-driyth
Pen-y-chain pen-ih-khiyn
Pwllheli puhl-heli
Rhoose Cardiff International Airport/Maes Awyr Rhyngwladol Caerdydd Y Rhws
miys a-weer hrin-guu-lad-ol kiyr-deedh uh hruus
Swansea/Abertawe ab-er-tow-e
Tonfanau ton-van-iy
Treherbert tre-her-bert
Troed-y-rhiw troyd-ih-hryu
Ynyswen un-is-wen
Ystrad Rhondda is-trad hron-dha
Betws-y-Coed bet-uus ih koyd
Dyffryn Ardudwy duff-rin ar-dud-wee
Ebbw Vale Parkway/Parcffordd Glyn Ebwy
park-fordh glin eb-wee
Bath/Caerfaddon kiyr-vadh-on
Bridgend/Pen-y-Bont ar Ogŵr pen-uh-bont-ar-og-oor
Bristol/Bryste brus-te
Builth Wells/Llanfair-ym-Muallt hlan-viyr im mu-ahlt
Cambridge/Caergrawnt kiyr-grownt
Carmarthen/Caerfyrddin kiyr-ver-dhin
Edinburgh/Caeredin kiyr-ed-in
Gloucester/Caerloyw kiyr-lo-ih-oo
Lampeter/Llanbedr Pont Steffan hlan-bedr pont stef-an
Liverpool/Lerpwl ler-pool
London/Llundain hlin-diyn
Manchester/Manceinion man-kay-nee-on
Milford Haven/Aberdaugleddau a-ber-diy-gle-dhiy
Shrewsbury/Amwythig am-wee-thig
United Kingdom/Y Deyrnas Unedig uh de-eer-nas uu-den-ig
United States of America/Unol Daleithiau America ee-nol da-lay-thee-iy
Republic of Ireland/Gweriniaeth Iwerddon gwe-rin-ee-iyth i-wer-dhon
 
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I am very intrigued by this discussion! I am a regular user of Dolwyddelan station, in a very Welsh-speaking area of the country, and automated announcements have recently begun to be made there. However they are only in English and use a synthesised voice which completely mangles the Welsh names of the stations - for example, the next station is pronounced Pont Why Pant, followed by Bets Why Co-ed and so on. Llanrwst is completely indecipherable. Where in the country are Welsh announcements made? Do they use a synthesised voice? Is the pronunciation of the Welsh place names reasonably faithful? Which part of the rail industry is responsible for these risible announcements? Network Rail? Arriva Trains Wales?
 

louis97

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I am very intrigued by this discussion! I am a regular user of Dolwyddelan station, in a very Welsh-speaking area of the country, and automated announcements have recently begun to be made there. However they are only in English and use a synthesised voice which completely mangles the Welsh names of the stations - for example, the next station is pronounced Pont Why Pant, followed by Bets Why Co-ed and so on. Llanrwst is completely indecipherable. Where in the country are Welsh announcements made? Do they use a synthesised voice? Is the pronunciation of the Welsh place names reasonably faithful? Which part of the rail industry is responsible for these risible announcements? Network Rail? Arriva Trains Wales?

Got just the thing for you then! Got recording of Ruth from the telephone help points. See attached
 

Attachments

  • 1712 Blaenau Ffestiniog + 1751 Llandudno.zip
    2 MB · Views: 53

manaichain

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I know they did it at Cardiff Central, Swansea, and Whitland, a lot of stations had no announcements at all

From what i remember, the stations are Llandudno (hlan-did-no), Deganwy (de-gan-wee), Llandudno Junction/Cyffordd Llandudno (kiff-fordh hlan-did-no), Glan Conwy (glan con-wee), Tal-y-Cafn (tal-ih-kavn), Dolgarrog (dol-gar-rog), North Llanrwst/Gogledd Llanrwst (gog-ledh hlan-ruust) this is the original 1863 terminus, Llanrwst (hlan-ruust), built 1989 as no space for car park at the original Llanrwst and Trefriw station (now North Llanrwst), Betws-y-Coed (bet-uus ih koyd), Pont-y-Pant (pont-ih-pant), Dolwyddelan (dol-wee-dhel-lan), Roman Bridge/Pont Rufeinig (pont ruu-vay-nig), Blaenau Ffestiniog (bliy-niy fest-in-ee-og) (the original terminus of the LNWR Llandudno to Blaenau Ffestiniog line closed 1982, and services were diverted to the GWR station (Ruabon and Bala to Blaenau Ffestiniog line which had closed in 1960
 

class175

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(woo! first post!)

None of the stations operated by Arriva in the North and Mid Wales regions have bilingual announcements. I wish they did, as there are plenty of Welsh speakers in that area, I'm quite surprised Cymdeithas Yr Iaith hasn't protested about the lack of Welsh Language announcements in Bangor actually...
 

manaichain

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They dont use Welsh announcements at all in Bangor, Llandudno, Ll Junction or Conwy (when i went there few years ago, long after the South had it). Apparantly they don't have to have it at all since they are private and the law stipulates public bodies, but it's nice they do (somewhat). Last time i read, the Welsh stronghold is the the North (Gwynedd, Conwy, Anglesey etc) so ridiculous not to install it where it's needed more
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
welcome to the forum 175
 

oglord

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They are all bilingual, no matter where you are. Welsh first, then English. PIS screens are also shown in the two languages.
I was pleasantly surprised to note that Newport High Street has changed it to the eminently more sensible English-first. All we need now is to get Urdu before Welsh...
 

Greenback

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We can only hope that it is changed back to ensure consistency across the network, and to give the language the prominence it deserves.
 

merlodlliw

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(woo! first post!)

None of the stations operated by Arriva in the North and Mid Wales regions have bilingual announcements. I wish they did, as there are plenty of Welsh speakers in that area, I'm quite surprised Cymdeithas Yr Iaith hasn't protested about the lack of Welsh Language announcements in Bangor actually...

Sorry that's incorrect, Wrexham as them,as does Gobowen(Salop) same line
 
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We can only hope that it is changed back to ensure consistency across the network, and to give the language the prominence it deserves.

From one point of view the automated announcements at Dolwyddelan could be interpreted as "We can't be bothered getting a technology which renders your weird place names remotely correctly and your weird language at all" which, given the still-remembered English hostility to the Welsh language, is verging on the offensive.

These announcements are, in fact, even dafter than I said in my first post. They begin "The next train to arrive at platform L. O. D. ... " (at least I think that is what the tin voice says!). Why any traveller from Dolwyddelan should be in an doubt where the train will arrive is beyond me.
 

oglord

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We can only hope that it is changed back to ensure consistency across the network, and to give the language the prominence it deserves.
I'm sorry, but the railways should not be a political plaything or a vehicle to promote a minority language. It is not their job to give a language "the prominence it deserves" anywhere, let alone a place like Newport or Monmouthshire.
 
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I'm sorry, but the railways should not be a political plaything or a vehicle to promote a minority language. It is not their job to give a language "the prominence it deserves" anywhere, let alone a place like Newport or Monmouthshire.

It is not a minority language in Dolwyddelan and most of the rest of the Conwy valley; this map is at county rather than district level so does not show what happens in Conwy county away from the heavily-anglicised coastal strip.
 

Greenback

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As Leslie says, there are quite a few areas where Welsh speakers are not in the minority. I happen to live in one where you cna hear Welsh spoken daily in shops and on the street.

Use of the Welsh language is growing again after decades of decline thanks largely to the prominence of the language. I fial to see why a publicly funded railway should not be required to give the language the prominence that other public services are obliged to. My utility bills are bilingual, why shouldn't timetables and announcements also be?
 

mickey

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Use of the Welsh language is growing again after decades of decline thanks largely to the prominence of the language. I fial to see why a publicly funded railway should not be required to give the language the prominence that other public services are obliged to. My utility bills are bilingual, why shouldn't timetables and announcements also be?

I agree entirely. I would even go one step further and offer language lessons to customer-facing staff. They would be optional, obviously, but even in Welsh heartlands most railway staff force customers to use English and this would show a care in the heritage and culture of the place the company serves.
 

Greenback

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I'm sure I heard traincrew using Welsh to passengers last year on the Cambrian Coast, another Welsh speaking area!
 

merlodlliw

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Ben Davies of ATW told us at a SCRUA meeting on Monday, ATW have been in consultation with the Welsh Language Board, in reference to Bi Ling announcements as to areas Welsh or English should come first, the findings he told us are being put into place, so as a Welsh speaker in Wrexham I hope common sense prevails and Station announcements at Wrexham are in English first which is this Border Counties prevailing language. Sorry Greenback;)
 
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