Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! Are you looking to start the year off right with some effective bilingual communication? Well, you’re in the right place! In this blog, Laura Truelove, Senior Digital Manager at the Welsh Government, provides some top tips to put you on the right track…
When it comes to creating bilingual content, there are many challenges and opportunities. Some of the key issues people often raise with me is compliance with the Welsh Language Standards, whether to create separate channels for different languages and, very importantly, audience! How do we know that our content is reaching the right audience and is interesting to both Welsh speakers and non-Welsh speakers/Welsh learners?
In this short blog, I will provide five top tips on how to not only overcome these challenges, but also how to enjoy creating engaging bilingual content (whether you work in the public sector or beyond!) …
Go beyond compliance
Anyone who works in the public sector in Wales will be familiar with the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. It says that we (public sector bodies) must not treat the Welsh language less favourably than English. This applies across all our communications, including social media, and the Welsh Language Commissioner oversees this to ensure we are compliant. But is compliance enough when it comes to creating creative bilingual content and reaching our goals to grow our language?
The Measure was developed to ensure public sector bodies prioritise and promote the Welsh language, and to provide Welsh speakers with rights to access services in our mamiaith (mother-tongue). While there are some black and white rules in terms of providing bilingual services, such as ensuring documents and webpages are available in both languages, we don’t want to fall into a trap of just copying and pasting or producing poor translations. To double the daily use of Welsh and reach the Welsh Government’s ambition of one million Welsh speakers, we must think beyond compliance. In practice this means co-producing your English and Welsh content in a way that gives prominence to both languages, just as it is outlined in CDPS’s trio writing process. Read point 2 to see what I mean in practice…
Not a public sector body? Just because the Welsh Language Measure doesn’t apply to your business or third sector organisation, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be looking to increase your use of Welsh. We need everyone on board to help in our nation’s endeavour to increase the use of the language. Helo Blod is an excellent, free service that can help you with translation. The Welsh Language Commissioner’s Office also run sessions to help with practical steps to increase your use of Welsh.
2. Don’t just translate… Trosi!
Directly translating English into Welsh rarely works, especially for social media or campaigns. Why? Because it ignores the many wonderful accents, idioms and sayings contained in Welsh. The Welsh language may be hundreds of years old, but it is alive and thriving and adding new words and phrases all the time. Simply translating from English denies us all that history and energy. Rather than just translating we should aim to trosi or transpose English to Welsh. Want to go even better? Just write the Welsh copy independently! In practice this means saying the same thing, but in a different way; a way that has been re-written and re-purposed with a Welsh speaking audience in mind.
With limited money and resources, this can be easier said than done. From copywriting to filming, there’s already significant demands on communications professionals to be multi-skilled. But to increase the use of Welsh, we must develop these language skills within our organisations and employ those who have them. As Welsh speakers we have a responsibility to support others in this endeavour. In practice this could mean something as simple as helping colleagues with text-checking work. While Bing Translator, Cysill and Cysgeir are all essential tools for communicating in Welsh, you should always have a human Welsh speaker (or two!) to text-check your work.
3. Don’t segregate languages
When it comes to bilingualism on social media, often one of the biggest debates is whether to have one bilingual account, or two separate ones for different languages. There are pros and cons to each approach.
Having one bilingual page allows you to creatively blend English and Welsh, which can send a strong message that your organisation or brand is committed to Cymraeg. It also allows you to experiment with bilingual usernames and handles (for instance, @prifweinidog for the First Minister or @cymru for Wales’ Football Team). However, when posting bilingually, it's important to think about the social media algorithm. Writing too much Welsh at the beginning of your post can make people who don't speak Welsh automatically disregard or scroll past the post. And doing two separate posts, one after another, can have a negative impact on the reach of those posts due to the way social media algorithms work.
There are also benefits to having two separate pages. A Welsh-only page allows you to create unique Welsh-only content and speak directly to your Welsh-speaking audience in a style, as well as a language, they’ll better understand. It's also easier to get to know your followers when they are separated in this way, because you can easily delve into the analytics for each audience and tailor your content to increase engagement. However, it’s often the case that people will opt to follow the English channel and not the Welsh, and therefore never be exposed to the Welsh language.
Whichever way you choose to set up your channel, the most important thing will be treating the Welsh with the respect it deserves and not segregating languages so people never see/hear the Welsh. This means if you do have separate channels, making sure you do everything you can to include some Welsh on your English channels. The more you can inject into your posts and videos on social media the better, as this will increase the exposure of the language.
4. Be unapologetically Welsh!
Whether you’re aiming to communicate everything you do bilingually, or whether you just want to pepper in a bit of Cymraeg into your content, there are going to be times when you get it wrong. It’s just inevitable. Especially when you are trying to do things differently and creatively in a fast-paced environment with limited resources. I would be rich if I had a pound for every mistake I’ve ever made in Welsh online. We all make mistakes. This is not to let you off the hook in any way, but who cares if you made a typo or didn’t treiglo a word correctly?! Yes, it’s important that we treat our language with the respect it deserves, but we often make the same, small mistakes in the English language too.
So please, use the Cymraeg you have. Exercise your language skills. Yes, check your work with others, but let’s not be pedantic. Nobody likes a ‘Plismon Iaith’ – this is the reason so many people are too afraid to just give it a go. If we never allow ourselves the space to make these mistakes, we’ll never learn or grow. And if you do get things wildly wrong, the internet will be quick to tell you! Just say sorry if needed, correct it and move on. Nobody can ever criticise your efforts to use or promote our language.
5. Dyfal Donc a Dyr y Garreg! (Keep at it!)
Regardless of your level of Cymraeg, we’re all on our own personal development journey. Despite working through the medium of Welsh all my life, I recently went to Nant Gwrtheyrn for a week-long Gloywi Iaith residency to brush up on my skills. Since then, I’ve felt more confident than ever in my ability to write, and communicate to others, in Welsh. I highly recommend it.
There are so many excellent examples of creative bilingual communications across Wales. I think we’re all doing an excellent job. And this was echoed at a social media conference I attended in Dublin, where I was really heartened to learn they are looking to Wales as a paragon of best practice as they seek to grow their use of Irish Gaelic.
While it may be daunting, these efforts will be noticed and appreciated by your audience. Amdani!
Laura Truelove
Senior Digital Manager, Welsh Government
Laura is a Senior Digital Content Manager in the Welsh Government's Central Digital Team. She has experience managing several high-profile, bilingual social media accounts on behalf of government. She is passionate about communicating effectively in Welsh and bilingually, and regularly delivers talks and training on this subject.
