Collin Dury, a writer at Independent Online Mag, brings an important case to the world of translation. Asda, a well-known British supermarket, recently printed a wrong translation for a signboard in Cwmbran, South Wales. The sign read as “free alcohol”, but it turned out to be wrongly translated and was quickly noticed by customers. The company then explained that the original sign which was supposed to say “alcohol-free”, was translated incorrectly in Welsh.

UK Event Manager Guto Aaron shared a picture of the sign on social media, poking fun and saying that all his followers should go to Asda, as according to their Welsh translation, were providing free alcohol. A spokesperson for the supermarket chain then confirmed that their sign had been changed to “am ddim”, opposite to “di-alcohol”. The company also made a statement apologizing for the mistake. They thanked their customers for pointing it out and announced the sign change in Cwmbran, confirming there was no intention of providing free alcohol.

According to Aaron, the major issue was not the content but how it was designed, written in dark font, making it difficult for people to read. This seemed to be unintentional. There have also been other incidents where Welsh translation on signs have been incorrect.

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