Linguistic Lunacy
 

According to the Daily Telegraph, a NOTAM has been posted requiring pilots of flights arriving in Wales to make a Covid-related announcement in Welsh as well as English. To me, as a Welshman, this is madness. Firstly, I doubt that there's a single Welsh speaker in the 21st century who can't understand English. Secondly, Welsh is a consonant-heavy language, quite different to most mainstream tongues so reading a script intelligibly would be next to impossible for an outsider. Has the CAA really regressed to the point where it hasn't the nous to tell the Cardiff Bay morons to take a hike?

All they have to do is to insert some vowels in the spoken words and claim they meet the intent, Who is to argue with pronunciation in a message? We already have that in english

Sounds like it is a couple of weeks too late.:)

Isn't Welsh the only language in the UK that has a staturoy footing?

Poor old Simon Calder got a kicking on Twitter for referencing the notam requirement for the Welsh announcement, pilot distraction and the Air Canada wrong runway incident. The nationalists came out in high dudgeon and the tweet was revised! There was even some criticism of the term Notam being sexist and gender specific. Made me laugh over the morning coffee!

Simple. All airlines move their flights from CWL to BRS.

the NOTAM has been in place since the end of January

Q) EGXX/QAFXX/IV/NBO/E/000/999/5504N00500W999
B) FROM: 21/01/29 16:30C) TO: 21/04/29 23:59E) COVID-19: THE FOLLOWING ON-BOARD MESSAGE MUST BE DELIVERED BY ALL
FLIGHTS INTO WALES PRIOR TO DISEMBARKATION. THIS SHOULD BE COMPLETED
IN ENGLISH, WELSH AND AN OFFICIALLY RECOGNISED
LANGUAGE OF THE COUNTRY OF DEPARTURE.
-ANNOUNCEMENT STARTS- THE FOLLOWING IS A PUBLIC HEALTH MESSAGE ON
BEHALF OF THE UKS PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCIES. BEFORE ENTERING THE UK,
YOU MUST COMPLETE A PASSENGER LOCATOR FORM ONLINE,
REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU ARE ARRIVING FROM. YOU MUST ALSO
SELF-ISOLATE FOR THE FIRST 10 DAYS AFTER YOU ARRIVE, UNLESS YOU ARE
IN AN EXEMPT CATEGORY. THIS IS TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND
OTHERS.VISIT GOV.UK FOR MORE INFORMATION.
THE SYMPTOMS OF CORONAVIRUS ARE A NEW CONTINUOUS COUGH, A HIGH
TEMPERATURE OR A LOSS OF, OR CHANGE IN, NORMAL SENSE OF TASTE OR
SMELL. IF YOU EXPERIENCE ANY OF THESE SYMPTOMS,
HOWEVER MILD, YOU ARE ADVISED TO MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN TO THE CREW.
SIMPLE MEASURES YOU CAN TAKE TO HELP PROTECT YOURSELF AND FAMILY
ARE: WASH YOUR HANDS AVOID TOUCHING YOUR FACE WITH YOUR HANDS
CATCH COUGHS AND SNEEZES IN A TISSUE AND DISPOSE OF IT IMMEDIATELY
-ANNOUNCEMENT ENDS-. 2020-10-0279-AS2

So according to that NOTAM it doesn’t have to be from the flight deck. However you would need an English speaker, a Welsh speaker and someone fluent in the language of the country of departure - Good luck with that... Are there any flights going into Wales at the moment or is it irrelevant.

Not convinced this type of thing should be covered by NOTAM as it’s not relevant to flight safety, but that’s an argument for another day.

Recorded message. If flight is from Spain, the message in Basque. No need for onboard crew to understand the other 2 languages. No problem.

Would have expected there to have been a suitably translated Welsh text to be read out, rather than rely on an individual's own translation.

Pam na chyhoeddwyd y notam yn Gymraeg?
Why wasn't the notam issued in Welsh?

I don't understand the concern.

Welsh is an official language in Wales.

All the airline has to do is record an announcement.

I've heard announcements in French, German, Mandarin, Cantonese and English arriving in Hong Kong,

I've heard Flemish, English, French and Dutch on the way out of Belgium.

What's the problem?

Are you objecting just because it's Welsh? If so that's frankly prejudiced if not borderline racist.

Knowing the difference between “should” and “shall” could be critical here!

"THE FOLLOWING IS A PUBLIC HEALTH MESSAGE ON
BEHALF OF THE UKS PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCIES. BEFORE ENTERING THE UK,"

Well, I would have mentally turned off after hearing that, never mind the rest of it, and in perhaps another 2 languages as well. Evidently much of the Civil Service hasn't yet understood that effective messaging is achieved with short simple announcements.

Perhaps all notams displayed at airports in Wales should be in Welsh only?

Hipennine

"Well, I would have mentally turned off after hearing that, never mind the rest of it, and in perhaps another 2 languages as well."

AFAIK you are only expected to listen to it in your preferred language ...

And whether you listen to it or not won't make any difference to the way you are treated or what you will be required to do, it just means you will be more or less prepared, as appropriate.

This is a non-story.

Last several flights I’ve SLF’d the people down the back don’t listen, either intent on chatting to their neighbours or listening to iPod/ etc. Happens both on arrival and departure.

Probably why hand luggage gets carted out in an emergency evacuation.

Precisely-a point missed entirely by the illustrious Mr. Calder and every other news outlet who never bother to check a suitable source before pushing out this bilge!

What about the hearing impaired , should they also have sign language version .

Pretty sure the terms and conditions of most airlines would require a deaf person to request a written copy of the safety demo from the crew.