The Atheist Blogger

Human error will always be the bane of technology, and the more people who look at something, the more errors will be found. This is certainly shown to be true when you compare something like Windows to Linux (the latter being more stable and secure because of all the people who can look at the code). Another example cropped up in Wales the other day:

Lost in translation...

For those who don’t live in the UK, Welsh road signs are put in both English and Welsh since both are official languages of the country, and us English-born chaps are too arrogant to learn Welsh. The English in the sign above is perfectly readable. Unfortunately the Welsh reads:

I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated.

Apparently the English people who make the signs needed a translation and emailed what was needed to their Swansea council colleagues. The “out of office” auto-response replied, and they assumed this was the translation they needed.

Of course, there are two people at fault here. Firstly there are the people who make Welsh road signs and yet don’t have anyone who speaks Welsh on their team, or anyone to confirm the translation. Secondly, the person who thinks that out of office auto-responses should only be in Welsh, when they know full well that people are emailing them for translations.

It’s common sense really…*sigh*.