WELSH shoppers at retail bargain store B&M have been left perplexed after spotting new signs in-store in their native tongue have been hilariously mistranslated by the retailer.
The company posted their banners on the interior and exterior of the store in Porthmadog, Gwynedd in North Wales but customers clocked onto the errors yesterday.
The shop has only just opened, but the supermarket giants now face making an embarrassing U-turn over their signs.
Images show the signs printed primarily in the Welsh language with what should be their English translations below, but Welsh speakers have been quick to share the issue and correct it online.
Pictures posted to social media show a banner at the exit of the shop which reads, “Ffoniwch eto yn fuan” which the shop’s translation below claims says: “Please call again soon”.
However native speakers of the language were quick to pan the retailer as the translation in fact means “Phone call again soon”.
The second error lies on the exterior of the shop on a white sign with the orange and blue B&M logo, on which it reads: “Naw Ar Agor”.
The multinational variety store has once again posted a translation below which proclaims the store is “Now open”.
Although it may have been intended to tell shoppers the store was open, it actually translates as: “Nine is open”.
The gaffe was spotted by Llinos Roberts who snapped the images before they were spotted by media personality Mared Parry.
Mared shared the pics to her social media yesterday with the caption: “B&M just opened up a branch in Porthmadog and ballsed up the Welsh translations beyond belief.
“This goes through how many levels of sign-off? Only for them to say ‘phone call again soon’ instead of please call again soon and ‘nine is open’ instead of now open.”
The television presenter added: “The lack of care and respect for the Welsh language winds me up beyond belief.
“Note this down B&M, Google Translate is not sufficient, just pay a translator.”
Her post received over 520 likes with dozens of comments from social media users who were quick to agree with Mared’s stance.
One said: “Famously there are so few Welsh speakers in that area that none of their staff or customers could advise.”
Another added: “What confuses me is the fact that these shops etc don’t seem to consult translators, ask other branches that got it right or even just ask Welsh shoppers how you would say this in standard Welsh, it’s just so, so easy to get this stuff right.”
A third replied: “Pretty poor that, it’s not as if there’s no Welsh speakers in bloody Porthmadog to double check with.”
B&M has over 700 stores throughout the United Kingdom and France employing more than 34,000 people.
Speaking today, a B&M spokesperson said: “We are aware of the error on the signage, and we’ve taken steps to have this removed and replaced immediately.
“We apologise for any upset this may have caused”.
