Don't use Google Translate, Wrexham council staff told

Wrexham council was cited by the Welsh Language Commissioner last month over this sign

Council staff have been told to stop using Google for translations following complaints about Welsh spelling errors.

It has led to calls for Wrexham council to bring translation services back in-house after concerns over its failure to comply with Welsh language standards.

Last month, Welsh Language Commissioner Meri Huws revealed she had received 14 complaints about an inaccurate sign.

Staff have received an e-mail advising against using Google translate.

The latest issues were highlighted by Councillor Gwenfair Jones who called the errors "frustrating", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"We did look at this last month and we did make some recommendations around bringing translation back into Wrexham and I think it would be the best way moving forward," she said.

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Problems were also highlighted last month when Welsh language campaigners slapped stickers on about 80 give way road signs in Wrexham in protest at them being displayed in English only.

But one of the authority's executive board members insisted most translation was done properly.

"When we have statutory duty to translate we have to do it through an external provider, which is another local authority, we have to pay a significant amount for that service," said councillor David Kelly.

"We do have our own internal staff to do it and I don't think they're guilty of using Google, but departmentally there are cases where they need a quick translation and that's when things start to go wrong."

Council leader Mark Pritchard agreed "we have to deliver on Welsh standards".