A parking machine at Cardiff Central railway station caused amusement last week after a Welsh translation error appeared to offer visitors chips as they paid for parking. The dual-language pay and display machine instructed users to 'tap or chip and pin' in English, but the Welsh translation read 'Tap neu sglodion a phin', which literally means 'Tap or chips and pin'.
Translation Mishap
The word 'chip' was directly translated to 'sglodion', the Welsh word for chips as in fish and chips, rather than the correct term for a payment chip. In Welsh, 'chip' in this context should have been 'sglodyn' (singular) or a more appropriate term. The error sparked hilarity on social media, with one Facebook user asking 'dim pysgod?' (no fish?), another saying 'fili stopio chwerthin!' (can't stop laughing), and an Instagram user commenting 'Genuinely thought Cardiff had an ATM for chips at first glance!'
Correction and Response
After the issue was reported to Network Rail, the writing on the machine was altered. A Network Rail spokesman said: 'Network Rail and APCOA (parking operator) apologise for the mistranslation at Cardiff Central Quay car park. We do hope this didn’t cause too much confusion for customers. Thankfully we haven’t noticed any salt or vinegar on the machine.' The error has now been corrected, confirming that the machine no longer offers chips to parkers.
