George Orwell Classics Get New Lease of Life In Welsh

For the first time, George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 have been translated into Welsh, with localized titles, character names, and even a Welsh version of Newspeak. The BBC reports: Animal Farm, a 1945 political allegory inspired by the Russian Revolution, is set in north-west Wales in the Welsh edition, Foel yr Anifeiliaid, with Orwell's classic characters given Welsh names to add authenticity. Mil Naw Wyth Deg Pedwar, or 1984, Orwell's vision of a bleak totalitarian future, published in 1949, contains a Welsh version of Newspeak, the novel's fictional language. Both books remain "seminal works with timeless relevance," said Welsh book publisher Melin Bapur, and feel "particularly relevant now in an age of 'alternative facts', AI, and misinformation."

This will be great

[Valgrus Thunderaxe]

for the four people who speak Welsh but not English.

Re:

[julian67]

I don't think there is even one in Wales but there are tens of thousands in Argentina (Patagonia).

Re: This will be great

[Sneftel]

And how many of them canâ(TM)t read the Spanish translation?

Re: This will be great

[julian67]

Write them and ask.

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[Binkleyz]

I wish I had a few more "L"s in my last name, so I could feel truly Welsh.. It's "Elwyn", and my father spoke it, but I never got the knack of it.

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[AmiMoJo]

They have a similar problem in Ireland. Everyone is taught Irish, many signs are in both English and Irish... But when someone periodically does a test to see if they can do everyday tasks like sending a letter or ordering a coffee in Irish, they quickly find that everybody else abandoned it after school and can't understand them.

I do wonder how it affects education. Learning another language can be good for your understanding of English, but learning something like Spanish or Chinese is more likely to be o

Re:

[TheMiddleRoad]

Few think of the Irish as paragons of education.

This is not about accessibility

[skam240]

Of course this isn't about accessibility, that's why the idea sounds so ridiculous to you. It's about giving people options to read things in Welsh to improve literacy in the language as they are trying to revive it from near death.

The Welsh Version of Newspeak

[julian67]

The Welsh Version of Newspeak is just English.

Re:

[DesScorp]

The Welsh Version of Newspeak is just English.

Pretty sure that whatever it is, it involves some translation of Fuck the English.

Cool

[stabiesoft]

Somewhere the text can be saved as the US is likely to ban/completely destroy them. https://www.lib.umich.edu/abou... [umich.edu] Save those paper copies people!

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[Errol backfiring]

In that case, Welsh is an interesting form of security by obscurity.

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[timeOday]

No books have been banned. If you can find 1 example of the government telling Amazon not to sell some book, I'd be interested to hear it.

If you want to talk about the debate over what books government institutions should purchase and provide access to that is certainly a legitimate issue. But equating that with an actual book ban and 'complete destruction' is not accurate.

Re:

[stabiesoft]

I think you miss the process. Initially ban from schools, (done), then ban from public libraries (in process) and finally ban from sale. Straight out of the Taliban playbook. And keep in mind, many of the books being banned in public libraries these days were often read as a HS English assignment in the 70's. I know I read Catcher in the Rye back then and I think 1984 as well. Also the bell jar, probably banned now too. I still remember the afterforward of the bell jar where the author took her life. It rea

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[sabbede]

Well, the Taliban doesn't run anything outside of Afghanistan, and since you say it has been stuck on step 2 for decades, I suspect this process doesn't actually exist.

Catcher in the Rye was very often banned from schools in the 70's. Not so much anymore, especially since it was just because of one bad word. Never read it, not interested in whiny teens. I did read 1984, and I'm appalled by how many people are still trying to enforce their own brand of Newspeak without seeming to realize it.

Re: Cool

[Slashythenkilly]

Assuming that young Americans can and will have the desire to read which historically has been a problem.

really?

[wyHunter]

You mean HM Government hasn't banned the book? I'm shocked.

Where are all the student marches and sit-ins ?

[greytree]

Welsh was the language of the Britons of Britain
When the Romans left, the Angles etc. came and *stole the Britons' lands*, took them as *slaves* and committed *actual genocide*.

Britons want their Britain back.

Now get demonstrating.

Re:

[sabbede]

I could have sworn the Romanized Britons hired Saxons as mercenaries to protect them from the Scotts and Picts, and they ended up taking over. Which is interestingly similar to how Rome ended up falling to the Germanic tribes. And why I'm very troubled by migration trends.

Newspeak in action

[Anonymous Coward]

Both books remain seminal works with timeless relevance and feel particularly relevant now in an age of government surveillance, two-tier justice systems, and enforced "community harmony".

FTFY.

Animal Farm is better in the original Klingon...

[Jaegs]

Hoch Ha'DIbaHvam rurbogh bIH rap, 'ach latlh rapqu' law' latlh rapqu' puS.

Re:

[cybotron3000]

In July 2015, the Welsh Government issued a written statement in the Klingon language. Following a formal questioning of the Economy Minister Edwina Hart regarding the funding of research into UFO sightings around Cardiff Airport by Member of the Senedd Darren Millar, a press officer in the Minister's office issued the reply:

jang vIDa je due luq. ʼach ghotvamʼeʼ QIʼyjH-devolved qaS
which was translated as: "The minister will reply in due course. However this is a n

Re:

[Zontar_Thing_From_Ve]

Hoch Ha'DIbaHvam rurbogh bIH rap, 'ach latlh rapqu' law' latlh rapqu' puS.

I'm not kidding about this. I didn't see your subject but I saw what you posted and I thought that might be what Animal Farm looked like in Welsh.

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[_merlin]

Nah, Welsh is full W, Y and LL.

Welsh

[dsgrntlxmply]

Does this language require a lexicon, or a decryption key?