Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Sep 01, 2026

Welsh language oath asks people to curse at God

Welsh language oath asks people to curse at God

A citizenship oath written in Welsh has been criticised for an error asking people to literally curse at God.

Wales' education minister Jeremy Miles says he will write to the UK government to remind them to use the language accurately.

It comes after an emergency mobile text alert in Welsh used a made-up word.

The Home Office, which produced the oath of allegiance, said it recognises the "importance" of correct translation.

People taking part in a citizenship ceremony have to give either the oath or the affirmation of allegiance to the King, as well as a pledge of loyalty to the UK.

A Home Office website, which is still live and has not been corrected, gives the English version of the oath of allegiance as: "I, (name), swear by Almighty God that, on becoming a British citizen, I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III, His Heirs and Successors, according to law."

But in Welsh it uses the term "rhegi", which means to curse. The Welsh for swear an oath is "tyngu llw".

It also uses the word "omnipotent" - which is not a Welsh word - as a translation of "almighty", instead of the Welsh "hollalluog".

Jeremy Miles is the government minister responsible for the Welsh language


The alternative affirmation of allegiance in Welsh includes mutations that should only be used for a female monarch.

Mutations are ways in which words change according to context.

There is also a grammatical error in translating "freedoms" in the Welsh pledge.

Last month, a translation blunder that saw a Slovenian ski resort mentioned in the Welsh version of the emergency alert test was blamed on autocorrect.

For the Welsh for "others safe", the test message read "eraill yn Vogel" instead of "eraill yn ddiogel".


'Status of the Welsh language'


Earlier this week Plaid Cymru MS Llyr Gruffydd told the Senedd while mistranslations or spelling errors can be amusing at first sight "they do send a very unfortunate message in terms of the status of the Welsh language, when we see these examples being tolerated far too often".

He called on the education minister to write to public sector bodies in Wales, and to the UK government, "to encourage them and to remind them of their responsibilities in this regard".

Mr Miles replied that he is "very happy to do that", adding "if there was less emphasis on complaining about renaming Bannau Brycheiniog, and more emphasis on accuracy, we might all be happier".

Rishi Sunak said last week he will keep using the English name Brecon Beacons, which the national park has dropped.

An e-mail out of office message ended up on a road sign in 2008


Mr Miles said that the Welsh government facilitates Welsh language accuracy "through funding resources such as Welsh language spell-checkers and grammar checkers".

The Home Office said: "We recognise that a correct translation of the citizenship oath and pledge on gov.uk is important to reflect the significance of becoming a British citizen."

Manon Cadwaladr, chair of Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru, the Association of Welsh Translators, said: "More and more people are using translation machines and we recognize that the quality of those machines is gradually improving.

"Nevertheless, good and accurate translation is specialist work. It is a craft. It requires specific skills, as well as experience".

She added that "to translate correctly into Welsh requires a real understanding of our language, our culture and the audience".

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
TSA Unveils Major Airport-Security Overhaul as It Drops Gold+ Privatization Plan
CIA Chief Warned Russia Against Attacking NATO in Secret Moscow Mission
Raheem Sterling Charged With Dangerous Driving After Lamborghini Crash
The Secret Dolly Parton Kept Until Her Death: "She Was Much Sicker Than She Let On"
Glacier Collapse, Not Earthquake, Triggered Deadly Nepal-Tibet Flood
Turnbull Warns AUKUS Could Leave Australia Without Promised Nuclear Submarines
California Billionaires Pour More Than $150 Million Into Fight Over Proposed Wealth Tax
German Broadcaster Goes Dark to Warn AfD Could End Its Saxony-Anhalt Service
Badenoch Plans Major Shadow Cabinet Reshuffle as Tories Struggle in Third Place
Prime Minister Andy Burnham to Give Ukraine Classified Storm Shadow Blueprints for Domestic Missile Production
UK Graduate Job Vacancies Plunge 45% to Lowest Levels on Record
Iranian Hackers Shut Down British Power Plant for Four Days in Landmark Cyber Attack
Novak Djokovic Reveals Relentless Self-Doubt and Rejects Retirement in New Documentary
Trump Imposes 50% Tariffs on Canadian Goods After Bilateral Trade Talks Collapse
Australia Combines Indigenous Fire Knowledge With Satellite Tech to Combat Catastrophic Wildfires
Father and Son Jailed in Scotland Over £900,000 Airport Cannabis Smuggling Operation
UK Fraud Reports Surge Sevenfold as Criminals Exploit QR Codes in Parking Meters and Phishing Emails
Brighton Thrash Aston Villa in Four-Goal Opening Half as Manchester City Trail Bournemouth
Erin Patterson Appeals Triple Murder Convictions After Hotel Mixed Sequestered Jury With Prosecution
The rise and fall of Hui Ka Yan, China’s richest man
Woke: Britain Considers Plain Packaging for Cigars as Specialist Shops Warn of Industry Collapse
Britain's Public-Service Productivity Remains Below 2019 as £80 Billion Output Gap Fuels WFH Debate
Mandelson Epstein Case in Jeopardy as U.S. Files Stay Out of Reach
Prince Harry and Six Others Ordered to Pay £9.5 Million After High Court Defeat
Petrol Bombs Set Luxury Cars Alight Outside Birmingham Wedding as Police Hunt Three Men
Bitcoin Surges Toward $80,000 as Short Squeeze and ETF Inflows Ignite Crypto Rally
Twenty-Nine US States Take Meta to Trial Over Alleged Child Addiction on Instagram and Facebook
Former Scottish National Party Executive Peter Murrell Jailed for Five Years Over £400,000 Embezzlement
Moderna and Merck's Personalized Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Historic Late-Stage Melanoma Trial
Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain With Their Children
England and Wales Have Fewer Than 1,800 Prison Places Left for Men
Suspected People Smuggler Arrested After Investigation Identified Him
Children's Doctors Warn That Vaping Can Lead Young People to Smoking
Hundreds of Thousands of Students Receive GCSE and Vocational Results Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Here Is What Can Never Happen in Your Country: Taiwan Is Giving Money to All Its People Because It Collected Too Much Tax
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9% as Energy Bills Jump
UK Issues New Conduct Guide for Asylum Seekers on Consent and Respect
A Sleepless Night on Wall Street: Nasdaq to Begin Nearly Round-the-Clock Trading
"The First in the World": 69-Year-Old Protested Artificial Intelligence—and Went to Jail
Ukraine's Ousted Defence Minister Calls for Wartime Presidential Election
China’s Lifelike AI Humans Move From Livestreams Into Real-World Service Roles
Sarah Ferguson Reportedly Retreats to Late Ex-Boyfriend's Swiss Chalet
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez Sign Prenup Protecting Their Separate Fortunes
Thieves Steal Antonello da Messina Renaissance Masterpieces From Sicilian Museum
Better.com Founder Who Fired 900 Employees on Zoom Is Ousted as CEO
Italian Speed Camera Issues Nearly 32,000 Fines in 10 Weeks, Worth More Than €3 Million
AI Manager at San Francisco Store Recommends Firing Human Employee
Google Launches Pixel 11 With Gemini AI at the Center of Its Hardware Strategy
Reform UK Unveils Plan to Cut Welfare Spending by More Than £50 Billion a Year
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Praised Extinction Rebellion for Doing a 'Great Service'
×