Dr Nigel Hunt described Welsh language road signs as “unintelligible”
By Eleri Griffiths
BBC News
A university professor has described the use of the Welsh language on road signs as “unintelligible” and “potentially dangerous”.
Dr Nigel Hunt, a psychology expert at Wrexham University, lashed out at bilingual Welsh-English road signs he said he had seen across Wales.
His comments on a Facebook group prompted complaints to his employers.
The university has apologised for Dr Hunt’s comments and said it will investigate.
The professor aired his views on a Facebook group called the Department of Petty Rage, where he posted a picture of a bilingual sign and argued it should just be written in English.
Dr Hunt wrote: “Signs like this. They are confusing as they contain irrelevant and – to most people – unintelligible information.”
Image source, Wales News Service
Dr Nigel Hunt posted on a Facebook critcising bilingual road signs
“Road signs in two languages are potentially dangerous as it takes longer to determine the message,” he said.
“As most people even in Wales do not understand these signs (the Welsh language is declining despite the attempts to popularise it) then please just use English.”
In response to Dr Hunt’s post on social media platform X, one user said while referring to his employer: “This is an appalling attitude from one of your professors @WrexhamUni.
“Your staff have a duty to treat your Welsh students with respect, calling their language ‘irrelevant’ is certainly not the way to do this.
Another user, Efan ap Ifor, said: “This is hugely disappointing to see @WrexhamUni.
“It highlights that not all educated people, that specialise in one field, are well informed people more generally.
“They aren’t immune to lazy xenophobic tropes or possess values or morals that are grounded in inclusiveness.”
And Rhys Gethin wrote: “Given the university’s recent decision to drop ‘Glyndŵr’ from its name, having a bigoted professor publicly mock the Welsh language and demand the removal of Welsh signage isn’t a good look.”
Image source, Wales News Service
Dr Nigel Hunt is a a psychology expert at Wrexham University
Wrexham University said it apologised for the offence caused by Dr Hunt’s remarks, and said it was in the process of investigating the matter internally.
It said: “We are keen to stress that these comments absolutely do not reflect the views or values of our university or its staff.
“We are proud to be a Welsh institution and are proud of our Welsh history and heritage.
“As an institution, we are also committed to the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 and as part of the legislation – the Welsh language has equal status with English and must not be treated less favourably.”
The Welsh government has set itself a target of one million Welsh speakers by 2050.
BBC Wales has approached Dr Hunt for comment.
