These mistranslation errors seem to be quite common in Wales. They are always going to be more likely in bilingual environments where the two languages are so very different: it’s hard to imagine errors of such magnitude on an English/German, French/Spanish or Polish/Russian sign.

Of the others mentioned in the BBC article my favourite has to be the road sign for pedestrians in Cardiff that reads ‘Look Right’ in English, but ‘Look Left’ in Welsh. I wonder who was trying to get who killed?

One interesting fact we learned is the huge rates paid to these translators, such was the importance of the project They sound like the David Beckhams of their day, earning 500 gold dinars a month – the equivalent of $240000 or more. Either they worked hideously long hours, or they were getting considerably more than £100 per 1000 words!

Thanks Gareth for alerting us to the Guardian story of Burton’s chic (sic) T-shirt with its trendy design proclaiming “Очистим Русь от всех нерусских!”. The store’s buyers were told that this translated loosely as “Be proud of Russia”.

Sometimes, of course, loose translations aren’t good enough. A better translation might be: “Let’s cleanse Russia of all non-Russians”.

If you want one alas it’s too late: they’ve been withdrawn from sale. Burton’s buyers will spend the weekend writing out 100 times: “My hovercraft is full of eels”.

Not much in it for me, language wise, as I continue to plough that rut between knowing the basics and being able to say anything very sophisticated or useful (or grammatically correct). But a really nice example of samizdat pedagogy riding the technological zeitgeist: the tone is considered and authoritative, and strikes just the right friendly note.

But my Mum’s long struggles with Russian language are on a much grander scale: I’ll definitely be recommending Spoonful to her, just as soon as she gets broadband. (Mum, sort out broadband, please!)

It was nice to read some positive feedback in this week’s London Info (weekly Russian language newspaper) for the Russian audio guide for The Beatles Story exhibition in Liverpool. Finished that in early 2006, so it’s great to think it’s already getting used.

As usual there were many cultural terms that needed careful researching – the language of rock and roll and Teddy boys, drainpipes and drapes, for example. And how do you translate a transcript of Paul McCartney singing “Come Go With Me” by the Del Vikings? It’s the one that starts “Dom dom dom dom dom, dom be dooby…”

“There is something monstrous about translations,” writes Hurley, “for they multiply the number of books.”

Borges is naturally one of cyberculture’s favourite authors: the inevitable meandering and googling that followed led me to more than a few interesting sites, among them The Second Encyclopedia of Tlon. A good set of Borges links is at Libyrinth.Com.

Antenna Audio is one of the biggest suppliers of audio guides in the world – we also saw their systems in St Peter’s in Rome. Ipodders visiting London may like to download their two free “Discover London” audio tours (Historic Gardens and Literary Houses) – available as MP3 files and PDF maps.