31 MARCH 1990, Page 22

Heavy Welsh children

Sir: How right Martyn Harris is about the `solemn idiocies of bilingual policy' in Wales (Diary, 10 March).

I once saw a contractors' roadside notice near Hawarden (a part of Clwyd where Welsh speakers of any kind, let alone monoglot Welsh drivers, are a rare species) saying 'heavy plant crossing'. This was dutifully translated as 'plant trwm yn croesi'. Fair enough: 'plant' = 'plant', because there is no Welsh word for it; `trwm' = `heavy'; 'yn croesi' = 'crossing'. Except that 'plant' happens to be the standard Welsh word for `children'....

R. Gwyn Thomas

13 The Limes, Horringer, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk