Welsh wedding invitation.

[Spikeyplant]

Just as it says in the title really.

My DH has a significantly younger relative who is getting married this summer. We have just received an invitation to the wedding, written entirely in Welsh. Neither DH or I speak Welsh and the bride and groom are well aware of this.

I am totally cool with somebody who grew up in a Welsh first language family wanting to celebrate their wedding in their language. However I can't help feeling it is a bit rude to send out invitations in a language many guests can't understand without even a short note in a mutually spoken language.

AIBU?

Oh and what Pebble said. The English tried to kill Irish as well but thankfully it is reviving and compulsory to learn at school

I don't anyone has suggested this yet...

canslo'r siec

I think its nice. Go along, tell us about the welsh wedding; food, decoration etc etc.
P.s, you sure its a wedding invite and not a ransom note?

I received an invitation to a wedding in Sweden, in Swedish and thought it was brilliant. My Swedish is pathetic, but I was able to grasp the pertinent points even without the translation put in. This was before the days of internet (I am that old!) I attended said wedding, was the only non-Swedish person there and found the whole thing fascinating. Luckily for me, the majority of the guests spoke English, but I certainly didn't take offense when they spoke in Swedish around me, because that is their native language. I could pick up bits and pieces here and there and did not feel like an outsider.

Perhaps your DH's relative doesn't want you there, but perhaps they forgot to pop the translation in. Either way, there's no need to be offended. Either go or don't go, but stop moaning. The world doesn't revolve around any of us.

I have to agree as someone who had a trilingual wedding, and had to think about the different languages present, this is a bit rude.

Unless the couple are very insular, it is very unlikely that there won't be a significant number at the wedding who don't understand Welsh (at least very well).

Hmm I wouldn't see it as rude, but I would see it as not very welcoming - sending you an invite that they know you won't understand?

I'd give it the courtesy it deserves and put it in the bin

Yes Pebble - yes, yes, yes!

Just as a FYI: I regularly go to large family weddings where the (endless) ceremonies are conducted in a language I don't understand - i find it rather relaxing to listen to, whereas a ceremony in English I find much more difficult to daydream in!

Also lots of the guests speak language-I-don't-understand to each other socially at many of the tables. That's fine. If I want to speak to anyone I speak to them in English and they speak English back to me. It's hardly traumatic.

I'm French/English bilingual and I would find it rude. Yes French relatives send stuff to us in French because both dh and I speak it but when we got married things were sent to them in French even though the vast majority of the guests were English and we were getting married in England and with an English language ceremony. To help the French lot we sat French speaking friends on the same table as them for the reception. To include a translation is just a matter of common courtesy.

I wouldn't mind an invitation in the chosen language, but I would expect a note in the language I and the main person I talk to (bride, groom or parents) generally use.

If that wasn't included, I'd just contact them ton say, "got the invitation - can I just confirm it's on this date and time at this place? Is there anything else I need to know?"

I wouldn't assume they're doing it to piss me off, unless there's other evide

...evidence -otherwise it's probably just an oversight.

I do have strong suspicions my phone is out to sabotage everything I say, however.

We sent English wedding invites to my husband's relatives from a European country who don't speak English. We have recieved wedding invites back in their language. I never considered it rude. We just find someone multilingual in the family to translate anything we don't get for us/explain the very different cultural traditions.

I have attended several ceremonies in a language I don't understand, is amazing how much you do 'get' even when not understanding the specific words.

LOL at Wigbert. Only a few of us on here who will get that...

I speak Welsh but I do think it's rude. A handwritten note in English to accompany the invite would be the polite thing. I suspect the wedding, speeches etc will be in Welsh too, so probably not very enjoyable if you don't speak the language.

I wouldn't assume they're doing it to piss me off - THIS. All over.

I am married to a Welsh man - his family all speak Welsh in front of me as well as English. I have Chinese relatives who speak Chinese in front of me, some don't have much English but I speak English in front of them. I work with an Italian woman who speaks Italian with her sister in front of me. None of this bothers me because I don't assume they're doing it to piss me off and I'm not paranoid that it's "about me". If I'm in on a conversation I get included or I will remind them to switch languages. It's not personal if they forget.

Some people are twats and would be whether they spoke English, Welsh or Chinese.

Also one of our wedding speeches was in Welsh - only about 20% of the people there understood it but it went down as the highlight of the wedding because even the people who didn't understand it were dabbing their eyes by the end of it - the speaker was very animated!

All Welsh speakers can speak English. Few English speakers can speak Welsh.

Yeah, this is why English tourists are generally seen as rude in many countries. Learn Spanish? Why bother - most of them can speak English anyway... Cos, you know We speak English. It is the Most Important Language, don't you know.

Send a reply in Irish :)

Always nice to see the nashies come out of the woodwork.....

My first charitable thought would be that they sent you a Welsh one by mistake. Sending a Welsh invite to non Welsh speakers is rude. Very rude. They should have sent it in the language they usually use when communicating with you.

I speak Welsh and had a bilingual wedding. Wouldn't have dreamt of sending only Welsh literature to nonWelsh speakers.

But perhaps it was a mistake?

Wigbert 😂😂

Oakmaiden do you usually learn the language before venturing abroad then? You must be very talented, or do you just not travel very much?

English is a lingua franca throughout large parts of the world.

They might just have forgotten the translation. Or they might be making a political point. I'm in the camp of phone up to see what it's all about rather than just assume they are rude.

I do think in general it would be polite to provide a translation for foreign speakers in the language you usually communicate with, and try to have people that speak that language there on the day to help them. That's the norm with my family and friends, many of whom are not English. If I was inviting a French person that I normally speak French with, I'd include a note in French. If I was inviting a French person who speaks good English, I wouldn't.

Could you not contact them and say something along the lines of "I don't mean to be rude but I can't translate the invitation, but would love to come etc?"

I've lived in wales all my life but I can't understand a word of welsh

If you cannot understand the wording on the invitation just phone one of the other Welsh relatives who would be attending and ask them to translate.

How do some people deal with real life??

Didn't occur to me to translate my wedding invitations. One set of printing costs, in English.

Fortunately the non- English guests didn't ascribe negative intentions and still showed up. I was delighted that they came

Non-English guests or non-English-speaking guests? There's a huge difference.