Commission one service in Welsh and English

List the resident journeys that must work in both languages, not just the pages to be translated. Include finding information, applying, responding to a consultation, reporting a problem and receiving confirmations or updates.

Require a prominent language switch on each paired page. It should lead to the equivalent content rather than the homepage and should not make residents start a task again where progress can safely be retained.

Make the supplier identify everything residents will encounter in each journey. The Defra digital service manual’s Welsh translation guidance includes buttons, form questions, hints, errors, emails, privacy and accessibility information, maintenance messages and text read by screen readers.

Ask for a content and translation plan

• Who will draft or translate each type of content, and what Welsh-language expertise will they provide?
• What will translators receive besides a spreadsheet—for example, page designs, complete questions, possible answers, error states and the steps before and after?
• Who can approve the Welsh meaning on behalf of the accountable body?
• How will the team know that an English change also needs a Welsh review and update?
• Which linked changes must be published together, and how will urgent corrections be handled?

A translation that is correct in isolation can become wrong when it is put into a service. Welsh grammar depends on context. The Welsh Government’s BydTermCymru style guide explains that answers corresponding to English “yes” and “no” must match the exact wording, verb and tense of the question. For example, “Ydych chi’n fodlon?” takes “Ydw / Nac ydw”.

Someone unfamiliar with Welsh can take wording that was correct on one page for one question and reuse it in a different context where it is wrong. Ask bidders how their translators will see the rendered screens and complete journeys, how context-sensitive wording will be identified, and how changes made during development will return for language review.

Read the Welsh Government guidance on yes/no answers. The Ministry of Justice has also published its experience of commissioning, designing and testing Welsh-language services.

Make review of the rendered Welsh service an acceptance criterion. Require a suitably fluent reviewer and Welsh-language users to complete the important tasks. A correct sentence in a source document does not prove that it appears beside the right field, fits the design, produces the right result or leads to the right confirmation.

Ask for a record of the journeys and versions tested, who reviewed them, findings and fixes. Include language switching, page titles, forms, errors, search, documents, emails and texts. Test both languages with keyboards, zoom and screen readers, and agree who fixes language or functional defects before payment.

Questions to put to bidders

1. Which Welsh Language Standards and accountable-body policies have you allowed for, and what must we confirm?
2. Which complete resident journeys, documents and follow-up messages does your price cover in both languages?
3. Who will produce and approve the Welsh content, and what context will they receive?
4. How will you prevent wording approved for one question from being reused incorrectly elsewhere?
5. What rendered journeys will fluent reviewers and Welsh-language users test before acceptance?
6. How will Welsh and English updates, urgent corrections and ongoing review be managed and priced?
7. Can you demonstrate the language switch through a complete task without losing the user’s place?