Welsh to Nepali: make a visitor’s instruction polite through the verb itself
Who receives the instruction determines its tone
A Welsh message asking a visitor to sit down can be respectful without describing a formal ceremony. Canolfan Peniarth’s teaching material explains that chi serves both plural reference and polite address, including strangers, while ti is used in familiar relationships. A chi instruction therefore does not tell a translator that several visitors are present.
For Nepali, establish both the audience and the relationship. A receptionist addressing one unfamiliar visitor, a parent speaking to a child and a friend inviting another friend to sit may all communicate the same physical action. They do not necessarily call for the same request form.
This distinction is useful when translating a Welsh welcome sheet. Identify whether each line is spoken by a host to a guest, by a coordinator to volunteers or by a family member to another relative. Carry that relationship through the whole exchange instead of deciding politeness from a single isolated verb.
Adding a word for please does not replace the appropriate ending
The University of British Columbia’s Introduction to the Nepali Language teaches a contrast between बस्, a very direct instruction, and बस्नुहोस्, a polite request to sit. Its request forms encode the relationship even when the personal pronoun is omitted. Absence of a written word for you therefore does not make the instruction socially neutral.
The textbook also presents कृपया as please, explaining that a polite verb can already make a request courteous. Adding this word to a sentence is not the only way to achieve a respectful tone. The chapter treats familiar, polite and more deferential requests separately rather than offering a single universal imperative.
Its negative examples retain the distinction: नबस्नुहोस् is a polite instruction not to sit. When a Welsh instruction includes a prohibition, check both the negative meaning and the level of address. A translation can preserve one while accidentally changing the other.
Separate courtesy from the content of the request
Imagine a visitor arriving for an interview. The host first invites the visitor to sit, then explains that a different chair must remain empty. The Nepali translation needs a courteous invitation and a clear restriction. Making the restriction vague to sound friendly can leave the visitor unsure which seat is available.
Conversely, a direct target form chosen from a dictionary can make a routine welcome sound abrupt. Check the verb used for the invitation itself, rather than assuming the greeting at the start makes every following instruction polite. Tone has to survive the operational parts of the message too.
If the Welsh source changes from chi to ti because a friend joins the conversation, establish who is now being addressed. That shift may reflect familiarity rather than a change from several people to one. Do not let the seating arrangement supply an audience count that the grammar alone does not establish.
Finally, read the welcome as a short interaction: the visitor arrives, receives an invitation and learns the seating restriction. Keep the action, the prohibition and the interpersonal tone distinct during review. A well-formed request should let the reader understand what to do without accidentally recasting a guest as someone being scolded.
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