Welsh at Async Digital
Async Digital builds software in Wales, in English and Welsh. This page sets out what we commit to, how anyone can check it, and where our limits are. It is written for the people who use what we build, and for the organisations in Wales that commission it.
This page was drafted with AI for the director, Rob Nash. Its Welsh version is a machine translation, not reviewed by a first-language Welsh speaker.
1 Why it matters to us
Welsh is an official language in Wales, and the law says it must be treated no less favourably than English. Async Digital is a private company, so the Welsh Language Standards do not bind us directly. They do bind many of the organisations we build for, and anything we build on their behalf counts as their own service. We build to the same bar on our own work, so there is one way of working, not two.
2 What we commit to
The second can be checked today. The rest are the bar we hold ourselves to.
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1
Every app we ship works in English and Welsh from its first build. Audient, on the Mac App Store, carries a Welsh version of almost every on-screen string. Ten still appear in English, including both Restore purchases alerts, and we are fixing them. Audient cannot yet transcribe Welsh speech: it treats a Welsh recording as English.
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2
This website is bilingual. Every page has a Welsh version, and every English page links straight to it.
Check: the Cymraeg link at the top of any English page.
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3
Welsh ships at the same time as English. No feature or page goes live in one language first.
Commitments 4 to 6 are the bar for every new app. They are claimed for an existing app only once that app has been checked against them.
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4
In every new app, Welsh works properly, not just on the surface: six plural forms; mutations in search; Welsh alphabetical order, where ch, dd and ll are single letters; and ŵ and ŷ, including in people’s names.
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5
In every new app, the language choice belongs to the user. It is offered inside the app, because the iPhone’s own menus are not available in Welsh. If the phone already lists Cymraeg, the app opens in Welsh without asking. The choice is kept between visits, and switching never loses your place.
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6
Every new app follows the published guidance on bilingual design: the Welsh Government’s bilingual technology toolkit and the Welsh Language Commissioner’s guidance. The language switch is always in the same place. It is labelled Cymraeg and English, never with flags. No screen mixes the two languages. Error messages appear in the language you chose.
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7
On client work, no machine translation goes live unchecked. Welsh produced with a translation tool is reviewed by the client’s own Welsh speakers before release.
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8
You can write to us in Welsh. Write to us in Welsh and we will reply in Welsh. Rob is learning Welsh and uses Claude to help, so a reply may take a little longer.
3 Who does what
Async Digital builds the bilingual engineering: the language choice, and remembering it; bilingual data and search; each user’s recorded language, carried through to emails, texts and notifications; and plurals, sorting and characters.
Our clients own the Welsh wording, written by their own translators or translation supplier.
On our own products, the Welsh is translated with Claude, an AI model, and checked by Rob, who is learning Welsh. We do not offer translation, and we do not claim fluency.
4 Where we fall short
Our own Welsh is translated with AI and has not had a native speaker’s review. If you spot a mistake, tell us and we will fix it.
Neither app store offers a Welsh listing. App Store and Google Play store pages cannot be set to Welsh, so our store listings are in English with a Welsh description where space allows.
The iPhone’s own menus are not in Welsh. Apps can still open in Welsh once Cymraeg is added in Settings. Not everyone will add it, so every new app also asks.
The moment any of this changes, we will act.
5 Tell us
If something we make does not work properly in Welsh, email info@async-digital.com, in Welsh or English. You can also contact the Welsh Language Commissioner.
For what the Welsh Language Standards mean for a housing association’s tenant app, see our briefing for housing associations.