most of the signs in Wales these days are bilingual, even in those areas where Welsh is not spoken widely. All road signs a re bilingual or in Welsh, governent forms for things like driving licences are all available in English or Welsh. The transfer from English only to a bilingual approach has only been in force for the last 10 to 15 years, but it appears to be gathering speed. As for your note about the word for kilometer, we tend to measure things in miles (milltir) rather than kilometers, so the problem does not arise very often. There is no K in the Welsh alphabet this is true, but considering one of the most popular surnames in Wales is Jones (as in Jones the Steam for those of you who have seen Ifor the Engine) it doesn't seem to make much difference which letters are in the alphabet and which aren't. Cofion, Iwan. +-----------+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------+ | /| /| | Iwan Roberts B.Sc. M.Sc. | Tel : +44 232 669500 | | / |/ | | Senior Software Engineer | | | / // / | MARI (Northern Ireland) Limited | Fax : +44 232 669800 | | / // //| | Bridgewood House, Newforge Lane | | | / // /| | | Belfast | EMail : roberts@mari.co.uk | | |/ |/ |_| | BT9 5NW | | +-----------+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------+