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Decision on bilingual road signs coming soon - Transport Minister (www.rnz.co.nz)

submitted 9 months ago by Ilovethebomb to c/politics

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

If we do go with bilingual signs, I really hope we get a better design than what we currently have.

The Expressway signs of are a classic example, is Te Ara Puke the name of this expressway, or the name for an expressway? The sign doesn't provide that information.

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[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 5 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I’m not familiar with New Zealand signage as it stands, but being from Ireland, we’ve had dual signage since forever, from my perspective. Not confusing at all. The Irish is in italics, the English in capitals, so your brain automatically goes to where is easy for you and it’s clear that it’s the same info twice.

I found this NZ news article. Irish is the official first language, so it’s first, but English is more commonly spoken and understood, so it’s more prominent with capital letters.

Standard signs, like stop, are just in English, or Irish if in an Irish speaking area.

[–] RecallMadness 4 points 9 months ago

Using typography to distinguish the two sounds like a great idea.

Our (current) bilingual signs do not.

[–] Ilovethebomb 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The Irish is in italics, the English in capitals,

Our current signs use the same font for everything, we're not that advanced unfortunately.

It's extra confusing with the number of Te Reo place names we have, so it's not immediately obvious if it's a place name or a Maori word on the sign.

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 4 points 9 months ago

It probably helps that most of the English names are just a different pronunciation of when they came and mangled the existing Irish name. Some are completely different.

[–] Viper_NZ 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Using typography to distinguish the two sounds like a great idea.

Our (current) bilingual signs do not.

This is the only valid criticism I've seen to bilingual signage. Like is a "Kura School" a type of school or is it "Kura" and "School"? Italicising or using different fonts would break them up, but it'd probably piss someone off with 'who' gets to be italicised.

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 3 points 9 months ago

Yes, I think the English is more prominent, but the Irish comes first. Seems fair.