Bi-lingual road signs

[dolanbaker]

Ok, following on from a "heated" discussion on bi-lingual road signs in "commuting and transport" thread here ,I'm opening up a continuation here to discuss how the placenames could be on such a sign.

for example, Original Irish in one colour, English on another or a transliturated version of the Irish name for english speaker rather than an anglicised version.

Here is an example of what I mean, the signs are in greek but with transliturated version for foreigners to understand.

[conchubhar1]

i think we should use the same system we have now

BUT IRISH SHOULD BE CAPITALISED ALSO

we can't revert back to irish names throughout ireland - as much as i hate the anglicized versions as they usualy are nonsenense and bear no meaning.....

[Hagar]

My Irish is worse than I thought, I can't read a word of that.

[collgal]

Considering some placenames are often spelled differently on various roadsigns through out the country, maybe the first campaign should be to get the spellings correct, whether in english or irish.
Ballyvaughan in Co Clare is "ballyvaghan" on some signs.
Lahinch is "lehinch"
And dont even start on the irish spellings.........

[dolanbaker]

Originally Posted by Hagar

My Irish is worse than I thought, I can't read a word of that.

It's all greek to me

[dolanbaker]

Originally Posted by conchubhar1

i think we should use the same system we have now

BUT IRISH SHOULD BE CAPITALISED ALSO

we can't revert back to irish names throughout ireland - as much as i hate the anglicized versions as they usualy are nonsenense and bear no meaning.....

I prefer to have both mixed case and different colours, for the sake of readability.

As for anglicised names, it depends on where in the country.
Some are fairly close the the original Irish name, but others have become a nonsensical name.

In Gaeiltacht areas the signs could have the original Irish names with a transliterated english version.

I do believe that if a town or area didn't have an irish name (or one that can easily be traced) then it should be known by it's English name only, makeyupey Irish names serve no real purpose at all - transliterate into Irish if need be but translating just confuses things.

[dolanbaker]

Originally Posted by collgal

Considering some placenames are often spelled differently on various roadsigns through out the country, maybe the first campaign should be to get the spellings correct, whether in english or irish.
Ballyvaughan in Co Clare is "ballyvaghan" on some signs.
Lahinch is "lehinch"
And dont even start on the irish spellings.........

I suspect that the misspellings are to do with various separate attempts to transliterate by different people.

[Micilin Muc]

Originally Posted by conchubhar1

i think we should use the same system we have now

BUT IRISH SHOULD BE CAPITALISED ALSO

It has been established by Reil's report that the use of all upper-case on Irish road signs is bad practice. It slows down the time taken to read the road sign.

[jamesnp]

Originally Posted by dolanbaker

In Gaeiltacht areas the signs could have the original Irish names with a transliterated english version.

Is it difficult for you to read a location name on a map in Irish and match it with a sign? Regardless whether you speak Irish or not, recognizing letters in the Latin alphabet is, surely, no trouble to you?

-jp

[conchubhar1]

ye - if you speak english

your eyes will jump to that no matter the cases - same if you are an irish speaker