Polish Road Signs in Ireland!

netwhizkid

I have a thread I’d like to publish.... and I don't have a clue where it should go. It is about the fact that Laois County Council is planning to erect road signs in the Polish Language. I'm interested in what others think and would like to post my opinions. It is not political it has me stumped? Any ideas on where to publish it. I don't want to publish it here without approval as It will stir up debate.

Karoma

Oh just post it in this dumping ground that is AH.

justsomebloke

netwhizkid wrote:

I don't want to publish it here without approval as It will stir up debate.

ehhhhhhhh, if you are not looking for a debate what is the point of starting a thread

netwhizkid

jsb wrote:

ehhhhhhhh, if you are not looking for a debate what is the point of starting a thread

I just don't want the debate to get out of hand and have people fighting is all.

Thread as writen out earlier:

Linky

Bloody Hell! This has to be the ultimate in stupid decisions. This is Ireland, Languages: English & Irish-Gaelic. Road safety is one thing but this is preposterous. I have never heard of another country putting up alternate road sign for Immigrants. It will end up confusing out own Natives, half of which are terrible drivers already. The plum rule of immigration is Integration into society. Infairness to the Polish immigrants a good share of the few I know are attempting to learn English. But this sort of thing will only deter Immigrants from learning English. What next RTE Polski.....Yes I know Channel 6 will have Polish programmes. Pat Rabbite in fairness to him is on the right track with limiting Immigration and this will give firepower to it now. Unfortunately it will give the far-right a propaganda victory too and I am sure they will round on it well. Like Immigration has helped our country enormously, but it is after all our country and I'll be damned if I see Polish road signs up around where I live after my relatives spending 800yrs fighting for our independence only for our Country to be partially Colonised through Immigration. Plantation of Ulster....anyone?? it is the Plantation of Poland more like now. From a road safety aspect it will be limited in affect?


Anyway they are my opinions on it, what is yours??


[EDIT] MODS MOVE AS YE FEEL NECCASRY[EDIT]

Tar.Aldarion

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=52

biko

New sign in Portlaoise city centre*





*not really

Beruthiel

netwhizkid wrote:

It will end up confusing out own Natives

how exactly will it be confusing?

but it is after all our country and I'll be damned if I see Polish road signs up around where I live after my relatives spending 800yrs fighting for our independence only for our Country to be partially Colonised through Immigration. Plantation of Ulster....anyone?? it is the Plantation of Poland more like now

*speechless*

Anyway they are my opinions on it, what is yours??

my opinion would be that you need a hobby

irlrobins

take a chill pill. From that article is sounds like the council just wants to put up a few signs promoting road safety in other languages. Similiar to the multi-language signs reminding people to drive on the left that you see at exits from airports, ferry terminals etc.

They're not looking to put every stop, yield or direction sign in Polish. So away with you and your republician rant.

justsomebloke

well for my 2 cents i don't think road signs should be put up in polish, as for one i don't think there is enough space on roadsigns to put up directions in Irish, english, polish...etc. That and although there is a current influx of polish people into the country this might not continue as eventually the polish econmy will probably catch up like the irish one did with the rest of europe and quite a few of the polish people may go back. Also generally alot of the polish have a decent grasp of english and don't need things like roadsigns put in polish. however things like the polish supplement inthe herald and things like that i am all for

netwhizkid

Excellent, Some debate at last,

As for the road signs they from what I gathered will be only placed in flashpoints and will be minimal. But is this the sort of thing we need in Ireland? Sorry about the earlier *rant* but it was just to get people interested! As this is an issue that affects alot of people I'd like to hear what people think about the whole turn-around since May 04 the knock on affects of the Nice Treaty and the way society has changed in General since 2000. As for been acused of being a Republican, I'm more of a Nationalist, those riots in Dublin were horrendous and make me feel ashamed of my earlier sentence.

rubadub

I have never heard of another country putting up alternate road sign for Immigrants.

might be deaf if he never heard of it before. I see english signposts in many countries. In fact in holland many of the english signs are actually larger than the dutch language ones!

Kojak

Polish shoudn't be put up. Nothing against the language but if you put it up for them then you will have to put it up for god knows how many more languages.

segadreamcast

rubadub wrote:

might be deaf if he never heard of it before. I see english signposts in many countries. In fact in holland many of the english signs are actually larger than the dutch language ones!

or the fact that he's really rather young. Either way.

Paradox Net....Kid ... you claim you're all for freedom of expression, therefore, why are you moaning about Laois county council expressing themselves in Polish? Surely you're not a hypocrite? Furthermore, you underline your hypocrisy by going on to (however jokingly) imply that you'd be against a Polish RTE service?

Ah, I see, you're only in favour of free expression on your terms, in your language. Isn't that it?

Shabadu

Nah. You couldn't really hold all these opinions. I know you're just a troll.

/me refuses to believe your posts anymore

Duras

That's a brilliant idea! I say remove the signs in Irish and replace them with signs in Polish. They should do the same at TV & newspapers. Replace the old fashioned Irish with the brand new Polish.:D

Hobbes

biko wrote:

New sign in Portlaoise city centre*

roflmao.

TBH I don't see the big deal. You can see German/French road signs in some places.

Anyway I thought the whole "picture" type road signs was to help with various languages across the EU.

Guy:Incognito

rubadub wrote:

might be deaf if he never heard of it before. I see english signposts in many countries. In fact in holland many of the english signs are actually larger than the dutch language ones!

It's slightly different though. Kids are taught English in school in Holland, as they are in many otehr European countries. English is used for discussion as a middle ground. Tony Blair/Bertie/George Bush dont learn all the languages fromt he other countries they visit, generally the leaders of these countries can speak English as it is accepted as pretty much the main language.

If Polish was a major subject n every school and for every pupil then maybe, but it's not. I'm sure, in the ridiculous pc world that it is nowadays,Nigerian people or Romanians or othe rastern european people could claim this as discrimmination and demand road signs to (not saying they will ,but they could). It's bad enough the signs already have two languages, why add more.

Dyr

netwhizkid wrote:

Excellent, Some debate at last,

As for the road signs they from what I gathered will be only placed in flashpoints and will be minimal. But is this the sort of thing we need in Ireland? Sorry about the earlier *rant* but it was just to get people interested! As this is an issue that affects alot of people I'd like to hear what people think about the whole turn-around since May 04 the knock on affects of the Nice Treaty and the way society has changed in General since 2000. As for been acused of being a Republican, I'm more of a Nationalist, those riots in Dublin were horrendous and make me feel ashamed of my earlier sentence.

It's all a bit like tose work safety adverts in polish that the government ran on the radio. Didnt someone stop and say, you know what would be a better way to avoid deaths in the construction industry? Heres an idea: you should be able to communicate effectively in english before you can work on a building site in this country. Its kinda fundamental, like a hard hat and work boots. We're compromising on some fundamental things just to give employers cheap and exploitable labour

FuzzyWuzzyWazza

Yeah I don't see the point myself! but it really should be chinese if it is anything, it is the third most spoken language in Ireland, just slightly behind Irish.

Gurgle

netwhizkid wrote:

Linky

1. You're quoting from the Examiner :rolleyes:
2. Other than 'Yield', which traffic signs actually have writing on them?

sprinkles

netwhizkid wrote:

Excellent, Some debate at last,

As for the road signs they from what I gathered will be only placed in flashpoints and will be minimal. But is this the sort of thing we need in Ireland? Sorry about the earlier *rant* but it was just to get people interested! As this is an issue that affects alot of people I'd like to hear what people think about the whole turn-around since May 04 the knock on affects of the Nice Treaty and the way society has changed in General since 2000. As for been acused of being a Republican, I'm more of a Nationalist, those riots in Dublin were horrendous and make me feel ashamed of my earlier sentence.

are you saying anyone who is rebublican would have been proud of the riots!?

The riots were by idiotic thugs with no politacl agenda. Republican does not mean criminal/thug....contrary to popular belief.

irlrobins

Gurgle wrote:

2. Other than 'Yield', which traffic signs actually have writing on them?

STOP

robinph

I belive that '50kph' in Polish is '50kph', I might have got the translation slightly wrong though. Other than adding "Drive on the left" in Polish to the signs that you see around airports/ ports there is not really much point.



Edit: Just thought of another one that might be useful to translate for them is "Hospital", but that problem could be solved by just putting a red cross or similar next to the word and people from anywhere will be able to figure out what it means.

Terry

i thought this thread was ging to be about getting graffiti artists to clean up all the road signs they defaced. seems i was wrong.

Flex

I dont think it should be done. Surely if people are immigrating to an English speaking country to live and work in they would/should be capable of speaking English to the point they can understand road signs?

What road signs are they actually putting in Polish? Are they putting town names and so on or is it things like YIELD and STOP or is it gonna be about reminding people about which side of the road to drive on?

matrim

I've no problem with the polish signs. But first I'd rather see them put up proper signs in english.
Trying to find you way around some places in Ireland is nearly impossible because of lack of proper signs.

Karoma

matrim wrote:

I've no problem with the polish signs. But first I'd rather see them put up proper signs in english.
Trying to find you way around some places in Ireland is nearly impossible because of lack of proper signs.

Solution: Learn Polish.

Sir Oxman

Bambi wrote:

It's all a bit like tose work safety adverts in polish that the government ran on the radio. Didnt someone stop and say, you know what would be a better way to avoid deaths in the construction industry? Heres an idea: you should be able to communicate effectively in english before you can work on a building site in this country. Its kinda fundamental, like a hard hat and work boots. We're compromising on some fundamental things just to give employers cheap and exploitable labour

Totally agree. Conversational and written English should be a basic requirement of employment in Ireland.
I work in an industry where there are a lot of foreign nationals employed (mainly Eastern EU residents) and in my experience most only have a very basic grasp of English which is not at all good. this is in an environment where verbal instructions are part and parcel of the job (and over the phone most times which is a nightmare).
Where H&S is concerned, it's a must.

Tiesto

Beruthiel wrote:

how exactly will it be confusing?

but it is after all our country and I'll be damned if I see Polish road signs up around where I live after my relatives spending 800yrs fighting for our independence only for our Country to be partially Colonised through Immigration. Plantation of Ulster....anyone?? it is the Plantation of Poland more like now

Thats a bit harsh. I hate hearing the criticism of foreigners coming into Ireland for a better standard of life, especially the Polish. Its not like they arse around doing nothing. They do the ****ty jobs we are too good to do! Good job your attitude wasnt prevailant in America during the 1800's. Dunno where those 4 million Irish would have went to!

Nightwish

I wouldnt expect any other country to put up road signs in English for my benefit. If someone moves abroad, the onus is on them to learn the language.

irlrobins

Tiesto wrote:

Thats a bit harsh. I hate hearing the criticism of foreigners coming into Ireland for a better standard of life, especially the Polish. Its not like they arse around doing nothing. They do the ****ty jobs we are too good to do! Good job your attitude wasnt prevailant in America during the 1800's. Dunno where those 4 million Irish would have went to!

Agreed. Best example of how hard working the Polish are:

My bro in law who is a builder employs several Polish lads on the sites his company constructs. Last year one of the older guys came up to him and asked if my bro in law could book him a flight home on the internet as he had no credit card. He had the cash right there and then to pay for it. He needed to fly home as his eldest son was dying after an illness. Went home, was there when his son died, buried him and was back on the site within 4 days cos he needed the money to support the rest of his family.

Now I know some people might say that is just one example but from what I've seen and heard I think it's typical of how hard working the Polish guys (and girls) are. My bro in law would take a Polish guy on over an Irish guy any day of the week and it's nothing to do with cheap wages.

growler

There are road signs in English all over the world. There are many major cities with Chinese versions of their signpostage in their Chinese districts. England has areas with the "local" language versions of street names, directions etc.

If it helps to communicate with the people you are trying to reach , then it makes perfect sense to use the language they will understand. Not everyone manages to instantly grasp English you know, those who stay for any length of time will learn it, not everyone who steps off the boat / plane will have a perfect understanding of the lingo.

I very much doubt my forefathers (or yours) fought and died for an Ireland free of Polish people and their signposts.

Your anti immigration rant could only come from an Irish person who wasn't around to see how much our country depended upon immigration for so much of the last century.

mike65

Its another Netwizkid classic.

Mike.

0utshined

I really can not see what the problem is with having road signs in another language.

This is not an immigration issue, this is facing up to a reality that there are a lot of people living in this country for whom English or Irish is not their native tongue. This is about making the roads a safer place for everyone by giving them information they need.

Yeah they should all know the rules of the road, yeah they should recognise the signs in English but I'd wager that many foreigners driving on Irish roads don't and if this helps them to drive safer then I'm all for it.

Nightwish wrote:

I wouldnt expect any other country to put up road signs in English for my benefit.

I'm sure most people moving here wouldn't either but it'd help, wouldn't it?


e;f;b by growler

and Netwhizkid, stop being such a xenophobe please.

Karoma

I very much doubt my forefathers (or yours) fought and died for an Ireland free of Polish people and their signposts.

Mine did. His dying words were: "..I hate foreigners...especially the English...but especially the Poles...and their bloody signposts... *gargle*"

irlrobins

Karoma wrote:

Mine did. His dying words were: "..I hate foreigners...especially the English...but especially the Poles...and their bloody signposts... *gargle*"

LOL

blorg

Stekelly wrote:

I'm sure, in the ridiculous pc world that it is nowadays,Nigerian people or Romanians or othe rastern european people could claim this as discrimmination and demand road signs to

Yeah, I'd be particularly annoyed if they start putting road signs up in whatever language they use for road signs in Nigeria...

0utshined

Word : pwnage
Definition : See above post.

Wertz

Bambi wrote:

It's all a bit like tose work safety adverts in polish that the government ran on the radio. Didnt someone stop and say, you know what would be a better way to avoid deaths in the construction industry? Heres an idea: you should be able to communicate effectively in english before you can work on a building site in this country. Its kinda fundamental, like a hard hat and work boots. We're compromising on some fundamental things just to give employers cheap and exploitable labour

Exactly. I for one am fed up with the risk to myself and colleagues presented by guys working above and around me that couldn't even shout "Watch out" if they drop something, or have the knowledge to not leave dangerous sh*t lying about a site. Don't even get me started on the standard orf work the majority leave after themselves...

However I welcome any attempt to cut carnage on the roads....the only trouble is that roadsigns no matter what language they're in are no good if the target audience are too drunk to focus on 'em.
Nah seriously, what harm is it doing? Stick em up i the baltic languages too....but most of the accidents these guys are bing involved in are caused by them forgetting which side of the road they should be on...not by the lack of signage.

0utshined

I thought you needed certification to work on a site nowadays. Is this not the case?

netwhizkid

0utshined wrote:

I thought you needed certification to work on a site nowadays. Is this not the case?

Yes you need the safepass course to work on a building site today. If you were found without one your employer could be fined heavily. FAS are usually given the job of training applicants. It is a day course and I have seen it cost from €50 to €150 depending on the location and how many would attend. I have also seen special Safe pass course available in Polish and Lithuanian too btw. When I did the Driver Theory Test in 2004 there was a German Guy (that my sister knew) taking it too at the same time as me. I remember he took it in English and failed. (German and several other languages were available though) He did it a month later and passed by taking in in German. So I guess there is for and against.

Wertz

Safepass doesn't mean sh*t.
It's akin to taking Irish in your leaving cert; everyone has to do it, but the vast majority forget all about it once the exam is over.
TBH the damn thing is another moneymaking scheme IMO; 150 notes every 3 yrs to be schooled in what is more or less common sense....the language barrier is a lot more worrying.

Oh and in all the time since it came in, I've yet to be asked for mine by anyone in an official capacity from the H&S, nor have I heard of anyone else getting asked for it.
But we're way OT...

So who reckons these roadsigns will start getting stolen at some stage and end up in pubs in Warsaw? :v:

rubadub

Stekelly wrote:

It's slightly different though. Kids are taught English in school in Holland,

Yes a fair point. I was only mentioning it as the poster was talking about it as though it was a completely crazy idea he had never heard of before. Other more "international" languages can be seen in many countries, like spanish, french, german.

I thought there were more chinese than polish in Ireland, is there any word of chinese signage?

Hobbes

rubadub wrote:

I thought there were more chinese than polish in Ireland, is there any word of chinese signage?

Well there have been Chinese programs on early morning RTE before. not sure if they still is though.

bk86a

netwhizkid wrote:

I have never heard of another country putting up alternate road sign for Immigrants.

In Poland - there are road signs in German on the west-south part of the country. This is normal. In northern part of Italy - there are signs in German as well.

You haven't seen too much I guess

---

bk86a

Stark

That's for people living near the borders though. Our closest neighbour is Britain, and funnily enough we have road signs in English

irlrobins

bk86a wrote:

In northern part of Italy - there are signs in German as well.

Parts of northern Italy are German speaking.

Siogfinsceal

i dont think there should be polish signs. It will end up that they do not feel the need to learn and speak english. This is wrong as we will end up with a society that doesnt interact as they are speaking different languages. We should encourage them to learn the language otherwise we are all going to have to learn polish in order to be able to speak to our employees/colleagues/neighbours and i don't think thats right.