Dublin Airport and non–English speakers

UDP

Hi,

Helped a german who had no English get through dublin airport recently. As I was doing so I noticed how bad the airport is for non English speakers. It's crazy that all signs in T2 are in english and Irish but no other language. There are a number of smaller signs around the place and lots of announcements that made that are spoken very quickly and far from clearly spoken. Leaving someone with broken English without any idea at all as to what was said.

Is there help or translations available that I could not see for speakers of the main languages of those passing through the airport?

I think so much signage space is wasted with irish text rather than using that space for the most popular languages of visitors.

I think it is very poor from the DAA. I assume they are the ones to contact over this?

coylemj

Specifically where in Dublin airport do they need multilingual signage? I've never had a problem negotiating my way through airports in non-English language countries. The passport lanes and customs lanes in most airports are typically signed in multiple languages, other than that I can't see where there's an issue with signage.

Agree that announcements can be hard to follow but if they made those in multiple languages, people would just switch off and not listen to them. Keep an eye on the departure srcreens and ignore the announcements, that's what I do.

whomitconcerns

erm i have been in airports in a lot of countries in Asia and Middle east...none of them had signs in Irish..All English and local language..pretty standard for any international airport. Dublin airport is just as good as any other for signposting.

Rasmus

A German with no English? Random!

UDP

coylemj wrote: »

Specifically where in Dublin airport do they need multilingual signage? I've never had a problem negotiating my way through airports in non-English language countries. The passport lanes and customs lanes in most airports are typically signed in multiple languages, other than that I can't see where there's an issue with signage.

The signs are in multiple languages but one of them is Irish which is a complete waste of space in an international airport. They should be aiming to include French, Germany, Italien, Russian and Spanish where possible which would be possible if they didn't use up space with Irish.

coylemj wrote: »

Agree that announcements can be hard to follow but if they made those in multiple languages, people would just switch off and not listen to them. Keep an eye on the departure srcreens and ignore the announcements, that's what I do.

It would help if the announcements were clearly spoken in English rather than someone mumbling english at high speed. At least that would give someone with a small amount of english a chance to have any idea what was being said.

UDP

Rasmus wrote: »

A German with no English? Random!

There are nearly 40m Germans who don't speak english and German is probably the most spoken language in europe.

Rasmus

UDP wrote: »

There are nearly 40m Germans who don't speak english and German is probably the most spoken language in europe.

There certainly aren't 40 million Germans that don't speak English that visit international airports. German might be the most natively spoken language in Europe but it is by no means our lingua franca.

coylemj

UDP wrote: »

The signs are in multiple languages but one of them is Irish which is a complete waste of space in an international airport. They should be aiming to include French, Germany, Italien, Russian and Spanish where possible which would be possible if they didn't use up space with Irish.

Like it or lump it, Irish is the official language of the state and the Irish language lobby have eyes and ears everywhere. The Dublin Bus realtime displays are in both languages as a result of their intensive bullying lobbying. They took the minister to court over the car registration system (because the abbreviated codes for the counties were based on the English name of the county) and the mandatory requirement to show the name of the county in Irish on every numberplate was the concession that made them go away.

So don't for one minute think that a semi-state body can simply dump Irish based on the flimsy claim that most of their customers don't speak the language, it won't wash with the self-appointed guardians of our linguistic heritage.

UDP wrote: »

It would help if the announcements were clearly spoken in English rather than someone mumbling english at high speed. At least that would give someone with a small amount of english a chance to have any idea what was being said.

Agreed but the problem in airports is that a whole heap of people seem to be able to make announcements. If the job was confined to people who had good, clear speaking voices then the problem wouldn't exist but it seems that almost any ground agent/airline employee has access to a live mic to make announcements.

ardmacha

The number of travelling Germans who cannot read simple signage in English is small enough. Is it a greater number than the number of Chinese, Poles, Romanians etc? Threads like this are usually more concerned with promoting a colonial identity, i.e. removing Irish signage, than anything else. There aren't signs in German in Amsterdam or Copenhagen.

That said signage should be clear to someone who cannot read at all, by the use of symbols etc. The announcements in the airport are not clear to an Irish person, the speakers are poorly positioned and as said above anyone seems to be able to use them.
Other signage like the departure board after security is smaller than it should be, to better position more advertising around it. Gates could have large signs to announce boarding etc but instead these incomprehensible annoucements are used.

tatli_lokma

Where would you draw the line though? In German airports the signs are in German and english, occasionally French. What about the poor Asians who don't speak english? In Turkey the signs are in Turkish and English, so if you don't speak either of those languages you're f-ed.

I honestly don't see what the problem is. The signs are pretty self explanatory, and most of them have symbols to aid those who don't speak the language of the sign. Not too hard to discipher an arrow, or a suitcase = baggage reclaim etc. Past this, if a passenger was having real difficulty they could approach a member of staff and I am sure they would do their best to help.

Amirani

Dublin Airport definitely isn't bad in this regard.

UDP

UDP wrote: »

Hi,

Something something I think so much signage space is wasted with irish text rather than something something

That's what I read.

As someone who works in the airport, talking with all nationalities every day, I counter that non English speakers are dealt with in a professional way. Announcements are done in a person's language if that person is being called, translation services are a smartphone away, I think it's as hard/easy to get through this airport for any English speaking flustered person as any other language flustered person.

keithclancy

UDP wrote: »

Hi,

Helped a german who had no English get through dublin airport recently. As I was doing so I noticed how bad the airport is for non English speakers. It's crazy that all signs in T2 are in english and Irish but no other language. There are a number of smaller signs around the place and lots of announcements that made that are spoken very quickly and far from clearly spoken. Leaving someone with broken English without any idea at all as to what was said.

Is there help or translations available that I could not see for speakers of the main languages of those passing through the airport?

I think so much signage space is wasted with irish text rather than using that space for the most popular languages of visitors.

I think it is very poor from the DAA. I assume they are the ones to contact over this?

Dublin Airport is no worse than any other Airport.

Should they have everything in German at Amsterdam Schiphol airport also ?

All the announcements at Amsterdam are in English also.

Or perhaps Dusseldorf should be in Dutch ... or Eindhoven in French and German ...

International Language for Air Travel in Europe is English, with the local language used as the primary language.

For the vast majority of Germans its not a problem imo.

Schiphol is about the only exception I think where everything is in English.