What language to sign destinations in another country

[J N Winkler]

On Interstate 5 South to the Mexican Border, Tijuana isn't used, and
neither is Mexico.

Another data point--this time from a contract to widen U.S. 54 in El Paso (A.K.A. Patriot Freeway A.K.A. I-110 south of I-10) currently scheduled to be let in April:



Older signs with button-copy legend have just "Juarez"--no acute accent and no country specification.

[FosseWay]

Yes there are signs to The North on the A9 north of Inverness. I can't remember when they stop. I think the A9/A99 is signed as just that, with town names and no cardinal points.

Interestingly, people in Orkney talk about going 'to Scotland' when they get on the ferry at Stromness...

[Chris Bertram]

Yes there are signs to The North on the A9 north of Inverness. I can't remember when they stop. I think the A9/A99 is signed as just that, with town names and no cardinal points.

Interestingly, people in Orkney talk about going 'to Scotland' when they get on the ferry at Stromness...

Orcadians are very grudging in acknowledging their islands to be Scottish, and Zetlanders are even more so. Both groups are rightly proud of their Norse heritage, but Orkney has had more Scottish settlement than Shetland on account of proximity. On neither island group has Gaelic ever been the principal language, but the original Old Norse based languages have also died out and survive only in dialect words and place names, with written sources being very sparse indeed.

The contrast with the Faroe Islands is striking, for there Danish was the language of education up until the 1950's, and in fact the modern written version of Faroese was only created to preserve the oral language for history - it was presumed that it would die out naturally. Ironically, creating the written language gave it new strength, it has survived and is now the official language of the Faroe Islands for all purposes (though I have an idea that the language of the law and the courts may still be Danish). Of course, all children are still taught Danish, and for University education Denmark is the normal destination, but English is also universally taught now, so who knows, Scottish universities may see an influx of Faroese students!

Anyway, to get back on topic, most people will also have heard that Cornishmen (and women) usually talk about "going to England" when crossing the Tamar, even if just to go shopping in Plymouth. Lord knows what Scillonians say about going to Cornwall.

[moogal]

No, but you can quite happily be between the two. The MIDLANDS anyone?

That appears on the westbound A14 a lot.

The UK only signs in English from what I know

What about the Welsh bilingual signs?

[Hagbard]

I always thought that the expression The NORTH refers to the north of England. So it would make sense to signpost SCOTLAND there.

I got lost in King's Lynn once after following a sign to 'the North', assuming that it meant where I was headed, i.e. towards the A1, and hence to the north of either England or Great Britain. In fact it meant Hunstanton, where I'd just come from

[IJP1]

This topic began with a discussion of Welsh signs, and there are plenty of debates about regional signs (e.g. 'The NORTH') in the UK on the correct boards.

Can I make a polite request that, since this was moved to this board to make it international, that it remains so?!

Ian P.

[J N Winkler]

Can I make a polite request that, since this was moved to this board to make it international, that it remains so?!

In the spirit of keeping this thread alive and maintaining the international focus, I am posting a few further extracts from Tx.D.O.T. plans.

This drawing, taken from a project let in May 2004, shows the "No guns in Mexico" sign which is a local standard at least in the El Paso district (it is not, apparently, a statewide standard, since it is not shown in Tx.D.O.T.'s Standard Highway Sign Designs for Texas):



These signs were to be erected as part of an improvement to Paisano Drive (U.S. 62-180), which closely parallels the border and more or less defines the southern limit of downtown El Paso:





In a previous post, Mr. Keenleyside cited Californian examples of the "No guns in Mexico" sign. Similar signs were also installed as part of the I-19 guide sign rehabilitation in Arizona about six years ago. Although at least three out of the four states which border on Mexico have such signs, there does not appear to be a standard design for any of them with the possible exception of the apparent El Paso district standard, and such signing is not included in the federal M.U.T.C.D. (though, to be fair, this is only one of dozens upon dozens of unusual signing situations which the M.U.T.C.D. leaves to local discretion).

Incidentally, I understand that the ban on bringing firearms and ammunition into Mexico is not absolute, and that it is possible to obtain permits for them in advance which are similar to the Minister's Permits which allow Americans to bring firearms into Canada for hunting purposes. However, advance warning is necessary on the Mexican border (rather than the Canadian one) apparently because Mexican law treats covert importation of a firearm, even if unintentional, as prima facie evidence of intent to commit a crime.

[aswnl]

In the Dutch forum we had quite a discussions on the usage of native townnames ("exoniemen"). Especially on the Belgian city of Liège (Luik, Lüttich).

Also a lot of discussion on Frisian townnames. Some Frisian municipalities use the Frisian names, some the Dutch, which is everything but consequent.
It is Leeuwarden (Ljouwert [FR]), but a nearby village is nowadays called Reduzum (in Dutch: Roordahuizum). The village of Wartena now will only be found if you follow signs directing to "Warten". A lot of Germans are crowding the region in the summer, and warten is also the German verb for halting. So you can guess what happens at the sign at the townline

[Tom]

In the Dutch forum...

Wow, didn't realise there was one! Do you have a link, please?

[ChrisH]

He's the webmaster - the forum is here.

[J N Winkler]

In the Dutch forum...

Wow, didn't realise there was one! Do you have a link, please?

It's a phpBB forum. One of the posters on there--handle "Chris"--has a joining date in mid-2005, a post count of over 6900 (higher than everybody on S.A.B.R.E. except PeterA5145), and seems to have an absolute genius for finding photos of motorways in places which receive little attention on English-speaking forums, such as Chile, Mexico, and Spain. Unfortunately he doesn't choose to slow himself up by providing attribution to the websites where he finds them.