Bilingual road sign

Bilingual Sorbian-German signs in Crostwitz

A bilingual street sign is a street sign that is labeled in more than one language. If three or more languages are listed, it is also referred to as a multilingual street sign . Street signs are names of streets , signposts , as well as traffic signs and thus also place-name signs.

Their use is mandated by law in some areas, e.g. B. in multilingual administrative districts or regions, or where there is important tourist and commercial traffic (such as airports, train stations, ports, border crossing points, city tourism, international flights, headquarters of international authorities, etc.).

Country examples

Germany

Bilingual street signs are sometimes used in Germany. a. required by law in the Sorbian settlement area in Brandenburg and Saxony . This applies above all to place-name signs and signposts, while the respective municipality decides on the design of street name signs. In Schleswig-Holstein there are also German-Danish and German-Frisian road signs and in several federal states there are High German-Low German.

Austria

In the Austrian state of Burgenland , 260 bilingual place-name signs were set up in 51 municipalities, as it is constitutionally anchored to respect autochthonous ethnic groups . There are also bilingual place-name signs in Carinthia , see. also local sign dispute . In Austria, the traffic signs, with the exception of place-name signs and signposts, are always monolingual.

Italy

In some regions of Italy the road signs are bilingual: In South Tyrol (Italian-German), in the Aosta Valley (Italian-French) and in some areas of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Italian-Slovenian) as well as in Alghero in Sardinia (Italian-Catalan).

Other countries

Bilingual signs are also possible. a. in Ireland , Wales and Scotland (English + Irish / Welsh / Scottish Gaelic), in Brittany (French-Breton), in the Slovenian coastal region (Slovenian-Italian), in parts of Poland (Polish + German / Belarusian / Kashubian) or in Kosovo (Albanian-Serbian) as well as in numerous other countries, for example also in multilingual cantons and cities in Switzerland (Graubünden, Biel / Bienne, Friborg / Freiburg etc.).

Examples of bilingual street signs

German-Sorbian signpost near Göda in Upper Lusatia
Trinational border crossing to Poland and the Czech Republic in Zittau
Ödenburg (Sopron) near the Austrian border is one of the few towns in Hungary with bilingual street signs.
Street sign in Brussels
Bilingual road sign in Ottawa , Ontario , Canada
Tsali Boulevard in Cherokee, North Carolina
Road Sign in Tahlequah, Oklahoma