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Irlam Station Language signs

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PFX

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There was an agreement with Friends of Irlam Station to install some Chinese signage. Not sure if these are the ones you mean.
 
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philjo

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Not seem them myself but I gather that there are some signs at Oxenholme in Japanese !
 

DownSouth

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Thanks for your reply, didn't look like Chinese to me at the time,lots of X's and I's but now i think about it you are probably right.
Lots of X's and I's could well be Chinese (Hànyǔ) if they've been printed using the Pīnyīn system of transcribing Hànyǔ in roman characters that approximate the pronunciation. It might make sense to people speaking it as a second language, but it would be just as foreign as English to a regular person in China where Pīnyīn is not used.
 

L&Y Robert

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Dont know if its been asked before but what language are the non English station signs at Irlam and why are they there?

English is the language of our country, not Chinese, or Urdu, or anything else. If we start putting up signs in other languages we are creating a priveliged minority for those whose language it is. How far are we going? How many languages? Where displayed? In the tube? Road signs? Imagine the defence in court "I didnt know there was NO PARKING here, the signs are not in my language". English is what we speak, and if you are living here then the onus is ON YOU to grasp at least the essentials of signage so you can get around.
 
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DXMachina

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So you think all the english language signs that are visible in non-english-speaking countries should be taken down too?

If not, shut up
 

class26

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So you think all the english language signs that are visible in non-english-speaking countries should be taken down too?

If not, shut up

There is a difference though. English is THE international language. Urdu, Japanese or any other is NOT. By putting up signs in English whichever country is being of assistance to many, many people fromn many different countries, NOT just the British as English is second language to many people. If we put up signs in Chinese then we must is German, French, Spanish, Italian ..etc, etc, etc, Korean, Urdu, Afrikaans etc, etc, etc. You get the drift
 

Michael.Y

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Do us a favour. Stay out of Wales and the Highlands. You'll have an embolism.

Incidentally, England has NO official language. Fact.

Whatever happened to helping your fellow man? Learning a language is one of the hardest things a person can do. Believe me I know, I've tried and failed several.

However, I have picked up a lot of Welsh simply by listening to the on-station announcements and reading the signs here in my homeland. It's amazing how having

EXIT / ALLAN / 出口 / خروج

will actually do MORE for that person learning English than any night school.

No court allows ignorance as a defence, so your ludicrous theory is just that.
 

Wath Yard

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Oh right, so these multi-lingual signs are being erected by the Department for Education to help the population to learn new languages. :roll:

I look forward to the day platform number signs are also shown in binary and hexadecimal to assist us with our mathematics.
 

Michael.Y

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Oh right, so these multi-lingual signs are being erected by the Department for Education to help the population to learn new languages. :roll:

I look forward to the day platform number signs are also shown in binary and hexadecimal to assist us with our mathematics.

Don't be daft. Of course they're not. :roll: I see reason is entirely absent here.
 

ainsworth74

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Incidentally, England has NO official language. Fact.

England might not have an official language but the United Kingdom's official language is English with several recognized regional languages such as Welsh and Gaelic. That being said the Welsh Language Act of 1993 makes it so that English and Welsh should be treated equally when providing public services in Wales.
 

Michael.Y

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England might not have an official language but the United Kingdom's official language is English with several recognized regional languages such as Welsh and Gaelic. That being said the Welsh Language Act of 1993 makes it so that English and Welsh should be treated equally when providing public services in Wales.

Incorrect. The UK's de facto language is English, but it has no official status (de jure) under law.
 

ATW Alex 101

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English is the language of our country, not Chinese, or Urdu, or anything else. If we start putting up signs in other languages we are creating a priveliged minority for those whose language it is. How far are we going? How many languages? Where displayed? In the tube? Road signs? Imagine the defence in court "I didnt know there was NO PARKING here, the signs are not in my language". English is what we speak, and if you are living here then the onus is ON YOU to grasp at least the essentials of signage so you can get around.

that is nearly racism so please, shut up
 

MidnightFlyer

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That's xenophobic if anything, not racist. He is allowed an opinion you know :roll:
 

Gwenllian2001

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Incorrect. The UK's de facto language is English, but it has no official status (de jure) under law.

The same applies to the United States of America where English is the de facto language but there is no official language.

I suppose the nearest to an official language of England is Norman French, as used in Parliament e.g.

i) 'A ceste Bille les Seigneurs sont assentus' - used to signify that the House of Lords agrees with a House of Commons Bill
 

AlterEgo

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English is the language of our country, not Chinese, or Urdu, or anything else. If we start putting up signs in other languages we are creating a priveliged minority for those whose language it is. How far are we going? How many languages? Where displayed? In the tube? Road signs? Imagine the defence in court "I didnt know there was NO PARKING here, the signs are not in my language". English is what we speak, and if you are living here then the onus is ON YOU to grasp at least the essentials of signage so you can get around.

"Priviliged".

:D
 

ainsworth74

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Incorrect. The UK's de facto language is English, but it has no official status (de jure) under law.

Fair enough but someone should probably tell Directgov to update their website to reflect that fact seeing as they proclaim on the article on the English language that:

English is the official language of the United Kingdom
 

Michael.Y

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Fair enough but someone should probably tell Directgov to update their website to reflect that fact seeing as they proclaim on the article on the English language that:





Written by civil servants. What do they know? :)
 

merlodlliw

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England might not have an official language but the United Kingdom's official language is English with several recognized regional languages such as Welsh and Gaelic. That being said the Welsh Language Act of 1993 makes it so that English and Welsh should be treated equally when providing public services in Wales.

That is correct, Both English & Welsh have equal status in Wales, and in areas the Welsh Govt pays for services in Bordering areas, Welsh signs will be found in Hospitals in Liverpool, Wirral Chester & Gobowen plus others.
All ATW Managed stations in England will have Welsh signage plus a few will have Welsh & English announcements.
Pity Acrefair station is shut,that was a good one for translation locally:)


Bob
 
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transmanche

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The UK's de facto language is English, but it has no official status (de jure) under law.

Fair enough but someone should probably tell Directgov to update their website to reflect that fact seeing as they proclaim on the article on the English language that: "English is the official language of the United Kingdom"

QI agrees with Michael.Y.

Perhaps it's a subtle distinction. English may be the language in which 'official business' is conducted (i.e. any interaction that the citizen has with the state) - and is thus the de facto 'official language'. But if there's no statute making it the official language, it's not a de jure official language.
 

Sheridan

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English is the language of our country, not Chinese, or Urdu, or anything else. If we start putting up signs in other languages we are creating a priveliged minority for those whose language it is. How far are we going? How many languages? Where displayed? In the tube? Road signs? Imagine the defence in court "I didnt know there was NO PARKING here, the signs are not in my language". English is what we speak, and if you are living here then the onus is ON YOU to grasp at least the essentials of signage so you can get around.

It's been put in by the Friends of the station, it's not official signage but they probably thought it would be helpful to some people to have it there. It would be irrelevant in court.

Incidentally, apparently ATW don't have to have dual-language signage officially, although I'm sure there would be a few things said if they ever decided to get rid of it!
 

Michael.Y

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ATW don't have bilingual station signage on the English side of the border to the best of my knowledge, unless you count Knighton, and only have it Wales when the two names are different; although I do believe Port Talbot Parkway could be monolingual as the translation would simply, and pointlessly move "Parkway" to the start. Smaller notices like trespass warnings etc can be seen in Welsh. Also of course onboard pixel displays and signage is bilingual.
 

tbtc

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Funny how people trying to help passengers in an area have upset so many people...

Realistically having some signs in Urdu etc at stations where that is a common language (or Japanese at "touristy" places like the Lake District) are of more use than putting Gaelic signs at some central belt stations where there are no local speakers.
 
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