Bilingual Signage Causes Accidents!

[kiltarlity]

Bilingual Signs are a luxury... what we need is to get back to basics first. Decent road surfaces would be a start.

Graham

[DAM]

Bilingual Signs are a luxury... what we need is to get back to basics first. Decent road surfaces would be a start.

Graham

I am not for or against Gaelic signs but if the signs had never existed does anyone seriously believe that any money saved would have been used to improve our road surfaces? Recently some plonker of a councillor here in Aberdeen stated that Aberdeen's roads were the best in the country. I suggest he gets off his fat shiny erse and drive around the streets but take his blinkers off first. The point I am trying to make is that the money spent on Gaelic signs is minimal in the wider scheme of things and any savings made by not having them would certainly not be utilised for road improvement.

[Johnboy]

The point I am trying to make is that the money spent on Gaelic signs is minimal in the wider scheme of things and any savings made by not having them would certainly not be utilised for road improvement.

Minimal?

Inverness councillor Jim Crawford was stunned to learn the council is advertising for "a senior translation officer" for Gaelic, who will earn a salary of up to ?33,474 a year ? although the lion's share will come from Bord na Gaidhlig, another organisation funded by the public purse.

The officer will translate committee minutes, policies, plans and signposts into Gaelic.

[Guest birdog]

Recently, in Dornoch, we had the sign at the entry to the town changed to have the Gaelic for Dornoch on it. This was done at the price of approximately ?3000, not long after the sign had to be taken down and replaced again at the cost of another ?3k, because the daft assed Gaels could not spell their own language properly.

LINK

Edited March 15, 2009 by birdog

[Northern_jaggie]

i guarantee 3k will get you nothing in terms of road improvements. lets be honest, the roads north of perth require a major overhaul and the pennys gaelic signposts use up wont make a blind bit of difference to that.

[Guest birdog]

i guarantee 3k will get you nothing in terms of road improvements. lets be honest, the roads north of perth require a major overhaul and the pennys gaelic signposts use up wont make a blind bit of difference to that.

It wasn't 3k it was 6k and 6k would pay a labourer's wages for 3 to 4 months but that is besides the point the point is that only a minority of people want these signs yet the majority of people end up paying for them through their council tax.

I think I will learn Gaelic because as a straight white British man I have been looking for some way to jump onto the minority's gravy train, I think this might just be my ticket. (either that or I turn to supporting Celtic and claim some Irish ancestry)

Edited March 15, 2009 by birdog

[Johnboy]

Agreed the actual cost of putting up a few signs might not amount to a fortune - but just look at the infrastructure behind the erection of all these stupid, pointless signs which benefit no one.

We have : A Gaelic Development Officer on a salary of ?46,000 who oversees all this bullsh!t...

A Senior Translation Officer on a salary of ?33,000

Not forgetting an Assistant Translation Officer, who in turn is assisted by freelance translators...

As can be seen from Birdog's story link - even on these salaries they can still manage to make a complete erse of their stupid pointless fecking signs...

Time to call a halt to this feckin gravy train.

[Heilandee]

Not to mention the 60 quid a head subsidy we're chipping in for a full blown gaelic channel.

BBC Alba subsidy

[Johnboy]

Not to mention the 60 quid a head subsidy we're chipping in for a full blown gaelic channel.

BBC Alba subsidy

Quote :

Gaelic has been on life support for years - drive up to the Highlands and the signposts are in Gaelic and English, but pull off the A9 and the Gaelic disappears along with the tourists. Schools and playgroups get government funding for promoting Gaelic, and local libraries are well stocked with Gaelic books - all in pristine condition, almost as though no one ever reads them. English migrants like to see their kids learning Gaelic, while the locals would prefer their children learn something someone else speaks - ideally someone with money

Brilliant... :thumb04:

[Glen Mhor]

It's about time we had an "Emporer's New Clothes" moment as fas as Gaelic is concerned. It's a dying language and should be quietly laid to rest. Even in its so-called heartland (West Coast and the Western Isles) it's slowly dying out. Why not let the Gaelic mafia in the local authorities, public bodies and media try and get some real jobs instead of freeloading off the rest of us.

[Glebeict]

I think you guys are missing the point . In order to get Tourist $ you need to be different . English whatever the accent is not different.

[Alex MacLeod]

Recently, in Dornoch, we had the sign at the entry to the town changed to have the Gaelic for Dornoch on it. This was done at the price of approximately ?3000, not long after the sign had to be taken down and replaced again at the cost of another ?3k, because the daft assed Gaels could not spell their own language properly.

LINK

I wish to feck I could drive across the square in Dornoch without a near miss experience

[Guest birdog]

I wish to feck I could drive across the square in Dornoch without a near miss experience

You must be going through the Square when my missus is on the roads, far more expensive and dangerous than bilingual signage that one.

[CaleyD]

Those trying to argue that they are "safe" in other places and therefore should be ok here really should do a bit of homework before spouting. A quick search of the net reveal that the same arguments we are seeing here are actually taking place all over the world. In Swansea they have even removed bilingual signs and road markings in some areas because they have been proven to cause problems...this went against Welsh Language Policy but it was (correctly) deemed that Health and Safety came first.

The other thing that gets me is that when you look at a map for any country, then place names are (for the most part) in the local language....so people driving here and using road maps/gps will be looking for English Spellings on signs, not Gaelic spelling.

In situations where it could be argued that theirs a need for signs to be recognised regardless of language we have picture signs...so there's no need for bi/multi-lingual communication...there's certainly no need for Gaelic to be anywhere near an official road sign. In fact you could probably create more of an argument for many other languages which are more widely/commonly spoken in Scotland before you ever got to Gaelic.

The whole "bilingual signs" thing seems to have become a bit of a fashion/fad as opposed to bringing any real benefit...either to road users or in terms of attracting tourists. We've become so scared of upsetting the minorities that power seems to have swung in their favour and it's no longer the majority voice that is being listened to in our so-called democratic society.

[Guest birdog]

Link to support Caleyd's last post.

[kilda]

Mise aordann comah.

Hope that is spelt right for the 'Gaelic Mafia'

:thumb04: :018:

[Renegade]

I think you guys are missing the point . In order to get Tourist $ you need to be different . English whatever the accent is not different.

I can assure you that the average tourist knows hee haw about Gaelic and wouldn't care less if it went down the tubes.

Edited March 18, 2009 by Renegade

[VIVA LAS TOKLEY]

Why don't we just rename everyplace in the north of Scotland after a modern invention. Inverness could become XBOX 360, DVD Recorder, Playstation. Then the signposts would have XBOX 360and it's Gaelic translation, XBOX 360 on the sign. Problem solved........I'm running in the next election. :thumb04: :018:

[old caley girl]

Not anti-Gaelic but still think they are a waste of money especially when the roads are falling to bits especially the A82 which I have to drive every day. Don't think they cause accidents though. Seems to work well enough in Wales when we go.

[absent friend]

Not anti-Gaelic but still think they are a waste of money especially when the roads are falling to bits especially the A82 which I have to drive every day. Don't think they cause accidents though. Seems to work well enough in Wales when we go.

We just seem to have less pride in our heritage than Wales. It always surprises me that Wales, so close to England, can defend their identity and yet we, away up here, seem to be so keen on Anglicisation.

''Gaelic is dead, an embarrassment to all the local English residents, only the thick West Coasters use it, why can't they speak English like us''

So sad and so wrong!

In Wales they rejoice in their native tongue and indeed I have heard it used for their regional news on TV.

Just ponder on why Inverness and Dublin are the best English speaking places in Britain!!

No wonder we let our natural resources outflow from our country and give thanks for Kishorn, Cromarty and Ardersier, a bone thrown to the locals to keep them happy.

Backbone? I don't think so! Wales wins at more than rugby, I'm afraid.

.

[CaleyD]

I haven't got too much of an issue with money being spent on Gaelic, be it teaching, TV/Radio, literature, tourism or whatever. It's not for me, I actually don't think that the average tourist gives two hoots about it and as with many things we could all probably come up with 101 "better" causes to be spending money on....but if we didn't spend it on Gaelic there's a good chance it would be spent on some other equally nonsense project so Gaelic is as good as the alternatives they'd come up with.

The point here is that bilingual road signs with Gaelic and English serve absolutely no useful purpose whatsoever. They don't provide any additional information, they aren't catering to a non-english speaking society, they don't attract tourism and they aren't even visually appealing. They are nothing more than a curiosity, and road signs are not the place for pandering to curiosities.

[kilda]

We just seem to have less pride in our heritage than Wales. It always surprises me that Wales, so close to England, can defend their identity and yet we, away up here, seem to be so keen on Anglicisation.

''Gaelic is dead, an embarrassment to all the local English residents, only the thick West Coasters use it, why can't they speak English like us''

So sad and so wrong!

In Wales they rejoice in their native tongue and indeed I have heard it used for their regional news on TV.

Just ponder on why Inverness and Dublin are the best English speaking places in Britain!!

No wonder we let our natural resources outflow from our country and give thanks for Cushion, Cromarty and Artsier, a bone thrown to the locals to keep them happy.

Backbone? I don't think so! Wales wins at more than rugby, I'm afraid.

.

Edited March 19, 2009 by kilda

[absent friend]

Quote - Just ponder on why Inverness and Dublin are the best English speaking places in Britain!!

End Quote

Taking pride in our heritage can be done for free. Not supporting the over the top use of bilingual signage certainly doesn't reflect a lack of national pride.

What about Doric? What about old Scots? Both take a share in our heritage and don't get a look in on our signs.

Those in the west are not the only inhabitants of Scotland, in fact in some terms they are 'Johny come latelys'.

Well you have nailed your colours to the mast!!

As you can see I have now added your views on the West Coasters to the others below.

''Gaelic is dead, an embarrassment to all the local English residents, only the thick West Coasters use it, why can't they speak English like us'' they are 'Johny come latelys'

I see you have not addressed the following:-

Just ponder on why Inverness and Dublin are the best English speaking places in Britain!!

The result may answer your own points raised.

.

[CaleyD]

The reason we speak such a clear (or more accurately, non accented) English in Inverness is to do with the fact that we were, and to some extent still are, a market town which services the needs of a wide variety of dialects and it was something which was born out of necessity.

Getting back to the road signs again, which is what this topic is about. I had to take a trip to Skye today and as a result of this conversation I took special note of the road signs. Aside from the fact that I still think bilingual signs are totally unnecessary, it was interesting to note that not only do they become more prominent the further west you travel, but in many places the bilingual signs are then followed by other (official) signs about 50 yards further on which are entirely written in Gaelic, there's even places where there's official road signs entirely in Gaelic with no English reference whatsoever.

The whole situation is far more bonkers than I had realised!!!

[Johnboy]

The whole situation is far more bonkers than I had realised!!!

It's completely and utterly stark, staring bonkers CD.... the lunatics now appear to be running the asylum.

Did you know that accommodation providers in Inverness have been invited to a free lunch at the Drumrossie Hotel, and promised hundreds of pounds worth of free advertising in gaelic brochures etc, extolling the virtues of Inverness? These brochures are presumably intended to target all those who can only read Gaelic!

The kind offer came via a local public-funded agency Bord na Gadhlig, who quite clearly have been allocated more money than they know what do do with.