This is Hyde Daily Photo Volume 1 (2006-2011) which is now in archive mode. For recent photographs please visit Hyde Daily Photo Volume 2. Additional material and links to blogger friends can be found at Hyde DP Xtra.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

No Smoking in Four Languages


This set of No Smoking signs are from inside the market hall within Clarendon Shopping Centre.

So far as I can tell they are in Greek, Arabic, Polish and Chinese. I wonder why these specific languages were chosen. I would have thought the most likely candidates would have been Urdu, Bengali and Gujurati.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

We have lots of multilingual notices in the 4 main languages of Singapore too.

It's always English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil in Singapore.

Kate said...

The universal sign really doesn't need any language, tho.

Lizzy said...

It has amazed me how much has been spent on signs - I would have thought that everyone has got the message

Anonymous said...

Do you really have THAT much of a Greek community near you? I agree they look similar to Greek / Cyrillic characters, but I don't think they are. I think it's more likely Urdu or something from that region.

duopastorale said...

We have an enormous Polish population here in West London. there are Polish shops springing up everywhere.

Quick Snap 365

Tom said...

I agree with Kate.. if the sign can't be understood then no matter what the lauguage is there it will not be understood.
Yhis is just silly and a complete waste of money, no wonder shops are shutting because of the high reants.
Sometimes I see things in this old town that have me ranting..
Great Capture Gerald.. nice to see you yesterday, hope your taxi arrived quickly.

Jilly said...

How interesting. Yes, the universal sign tells everyone really.

Xana said...

Does that mean that all the other nationalities are allowed to smoke? ;)

Dick said...

I think you are right about that.

Bergson said...

ok ; i don't smoke

Shammickite said...

Ha! Gone are the good old days when everything was written in English.

Lynette said...

Interesting post. I'll have to keep a look out for such signs here. Surely they are in Portland where so very many nationalities live and work.

I've enjoyed catching up with your posts--those ladies on the horses look pleasantly happy to me. Parking tickets are no fun, period. I got one last fall near our apartment for being in a one-hour zone. I didn't see the sign when I parked, so I thought I could leave the car there overnight. It cost $27, and I learned my lesson.

Web-OJ said...

The first pic, the last sentence is in Gujrati. I can read the ones above that but can't figure out which languge it is. Most Indians read and understand English, though.

Matt said...

This is a waste of money in my opinion. In Hyde I have NEVER known anyone Greek, though I guess there is always a first. I realise that we live in an age where people from all over the world now live in the UK... though as a local I doubt there is that much of a great variety in Hyde. I could list some nationalities on one hand.

I always slag off our good selves as a nation, as we always expect everyone to speak English when we go on holiday... Yet we cater for all languages when placing signs up and about in Hyde? Isn't English the language spoken by a lot of the world now?

What a waste of money.

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