Posted on 06/25/2006 3:59:07 AM PDT by SkyPilot
Metrorail officials are considering adding permanent Spanish-language signs, system maps, fare-card machines and announcements in stations after a push by immigration advocates.
They say the idea has been discussed for several years within the agency's Office of Project Communications, but no official plans have been made.
The estimated cost of the changes is at least $500,000 per station and as much as $900,000 for a large, multilevel station such as Metro Center or L'Enfant Plaza.
"It would really depend on what signs, where, what they're made of, the cost of fabricating and installing them," said Murray Bond, director of sales and marketing at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. "It's a strain on the budget, but in a business sense, by giving people better information to use the system, hopefully they'll use it more, [and] every time they use it, we get a fare."
The Urban Institute estimates that more than 1 million immigrants and illegal aliens live in the region, and about 40 percent of them are Hispanic. The region annually draws 1 million tourists from overseas, the U.S. government-run Office of Travel and Tourism Industries reports.
Immigration advocates say riders with limited English skills might have difficulty understanding how to transfer between lines or how to use fare-card machines and schedules, and they fear rebuke from Metro staff if they seek help in broken English.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Lowe's could learn some lessons from Home Depot's means of including Spanish without perpetually pissing off the predominantly English speaking patrons.
We recently had a new store named Mundo Latino. They catered to the Spanish speaking members of the community. Not a good business strategy when Spanish speakers are less than 2% of the population and that 2% is the lowest income group in the area. They lasted about 6 weeks before the "going out of business" signs were posted.
"Next language to be "accommodated" in the DC metro area will be Arabic."
When in The Wahhabi Corridor...
speak as the Wahhabis speak?
http://www.sperryfiles.com/corridor.shtml
Those guys don't hold a candle to the AlQaida ground support team we had living around here until 9/11.
The Oslo subway system is entirely in Norwegian, which is odd since most of the major signs in the rest of Oslo are in both Norwegian and English. However, I was able to ride the system every day for a week, all over the city, and out into suburbs without any problem and without knowing any Norwegian. You just look at your map, see where you want to go, and get off when you see a sign with the same combination of letters. You don't need to understand what the words mean and once you take a few trips the whole system pretty much begins to make sense in any language. Seems to me the same would apply to the DC Metro system.
Far as Norwegian and English go, both are grounded in Old West Gothic. A mere thouand years ago they were pretty much the same language.
Japanese would be a big one, too.
Narita Airport in Tokyo, Incheon Airport in Seoul, and the subway system in Seoul all have signage in multiple languages, including English.
You have no idea ~ I'd say in recent times, outside of American tourists, the largest numbers consist of small Chinese speaking women. They move around in groups from place to place.
DC is my 'back yard' ... perhaps I've mistaken Chinese for Japanese. In any case, they wander the Mall and museums in huge hairy hordes.
Chinese tourists even visit Springfield Mall and Potomac Mills ~ in large groups.
Asian women coming to America for bargains? That's a twist. I wonder if any of them find their way down to the "pottery" in Williamsburg. That has more of the character of the open air markets and shopping districts in Seoul etc.
I assume part of the reason for their presence at IKEA was to find out what IKEA does with stuff made in China.
Their interest in displays, aisle space, etc. was entirely something else.
Remember, China has an antiquated, primitive infrastructure. With 10% economic increase each year they are earning the money needed to fix the place up. So, they authorize sending people to America to see how that might be done.
Most of these people are probably private sector types.
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