A Lithuanian court has ruled that all street signs in the country must only be in Lithuanian. Thus, the sizable population of Polish and Russian speakers in Lithuania will just have to read their street names in Lithuanian.
Hi Radu! Thanks for your question! In the U.S. there are not generally signs in two languages but since Spanish and English are read the same, there isn’t a need to translate signs. However, in the case of Lithuania, Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian use different characters.
February 11, 2009 at 12:26 am
(3) Don Hirschberg says:
If you take a look at Canada you can see their point. Canadians in the Western provences know as much Greek as they do French yet both languages must be on all signs and documents.
Over history the countries that have been most peaceful and successful have been the most homogeneous. And you can’t be very homogeneous without a common language.
Balkanization is not good, yet we foolishly extol it in the name of diversity. Consider the story of Babel.
February 11, 2009 at 9:28 am
(4) Lity says:
What is “the sizable population of Polish and Russian speakers”? 8% of Russians, 6% of Poles, all speak Lithuanian, all their kids learn lithuanian at school (at Russian and Polish schools, bear in mind), all are the citizens of Lithuania, and all choose their nationality by their origin without restrictions. Lithuanians use Latin script, as well as Poles do. Russians use Cyrillic. Russians don’t complain.
So where is a joke?
Should street signs be dubbed in Polish language, where the only diffence compared to lithuanian is a different spelling of “sh” and “v” ?
February 12, 2009 at 11:47 pm
(5) Don Hirschberg says:
Thank you Lity.
February 16, 2009 at 7:37 pm
(6) Jeff says:
The United States should take inspiration from Lithuania and only have one official language.
Comments
Are there multilingual street signs in America?
Hi Radu! Thanks for your question! In the U.S. there are not generally signs in two languages but since Spanish and English are read the same, there isn’t a need to translate signs. However, in the case of Lithuania, Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian use different characters.
If you take a look at Canada you can see their point. Canadians in the Western provences know as much Greek as they do French yet both languages must be on all signs and documents.
Over history the countries that have been most peaceful and successful have been the most homogeneous. And you can’t be very homogeneous without a common language.
Balkanization is not good, yet we foolishly extol it in the name of diversity. Consider the story of Babel.
What is “the sizable population of Polish and Russian speakers”? 8% of Russians, 6% of Poles, all speak Lithuanian, all their kids learn lithuanian at school (at Russian and Polish schools, bear in mind), all are the citizens of Lithuania, and all choose their nationality by their origin without restrictions. Lithuanians use Latin script, as well as Poles do. Russians use Cyrillic. Russians don’t complain.
So where is a joke?
Should street signs be dubbed in Polish language, where the only diffence compared to lithuanian is a different spelling of “sh” and “v” ?
Thank you Lity.
The United States should take inspiration from Lithuania and only have one official language.