If we do go with bilingual signs, I really hope we get a better design than what we currently have.
The Expressway signs of are a classic example, is Te Ara Puke the name of this expressway, or the name for an expressway? The sign doesn’t provide that information.
I’m not familiar with New Zealand signage as it stands, but being from Ireland, we’ve had dual signage since forever, from my perspective. Not confusing at all. The Irish is in italics, the English in capitals, so your brain automatically goes to where is easy for you and it’s clear that it’s the same info twice.
I found this NZ news article. Irish is the official first language, so it’s first, but English is more commonly spoken and understood, so it’s more prominent with capital letters.
Standard signs, like stop, are just in English, or Irish if in an Irish speaking area.
Using typography to distinguish the two sounds like a great idea.
Our (current) bilingual signs do not.
Our current signs use the same font for everything, we’re not that advanced unfortunately.
It’s extra confusing with the number of Te Reo place names we have, so it’s not immediately obvious if it’s a place name or a Maori word on the sign.
It probably helps that most of the English names are just a different pronunciation of when they came and mangled the existing Irish name. Some are completely different.
This is the only valid criticism I’ve seen to bilingual signage. Like is a “Kura School” a type of school or is it “Kura” and “School”? Italicising or using different fonts would break them up, but it’d probably piss someone off with ‘who’ gets to be italicised.
Yes, I think the English is more prominent, but the Irish comes first. Seems fair.