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INTRODUCTION

BILINGUAL ROAD SIGNS IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND

On May 22, New Zealanders were presented with the designs for new bilingual - Māori and English - road signs.

But as it is an election year, it was the ISSUE of bilingualism - rather than the designs of the signs - which quickly became a political issue, and ended up dominating the discussion and media coverage.

Simeon Brown, the transport spokesperson for the opposition National Party, said the signs would be confusing and that "we all speak English, and they should be in English".

National leader Christopher Luxon took a slightly more diplomatic approach, saying: "I am not opposed to bilingual signs per se, but it's just the wrong priority, what is wrong is what we are discussing today rather than fixing roads."

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins from the Labour Party replied with: "The current leader of the National Party tried to trademark 'kia ora', so I'm not entirely sure where they're going with that unless it's an outright dog whistle."

(Luxon was previously CEO of Air New Zealand which wanted to trademark 'Kia Ora' - a Māori greeting - for its inflight magazine.)

THE PLAYERS INVOLVED

WAKA KOTAHI

Formerly known as the New Zealand Transport Agency, Waka Kotahi is a governmental agency - or more officially in New Zealand terms, a Crown entity.

It is responsible for the country's state highway network, as well as the licensing of vehicles and drivers, and road signage.

In the Māori language, waka means vessel and kotahi means one - i.e. travelling as one.

TE MĀTĀWAI

Te Mātāwai is an independent entity set up under the Māori Language Act, with an aim of revitalising the Māori language in the home and communities.

It is linked to the New Zealand Government through two board members appointed by the Māori Development minister. The remaining 11 are appointed by iwi (tribes).

Te Mātāwai works in conjunction with Waka Kotahi on the He Tohu Huarahi Māori bilingual traffic signs programme.

THE NEW ZEALAND PUBLIC

The proposals for bilingual signs are being put to the New Zealand public - not through a vote, but through a consultation process.

New Zealanders can make a submission about how the new signs would affect them and their communities. They are asked to particularly consider the use of colour to distinguish between English and Māori words, and whether the signs actually achieve the goal of incorporating more Māori language in the country's transport network.

They have until the 30th of June to make their submissions.

SPEED LIMITS, PLACE NAMES, & MOTORWAYS

These first signs are a perfect illustration of well-executed bilingualism.

Welcoming people to a town or city or giving directions to them, they are clear with contrasting colour backgrounds.

Māori is labelled in yellow, and English in white.

Font style and size is the the same for both languages, but the different colours mean no confusion.

These motorway signs appear problematic.

The designers have done away with different colours, and there is only a marginal difference between the font styles - the Māori words are slightly bolder and more spaced apart.

When glancing quickly at these a motorist could find themselves distracted or confused, especially considering they would be driving at a higher speed than on a regular road.

These signs have the same problems, with the addition of more information.

There is a lot for the driver to read and interpret at once, and the lack of distinction between the languages makes it more difficult.

Curiously, the last sign (a new style) DOES opt for different colours - and the difference in clarity is obvious.

SCHOOLS, BUSES, & BIKES

Bright colours for schools and the elderly, but almost no difference in font styles.

These signs have the same issues as their motorway equivalents - a lack of distinction between the languages, the same colours, and almost identical fonts. They arguably require more than a first glance.

Time styles are also questionable - a period instead of a colon between the hours and minutes.

These signs create potential confusion.

What was once a picture of a bus with the word 'lane' or 'only' could now be read as 'Ara Lane' or 'Anake Only'.

Visitors to New Zealand especially may struggle with these.

Time styles are slightly better here, with the minutes differentiated by a smaller font.

Cycle lane signs have the same potential complications as bus lane signs.

However, the proposed signs for Bus Stop and Coach Stop show how much clearer a sign is when the two languages are in two different colours.

OTHERS

Road works signs appear similar to school and motorway ones - same colours, same fonts.

However, the difference here is that the Māori words are in upper and lower case, while the English is solely in capital letters.

It's still not as clear as using different colours, but the phrases are definitely easier to tell apart.

These are the only signs which are not technically bilingual.

One is in Māori and one is in English, but they will be placed on OPPOSITE sides of the road as you enter a town or city.

A nice touch as you travel around the country.

EXAMPLES OF BILINGUAL SIGNS AROUND THE WORLD

In SCOTLAND, road signs can be displayed in English and Gaelic - but this is limited to Gaelic-speaking parts of the country.

They are differentiated only by colour.

The Scottish Government has a policy of only installing bilingual signs when existing signs need replacing.

In the Basque region of SPAIN which borders France, the local dialect is displayed alongside the Spanish spelling.

Though perhaps not as clear as the different colours used in Scotland, bold and italic fonts are used to separate the different spellings.

The MIDDLE EAST is an example of bilingual signs - or in this case, trilingual - which are differentiated by different characters.

Road signs are printed in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.

The three distinct character types mean the need for colour or font differentials is not as crucial.

THE ARGUMENT FOR BILINGUAL ROAD SIGNS

There is no reason for New Zealand not to have bilingual roadsigns.

English and Māori are both official languages, and the latter is now being used far more widely by non-Māori as well.

The only two issues which should really be considered are legibility and cost.

As outlined above, there are some instances where legibility is an issue. Use of the same coloured text and fonts which are too similar makes signs difficult to read, and could create problems for drivers who aren't able to quickly discern what they are looking at.

However if implemented properly and clearly, there should be no issue.

A 2005 study from the University of Leeds in the UK looked at the effects of bilingual traffic signs in Wales on driver performance and safety. It concluded that "drivers were able to read one and two-line monolingual signs and two-line bilingual signs without disruption to their driving behaviour. However, both four-line monolingual and four-line bilingual signs impacted on driver performance, when compared to the baseline condition."

As for the issue of cost, Waka Kotahi maintains that bilingual signs will only be installed as needed - in other words, when older signs need replacing or a new road is created. If they stick to that, then the costs should be the same as they have been - or perhaps marginally higher given more words are being put onto signs.

It's also said - with regard to implementing signs from 2024 - that the process will be "subject to funding".

ROAD SIGNS; BILINGUAL; TE REO MĀORI

2 JUNE 2023

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INTRODUCTION

BILINGUAL ROAD SIGNS IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND

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