ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions. ***************************************************************************** The chocolate traveling exhibit from the field museum in Chicago was, in my view, successful in incorporating interpretive content (not just labels) in both English and Spanish. As a native Spanish speaker (with most of my education completed in Mexico) I see many "bilingual" exhibits that are just about labels (and most often with misspellings or grammar errors). I agree. Bilingual labels do not make a successful bilingual exhibit. Juan-Carlos Solis Public Programs Coordinator California Academy of Sciences 875 Howard Street San Francisco, CA 94103 Ph: (415) 321-8108 Fax: (415) 321-8601 E: [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Informal Science Education Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cecilia Garibay Sent: Friday, November 11, 2005 2:20 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Bilingual graphics ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions. ***************************************************************************** I believe that Mac's question is less about bilingual interpretation (i.e., two languages), but more aexhibits that incorporate multiple languages or that use an interpretation strategy that allows access for multiple languages. The closest I've seen to that in the U.S. is using some sort of handout or guide done in multiple languages, but not actual signage. The Children's Museum in Houston exhibit on Vietnamese culture, Dragons and Fairies, included signs in English and Vietnamese and interpretive handouts in Spanish. In the past, The Miami Museum of Science has adapted exhibits originally developed only in English to bilingual exhibits by developing large laminated sheets with Spanish text and placing them at each unit. You could theoretically include sheets for a number of languages. The caveat is that there's no research measuring the effectiveness of these approaches. For those of you interested in developing bilingual exhibitions, you might interested in a session at AAM 2004 in which several of us discussed some of the issues surrounding bilngual interpretation. Here's a brief distillation of some key points: In terms of access, here's a quick list of some of the value of bilingual interpretation: * Can be part of creating/increasing visitor's comfort level (a well-established component in the visitor research literature on developing diverse audiences) * Makes content accessible to broader audience, which means more likelihood that educational messages/goals are achieved. * The visitor research that exists on bilingual labels suggests that it enhances social interaction and learning in intergenerational groups that have varying language abilities (e.g., parents are primarily Spanish-speakers and children are primarily English speakers). * Research also suggests that monolingual English-speaking families sometime appreciate multi-lingual interpretation. Usually, these are English-speaking families where the children are learning a second language at school. These families seem to enjoy the added "benefit" of having an experience that allows them to "practice" the new language. They also seemed to appreciate the fact that bilingual labels helped reinforce values they were trying to teach their children, such as diversity. In terms of the writing and interpretation/translation process, here are a few things to think about: * Interpretation and translation are not the same thing. Build enough time into the process so that, ideally, writers are working side-by-side in the different languages. Find a bilingual writer who can negotiate the subtleties of language and meaning. Leave lots of time for feedback loops in the process and evaluation. * Consider implications of style and. Sometimes, these won't work in the other language. Humor (like puns) and metaphor can be especially tricky, because they often depend on multiple meanings of words and cultural context. In terms of design, here are a few different and effective strategies: * Avoid a sea of text (which overwhelms visitors). It's important to develop a design strategy that helps visitors readily distinguish the two languages. * Use different background colors to differentiate languages on the same panel, with consistent placement throughout (e.g., English always on the left). You can sometimes use a design element (like one color bar at the top) to help "tie" these together. * Alternatively, you can put different languages on different panels, but you still need to use background color to help distinguish them. You also still need to consider how you visually tie everything together. * Use only one illustration/photo for both languages. The illustration would be in the middle of the panel, with on language to the left of the illustration and the other to the right of the illustration. * Consider fonts carefully, some fonts don't support special characters (accents, tildes, umlauts). Cecilia Solis, Juan Carlos wrote: > >The Field Museum in Chicago has a traveling chocolate exhibit that features >labels in both English and Spanish. They were well done. In addition, the >Arizona Sonora Desert Museum has good bilingual (English-Spanish) signage for >most or all their exhibits. > > > _____________________________________ Cecilia Garibay Principal Garibay Group phone: 773-271-5843 fax: 425-790-6317 email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ______________________________________ *********************************************************************** More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org. 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