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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]>
______________________________________
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