[OSM-talk] Languages

[Maarten Deen]

Tal wrote:
> On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 1:31 PM, Maarten Deen <mdeen at xs4all.nl> wrote:

>> But for roadnames, I do not see the point in using a different language
>> than
>> the one on the sign. If I tell someone to go to the Mountainroad in Vienna,
>> then they will probably end up in Wien, Austria, but where the *** is that
>> Mountainroad? It's not to be found on any sign or map.
>> Better ask a local... Mountainroad? Never heard of it.
>
> Imagine that you plan a business trip to Tel-Aviv and want to print yourself
> a map of the city. Or maybe you'll be spending a week in Cairo. Can you not
> see the benefit in having a map with the street names in a different
> language than the one on the sign?

No, not really. Will I be able to know where I'm going using that map? Will
any name match a name that I will encounter on the street?

Of course, for me as a European it would make some sense to have a map with
European script, in stead of Hebrew, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabian, ... etc. so
that I can pronounce the names, but it would not make sense to have the names
translated to my language because probably nobody will speak my language.

Regards,
Maarten