[EAS] Need new excuses for multilingual support with, global supply chain

[Sean Donelan]

On Thu, 4 Jul 2019, Clay Freinwald wrote:
> I like to come back to the fact that, regardless of preferred language,
> people Are being granted drivers licenses by the states and are 
> expected to be able To read certain signs.    I will grant you that in 
> certain regions (closer to the border)

Like many things, its more about politics than actual practical issues.

During my lifetime, I've driven in at least a dozen different countries 
where I didn't speak the native language.  Thanks to post-World War II 
international road conventions, nearly every country in the world allows 
international visitors to drive with a driver's license from their home 
country. China being the rare exception.

You don't need dozens of different languages on road signs to communicate 
the gist of the message. You can probably identify the most critical road 
signs without any language printed on the sign.

We don't need 100 different emergency alert symbols, but a few 
standardized ones could become as recognizable as harmonized road 
signs.

But politicians will be political.

For example, politicians like having an ASL interpreter on stage with 
them during disaster press conferences because politicians think that's 
what a disaster press conference looks like. Even though by most metrics 
the ASL population is smaller than many other language groups. Sometimes 
the ASL interpreter is signing gibberish, yet broadcasters covering the 
press conference show both the politician and ASL interpreter in the 
video frame.

Creating the emergency message is the responsbility of the government 
agency, including hiring interpreters which don't speak gibberish. If the 
government agency sends out gibberish, the broadcasters will transmit the 
gibberish as-is.