Different signs have different purposes. A sign that says 'High Voltage! Do not touch' has a different, and much more urgent, purpose than a sign that says 'Thank you for your patronage'. So when translating a sign, our first challenge is to make sure we know the purpose. The purpose of the sign will determine the language that we use. Signs can be placed on a continuum below.
warning>>information>>branding (fill in all categories)
- POLITENESS AND INTERNATIONAL SIGNAGE
One challenge for making multilingual signs from Japanese adjusting levels of politeness. Would you have a sign that says 高電圧に触れないでくださいませんか？ (reverse example?) Computers have a difficult time translating the nuances of politeness. We recommend that when you use Higosign, you first use neutral Japanese (-desu, masu forms) and then make changes to help choose what kind of sign you want to make.
With the continuum above, there are features that can be placed on the same continuum. For example warning>>branding direct
- direct>>polite
- concise>polite
- ominous>pleasant