Israel’s trilingual road signs will be standardized. Under legislation passed Monday by the Knesset, the Public Works Authority must ensure that English and Arabic translations of place names on road signs have uniform spellings. The move follows complaints by Israeli Arabs and foreign tourists that the translations are sometimes phonetic, sometimes biblical and sometimes just plain wrong. The experts of Israel’s Hebrew Language Academy have been enlisted to advise the Public Works Authority. To avoid a budgetary burden, the new law will be enforced only when the time comes to change signs due to wear and tear or renovations.
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