[00:00.00]Searching fora Uniform Sign Language
[00:05.88]A picture can be worth far than a thousand words,
[00:12.12]at least when it comes to guiding travelers.
[00:17.58]That was the reason behind an experimental project
[00:24.32]by the U.S.Department of Transportation.
[00:29.39]The Department wanted to test the efficiency
[00:35.42]of thirty-four graphic symbols in air terminals
[00:41.48]and other public places in several American cities
[00:47.54]-as an aid to Americans and their guests from abroad.
[00:53.60]William R.Meyers,who directs the project,
[00:58.75]requires that the signs be clear,uniform and easy to comprehend.
[01:06.90]"This means,above all,signs that world overcome
[01:13.06]the language barrier,"Meyers explains.
[01:18.00]"Far too many foreign visitors
[01:23.17]find themselves in strange and confusing surroundings,
[01:29.81]not knowing the language of the country
[01:34.17]and uncertain as to where to go obtain help."
[01:40.62]In the past,there has been no uniform sign system,
[01:47.57]and a number of organizations worldwide
[01:53.63]have posted widely varying signs for guiding the public.
[02:00.97]For example,the sign for a telephone
[02:06.01]at the Merico Olympic Games was a telephone dial;
[02:11.87]at the Tokyo Olympics,a telephone and dial;
[02:17.61]in most other sign systems,a telephone headest.
[02:23.46]After considering all the various telephone symbols
[02:29.84]as to their instant communication value,
[02:34.67]experts selected a stylized telephone handest.
[02:41.65]Pictures for the signs were created
[02:46.37]by the American Institute of Graphic Arts in New York City.
[02:53.32]The creators fo the graphic symbols
[02:58.08]wanted to find a unifoum sign language
[03:03.43]that people everywhere would comprehend easily.
[03:09.18]For example,they decided that the back view
[03:14.93]of an envelope indicates a mail facility
[03:20.28]more clearly than front or "side"view.
[03:25.84]To communicate a currency exchange,
[03:31.28]the creators creators developed a uniform symbol
[03:36.82]that shows a rectangle with figures for
[03:42.46]a dollar,pound,france,and yen depicted on it.
[03:48.70]Also,a martini with an olive became the uniform sign for a bar,
[03:55.96]not because the martini was judged the most popular cocktail
[04:02.91]but because the shape of the glass is distinctive,
[04:08.06]and other cocktail glasser can easily be confused with a water glass.
[04:15.61]Several years ago,representatives from all over Europe
[04:22.37]met in Geneva to agree upon a uniform code of highway markings.
[04:30.81]When these were posted,it became possible
[04:36.24]for motorists from all over the world
[04:40.89]to drive with greater safety even though they didn't know the language
[04:47.95]of the country that they were visiting.
[04:53.12]In the future,the uniform highway signs
[04:58.87]from Europe may appear along major roads
[05:04.40]in many other countries as well.
[05:09.34]Once the signs are posted throughout the world,
[05:14.91]a knife and fork will mean a restaurant,
[05:19.95]a suitcase will indicate baggage,and a car under a key,a car rental.
[05:28.10]And if anyone has questions about the whole proposition,
[05:34.65]he can simply go the information desk under the sign
[05:41.11]that has a big question mark within a circle.