MKs aim to break the spell on bad signpost spelling

A new signposting law may finally eliminate the many bloopers dotting Israel's streets. The law calls for uniformity and consistency in the Hebrew, English and Arabic spelling on street signposts and name plates throughout the country.

The law, which was presented by 30 Knesset members headed by Economic Committee Chair Amnon Cohen (Shas), passed its second and third Knesset readings yesterday, and was unanimously supported by a 12-0 majority with no abstentions.

"When I toured the country with tourists, I discovered signs on which the names of places were spelled in different ways. This is absurd," Cohen said.

"Apparently there are four bodies in charge of signposts - the Israel National Roads Company, the Ayalon Highway, the Trans-Israel Highway, and local authorities. Each one of them spells names on signposts whichever way it chooses, and there is no uniform policy. As a result, tourists reach the wrong place or lose their way," Cohen said.

People may run into the same name spelled differently every few kilometers. In cities, the same street may be spelled differently every few blocks, he said. These mistakes confuse and mislead both Israelis and tourists, and cost a lot of money.

For example, a tourist wishing to go from Ben-Gurion Airport to Caesarea will see signs spelling the city Queysaria, Caesaria or Ceysariya.

A tourist wishing to reach the Kinneret will be confused among the signposts directing him to the Sea of Galilay while others pointing to Yam Kinneret.

A person trying to reach the Tel Aviv railway station will find signs leading to "Train Station" and others to "Rakevet."

The tendency to put up erroneous signposts is also prevalent within local authorities. In many cases, street or place names are simply misspelled in Hebrew, Arabic or English.

The new law stipulates that one authority will be in charge of spelling signposts throughout the country. The spelling rules will be submitted by the transportation minister for approval by the Economic Committee. The rules for uniform spelling in Hebrew, English and Arabic will be formulated with the help of the Hebrew Language Academy. All new signs posted once the law goes into effect will be spelled according to the new rules. Existing signposts will be replaced within five years.

The Israel National Roads Company will be in charge of updating the signposts on highways and inter-city roads, while the municipalities and local authorities will be in charge of doing so within cities and communities.

Charlotte Halle adds: British officials in Israel praised the move last night. "We welcome it wholeheartedly," said assistant director of the British Council in Israel, Ruth Ur. "The wild disparity of spellings [on road signs] causes a lot of confusion to English-speakers in Israel, and especially to foreign visitors."

Ur, who regularly hosts British visitors here, gave some examples. "We often send people to [the Tel Aviv branch of] Bezalel Academy on Salame St., which is spelled differently on all the maps and at least three different ways on the street itself - including Shalma. We've had numerous incidences of people getting lost on their way there."

British Embassy spokeswoman Karen Kaufman added: "It's a welcome decision which will hopefully mean that those people honored [by having streets named after them] in Hebrew will now be fully honored by the signs in English too."

When Haaretz had written about disparity in the English spellings on city road signs, an Israel National Roads Company spokesman explained that some places were written according to the transliteration of the name from Hebrew to Latin letters. He said the transliteration was based on an explicit set of codes developed in 1957 by the Academy of the Hebrew Language, a body of linguists established in 1953, leading to spelling such as Qesariyya for Caesarea, Petakh Tiqwa for Petah Tikva, and Qfar Sava for Kfar Sava. The spellings on other signs, he said, correspond with historic Latin names - such as Caesarea - or biblical spellings in English such as Jerusalem, which would be written Yerushalayim if the transliteration from the Hebrew were used.

	Tel Aviv street signs for Carlebach and Schocken streets -according to City Hall, that is. (Motti Kimche)