As written in Medium a few years back, although English is the primary language of the United States, we have no official language. The Founding Fathers believed it would be divisive and undemocratic in a multi-lingual country such as ours to have an “official” language.
18 languages were spoken on Manhattan Island [now part of New York City] as early as 1646. The Dutch, Flemish, Walloons, French, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, English, Scots, Irish, Germans, Poles, Bohemians, Portuguese, and Italians were among the settlement’s early inhabitants.
Vincent N. Parrillo, Diversity in America, 2008, p. 45
That being said, in areas where there’s a large population of non-English speakers, some cities or specific areas of cities will have “subtitles” on certain signs (i.e. Spanish, Chinese, etc.). It’s just a matter of courtesy, just as you may see English subtitles on signs in non-English speaking countries that get a lot of English-speaking visitors, such as this directional sign in Macau (which also has subtitles in Portuguese):
PC (cropped): Destron Commander / Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 3.0
In Detroit’s Wayne County Airport (DTW) though, there’s an anomaly to all of that – for decades, the directional signs throughout DTW’s McNamara Terminal have been subtitled in Japanese.
PC: Imgur
Even the informational sign for the Express Tram is translated into Japanese.
PC: Foursquare
And yet all of the signs OUTSIDE the terminal are only in English.
PC: DTW / Facebook
So what’s up with that?
A lot (and I mean a LOT) of people thought the subtitles were because of the automobile industry. Although the city is no longer the powerhouse it once was, Detroit had been a major player in the car design and building industry since the late 1800s. Chrysler, Ford and General Motors were BIG, big deals in Detroit through a good part of the 20th century (albeit more in the first half than the second half), and yes, Japanese executives made frequent visits to “Motor City.”
But if the airport signs were for visitors from Japan, you’d think (A) the signs in ALL the terminals, not just McNamara, would have the Japanese translations, and (B) the signs outside the building would have had subtitles as well, right?
It turns out the auto industry has nothing to do with why there those signs have Japanese translations. You can actually blame Delta Air Lines for the subtitles. Well, sort of. Read on…
According to airport spokesperson Erica Donerson, the McNamara terminal opened in 2002 and Northwest Airlines was the terminal’s primary carrier. Tokyo, Japan was a Northwest hub (in fact, Northwest has previously been known as Northwest Orient Airlines). The terminal signage included Japanese to assist passengers traveling to or connecting through Detroit from Japan.
So they’re another example of “courtesy” signs.
Northwest Airlines was absorbed by Delta Air Lines in a 2008 merger. That made Delta the hub carrier at McNamara. And, for what it’s worth, Delta still operates in Japan, with flights between Detroit and your choice of Tokyo or Osaka so…
The signage has never been modified. However, if/when it ever is, Donerson suggests they may not have the Japanese subtitles any longer.
And now you know! 🙂
H/T Axios
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