Cultural Response 3 - Israeli Road Signs and their representation in Israeli culture

[Alper Daron]

The Israeli population is both linguistically and culturally very diverse. And the road signs in traffic are perfect examples that show this diversity. Unlike the USA, which is also a very diverse country, in Israel the government recognizes two official languages: Hebrew and Arabic, and the road signs in Israel are trilingual. They not include Hebrew and Arabic, but also English for visitors or newcomers (new aliyah immigrants), who do not know Hebrew or Arabic characters. Because Israel was formed with immigrants from all over the world, other than these 3 languages, there are also several other languages that are used by large populations. The main ones are; Russian, Romanian, Yiddish, Ladino, Polish, Spanish, French and Ukranian.