Research on multilingual signs of the tour guide system in Tokyo - A novel discussion of the capabilities of Chinese signs

Abstract

The number of multilingual signs in Japan was increasing rapidly; however, there were still disputes over the information of signs, such as low recognition of information and language selection, etc. In this case, this study was carried out.BR The purpose of the study was to define benchmarks for foreigner-friendly multilingual signs. Moreover, the possibility of how Chinese information was marked in the multilingual signs of Japanese Tourist Attractions was explored.BR The research contents and results were as follows. Firstly, the representative tourist attractions in Tokyo were surveyed on the spot and photographed for record. Secondly, the data from the fieldwork were organized into charts and graphs and analyzed for multilingual markers. Thirdly, through interviews with H Tourism Association in Tokyo, some issues with the signs of the current situation of scenic spots were revealed. Fourthly, from the perspective of the characteristics of Chinese language and the thinking method about Chinese characters, the field surveys and interviews about the need for a large area of multilingual information marking in signs were analyzed. The possibility of marking Chinese messages in signs of Tourist Attractions in Japan was discussed.BR Guidance signs and induction signs were more informative, and the information was generally presented in words rather than sentences. If adopted together with non-verbal communication such as map and diagram, the Chinese characters in the guidance signs and induction signs of historical scenic spots with a high proportion of Chinese characters could be omitted.BR So far, there have been many studies on the issue of multilingual signs from the perspective of fonts and layout. What’s more, from this new perspective on language features, the issue of multilingual signs was explored in this study. It was expected that the results of this research can be applied into practice in practical projects.