New York Transit Museum
Today is UNESCO #InternationalMotherLanguageDay. We are sharing this 1962 #NYCsubway multilingual courtesy campaign poster. The poster is an early example of language-inclusive signage in transit, and marks the beginning of public service announcements geared toward New York's diverse communities.
Feb 21 at 3:50pmWeb
Show threadNew York Transit MuseumFeb 21
The playful poster displays 21 translations of the phrase "This is your train, take care of it.” It was created by Sylvester V. Pointkowski and Julian Garfield, both of whom worked in Public Relations at the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA).
Show threadNew York Transit MuseumFeb 21
The year the poster was printed, the @[email protected] noted the use of languages that were either “real or fancied.” Besides the spoken languages presented, some are whimsical additions such as Latin, Esperanto, Olde French, Chaucerian, Pig Latin, and Beatnik.