Safety Ministry standardizes public sign translations in eight languages, with more to come

Translations for the sign that warns pedestrians to watch for ice, provided by the Ministry of Interior and Safety [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The Ministry of Interior and Safety announced Wednesday it has standardized translations for public signs in eight different languages.

The translations can be found in Naver Dictionary's Open Dictionary PRO section. Translations for around 100 public signs are currently uploaded to the dictionary.

Standardized translations will be offered in English, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Mongolian, Spanish and Russian. The eight languages were chosen based on the number of foreigners in Korea that speak those languages.

The ministry said it decided to standardize translations due to many dictionary applications offering wrong translations. Some of the misleading ones include translating the Korean sign for "no open flames" to strict firearm regulations, no fire and no flammables.

The ministry will work with multicultural family support centers and professionals to add more translations around the end of July.

Although standardized translations are currently only available through Naver Dictionary, the ministry will discuss with other dictionary service operators and ask them to use its official translations. Mandatory usage of pictograms in all public signs is also being discussed.

"Everyone needs to be able to understand what public signs mean," Seo Ju-hyeon, head of the ministry's government innovation planning bureau, said. "We will continue to improve the system so both our citizens and foreigners can easily understand public signs."

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]