Language policy in packaging

[barbara_trudell at sil.org]

Dear all,

The language practices on multilingual packaging are indeed mystifying -
particularly when cooking instructions on the pasta package are printed in
6 languages, all in 2-point type!

However even more mystifying to me are the attempts at ideographic language
found on much European Union-influenced packaging - instruction sheets,
guidelines for appliance use and so on, on which no alphabetic text is
found. My favorite was a drawing of what appeared to be the hose end of a
vacuum cleaner, inside a box with a diagonal line drawn through it. Given
that the appliance in question was not a vacuum cleaner, I have puzzled
over it ever since. Who exactly SPEAKS this Eurographic language? Is there
a bilingual dictionary somewhere?

Barbara Trudell