?Habla usted espanol? Parlez vous francais?

Yesterday there was quite a dust up regarding a motion I put forward to have multi-lingual signs on Fountain Square and around downtown, and to have emergency signage in English and Spanish. Apparently, there are people who feel very strongly that if one is in the US one should speak English.

Well, we have many visitors in Cincinnati who are from out-of-country, and are here on business or for vacation. I believe we need to put out the "Welcome to Cincinnati" sign and make our guests feel welcome and impress them with Cincinnati hospitality. This is increasingly important as more and more of our companies conduct their business around the globe. It also is important because we want to compete for international conventions and events. In fact, Cincinnati will host two major conventions in the next two years that will bring thousands of visitors to Cincinnati-many of whom may not speak English.

In 2011, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) will bring its convention to Cincinnati. 15,000 people will attend. It is one of the largest conventions Cincinnati will ever have hosted. It is likely that some of the attendees or their friends or family members with them will not speak English

In 2012, the city will host the World Choir Games. 20,000 competitors from 90 countries will participate. The eyes of the world will be on us, and we need to show that we welcome international attention and are capable of making participants and their friends and families welcome.

Hopefully, these two major events are just the beginning.

As for emergency signage, it would make us all safer if signage for things such a "sheltering in place", "watch for emergency vehicles", even "do not enter" were either in international symbols or in English and Spanish.