Overseas non Roman alphabet number plates

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Thu 10 Apr 2008 12:35
Overseas non Roman alphabet number plates - movilogo
In some countries in the world, the car number plates are written in non-Roman alphabets (eg. Chinese, Arabic etc.)

So, how does a foreigner is supposed to read them (if required)? In some cases, even the digits are written in local lingo!



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Thu 10 Apr 2008 12:46
Overseas non Roman alphabet number plates - jc2
In the same way they read ours;learn the language.
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Thu 10 Apr 2008 13:09
Overseas non Roman alphabet number plates - Harmattan
I am fascinated by the implication that the poster has Roman numerals on his car number plate which must make it a very long plate when the Hindu-Arabic numeral the rest of us use for, say 928, is rendered as IXIIVIII or even IILXXM.

Taking my pedantic hat off, I thought most of those using arabic script also had the familiar-to-us Hindu-Arabic version alongside but I saw one the other day in Geneva that did use the arabic glyphs only. Presumably legal for a while at least and handy for evading scameras.
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Thu 10 Apr 2008 13:19
Overseas non Roman alphabet number plates - movilogo
Hindu-Arabic numeral the rest of us use


Apologies for my ignorance :) I meant A to Z and 0 to 9
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Thu 10 Apr 2008 13:28
Overseas non Roman alphabet number plates - doctorchris
In Bulgaria, which uses the Cyrillic alphabet, they use the letters on number plates that look the same in Cyrillic and our alphabet and no others. However, the sound that these letters represent is different, eg C to us is pronounced "ess". This could cause confusion between users of the different alphabets communicating plate details verbally in both Bulgaria and other countries. Eg, phoning for insurance, describing vehicle details to the authorities, etc.
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Thu 10 Apr 2008 13:53
Overseas non Roman alphabet number plates - Cliff Pope
Even within the world of our familiar alphabet, there are differences in useage.
Welsh for example does not use K, V or Z, but has additional letters Ll and Dd.
I know there are at present no Welsh numberplates, but there must be other similar variations between langages in countries that do issue plates.
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Thu 10 Apr 2008 14:32
Overseas non Roman alphabet number plates - retgwte
typically mature students from Quatar or UAE here doing their MBA or similar bring their BMW over for the year and drive around quite happily on Arabic plates, seems to be legal here to drive these cars



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Fri 11 Apr 2008 10:44
Overseas non Roman alphabet number plates - Mapmaker
I engaged a traffic warden in Westminster in conversation about one such car. It had outstayed its welcome on a parking meter and he was giving it a ticket. He pointed out that it belonged to a member of the Saudi Royal family, and that owing to his origin he was perfectly able to read the numberplate, thank you very much!
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