Dear Dr. Ayumu Ota, Shibusawa Memorial Museum, Tokyo, Japan,
The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum in Milan, Italy, has a bi-lingual web site
(Italian, English) in which the two sites are mirror-images (that is, what
is found in one, is found in the other, with occasional rare exceptions of
abbreviated text for local events less likely to be of interest to those
abroad).
Originally, the home page of the museum had the principal menu in Italian on
the left, the same menu--in English--on the right, and shared information in
the center. Once a visitor chose from a language-specific menu item, the
rest of the site was in that specified language. We received many positive
comments about this format.
As the offerings of the museum were enriched, this home page became too
inflexible, so we had to go to a language choice initial page, as currently
in use. (We do not use the Italian home page as the first page, with the
option of clicking on a seemingly insignificant link to the English version,
as this approach seems psychologically, to us, anyway, to minimize the
importance of our foreign museum and site visitors, when this certainly is
not the case.)
On the initial page for choosing the language
(http://www.museobagattivalsecchi.org or
http://www.bagattivalsecchi.house.museum), in addition to the principal
choices of Italian and English for the two full versions of the web site,
some of you already may be able to see the three small flags at the bottom
of the page, one for Japanese, one for German and one for French. (One in
Spanish is being produced; others are planned.) These links do not lead to a
full version of the web site in these languages, as this would be an
impossible task for us. However, we do want to reach out to our non-Italian
and non-English speaking visitors with at least a basic paragraph about the
museum and with practical information, such as the address, how to get
there, the hours, etc. (Note: if you are not able to see these little flags,
wait a week, and try again, if you are interested; the page temporarily may
be undergoing work when you check.)
As for the actual visit to the museum, for those who wish to see the museum
on their own, there are information cards in each room in all of the
principal European languages AND Japanese. The texts were written by the
curatorial staff, and translated by trusted translators.
For those who wish to see the museum with a guide, guided tours are
avaialable, but must be reserved in advance. Sometimes the staff of the
museum (either capable in other languages, or--like myself--a native
speaker) handles the tours. If, for some reason, we are not able to handle
the tour, then--according to Italian law--we are required to engage only
tour guides, who have passed an official exam for general tour guide content
and foreign language skills. Of these guides with their official licenses,
we hand pick those we consider able guides and good foreign language
speakers, and we make sure that they are sufficiently informed about our
specific museum and visitors' needs to represent the museum, as best as
possible, even if they are not of the museum, itself.
I hope this has answered your question not just about what is being offered
by our museum, but also our thinking behind our choices. I do hope that you
and your Japanese colleagues and friends will visit us the next time that
you are in Milan.
Best regards,
Star Meyer, Ph.D.
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Bagatti Valsecchi Museum - Milan, Italy
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