I agree with Eugene that having the languages in different colours can help the
visitors locate the ones they want with more speed. I have seen one or more
museums where the colour scheme for one language (say green on grey) was
reversed for the other language (to become grey on green). This could still be
confusing for visitors, as some other museums reverse the basic colour scheme
to add emphasis to more important labels or signs, such as those introducing a
new section of an exhibition. Would they, then, have to use two completely
different colour combinations, and reverse both for emphasis? This discussion
could go on and on! My own feeling is to keep the number of colours down and
rely on consistence of placement. Our visitors and those to CMC seem quite
satisfied with this. One could also use different fonts for each language to
assist differentiation.

There is another advantage to bilingual signage, which I don't think anyone has
yet mentioned in the current discussion, and that is that the need to repeat
everything in the second language forces you to use less text, unless you can
be satisfied with either giant labels or tiny fonts. I think most of us
subscribe to the 70 words or less rule; having to do it bilingually makes us
try to rspect a 50 words or less alternative. No one wants to have two huge
text panels standing side by side!

Harry Needham
Canadian War Museum