AFAIK, Europe uses symbols because you have to be able to detect them when you’re driving past at speed in all kinds of weather. That also is the reason why, e

AFAIK, Europe uses symbols because you have to be able to detect them when you’re driving past at speed in all kinds of weather. That also is the reason why, even today, the train on traffic signs is a steam train; it makes it easier to distinguish it from a truck. I also would be curious when, if ever, the USA was “very monolingual”. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4092008/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4092008/: “At the time of independence, non-English European immigrants made up one quarter of the population and in Pennsylvania two-fifths of the population spoke German. In addition, an unknown but presumably significant share of the new nation's inhabitants spoke an American Indian or African language, suggesting that perhaps a third or more of all Americans spoke a language other than English. With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (which doubled the size of the country), the Treaty of 1818 with Britain (which added the Oregon Country), the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 with Spain (which gave Florida to the U.S.), and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 (which acquired nearly half of Mexico), tens of thousands of French and Spanish speakers along with many more slaves and the diverse indigenous peoples of those vast territories were added to the linguistic mix.”