Introduction
Tourism is beneficial to any country’s economy. It brings people from different cultural backgrounds together. In addition, it connects people who speak different languages. Tourists visit sceneries for various reasons. In this regard, they find themselves in unfamiliar environs.
Sometimes tourists face obstacles in their line of activities. These include language barrier, different cultures, remote areas, hostile natives, poor infrastructure, and meager facilities, among others. These are essential elements for successful tourism excursion. However, of great concern to tourist industry is language barrier. Language is very important as it ensures effective interaction and communication with the locals.
Language is therefore very important in tourism as it acts as the gateway to local environment. In essence, effective tourism cannot be achieved without proper communication channels. Various countries have initiated language-training centers for minimizing language barrier. This paper will explore various articles on tourism and language. It will also seek to establish its significance in tourism (Jayaprabha and Saredha 267-282).
Tourism and language
Tourists visit different sites all over the world annually. Most people in Europe and America take time off visiting various sceneries throughout the world. Countries like Egypt, Kenya, Dubai, the United States, and Brazil, among others receive millions of tourists each year.
Moreover, due to their varying origins, they speak different languages that require translation for better understanding. In most cases, tourists take time to learn the language of their hosts. This enables them to interact best with the hosts. In some instances, they use tourist guides as interpreters. However, this does not offer better cultural bonding than the former. Tourism language is therefore essential for all prospective tourists.
Tourists who wish to visit the United States usually take English tests to allow for good interaction with the hosts. Moreover, those that go to countries in Asia and Africa also take the opportunity to learn local languages like Swahili, mandarin, and Arabic, among others (Cheng, Li, Petrick, and O’Leary 53-61).
Scholarly article
Remodeling a changing language of tourism: from monologue to dialogue and trialogue
This article, by Graham, gives a description of the remodeling of tourism language. Graham gives an account of the top-down approach utilized in the earlier decades of tourism. During these periods, instructions were taken from above, that is from the industry without negotiation by the tourists or the toured.
In fact, tourists would incur avoidable expenditure in this structure of management. Tourism industry was therefore framed in accordance with the social control that existed during these periods. The author goes on to state that tourism language was articulated in a monological discourse as well as in unilateral with little chance of diversion.
However, this has since changed with the advent of technological advances. Digitalization of communication has proved significant in changing the modernist project witnessed in the nineties. This has allowed for a shift from top down approach to an interactive setup (Dann 59-70).
Technological advances such as the advent of the internet, among others, has brought about these changes since customers are able to channel their complaints through the digitized forum for better handing of their grievances. Present evidences show complete transformation of tourism language due to the digitalized communication system.
This has brought about egalitarianism as well as ethos of dialogue, which was once none existent. Moreover, even trialogue can be done successfully in the current situation. In essence, the author gives an account of the changes that have occurred in tourism language over the past century. He therefore concludes that a better democratization has been achieved with the shifting paradigm of media in tourism language.
The article is well researched with sources from credible journals among other references. Graham has written numerous publications on tourism and existing trends. He has a deep understanding of the industry and he has done well to relate its complexities with regard to social control. Tourism language has therefore undergone numerous changes over the past century (Dann 59-70).
Web article
Central America’s language tourism
The article emphasizes on the importance of English to groups like Spanish, Italians, and French who attend English classes in Britain. In the process, they see great sceneries and they are referred to as language tourists. This is similar in other cities such as Antigua, Granada, and Leon, among others.
These cities have beautiful sceneries that attract large groups of language tourists. For instance, the article gives a description of the happenings in London during summer, when language tourists flock London. During their visits, some of the tourists catch a glimpse of Big Ben and the queen, among others.
They also get an opportunity to interact with locals, which provide them with a combination of learning, culture, and fun. Those who go for Spanish language schools have several tantalizing locations to visit. These include old towns, Mayan lakes, volcanoes, and hammocks among other popular routes for tourists (Mulcair 1).
The article also talks of the splendid locations for studying Spanish language at affordable prices. Moreover, it gives tourists an opportunity to interact with the locals in those areas. Hospitality in such areas is essential for it has increased the number of language tourists in those towns.
The author goes on to describe possible tourist attraction centers that thrive in Central America. In addition, Mulcair provides listeners with tantalizing elaboration on language tourism in Central America (Lewis 1). The article is well researched by a BBC correspondent who has experience in writing tourism articles.
Moreover, the article is balanced with exquisite description of events in intriguing manner. The article also gives fact on old colonial towns in Central America that drives tourism. In addition, it gives details on tourism routes that pass through Mexico. The article; therefore, emphasizes on the importance of language in tourism. It gives evidence of language tourism as a show of this fact (Mulcair 1).
Opinions
Translating your tourism website in other languages – is it worth it?
This article talks about translation of tourism website into different languages to enable access from various people. This is important in tourism since its essence is to invite as many different people as possible. Wintle goes on to describe the various options utilized by website owners to access people from different cultures and languages.
In this regard, the author gives a vivid description of the differences that exist between simple translation and multilingual websites. The author does this by exploring the advantages and disadvantages of all the methods provided. Firstly, Wintle explores a simple translate which is also known as Google translate.
This method involves on the fly translation of website information by Google translate. Wintle gives its advantages as quick and easy to use. However, the article also mentions its disadvantage as inaccurate. Moreover, search engines cannot pick it. Its presence in other countries is also limited (Wintle 1).
The next option that the author describes is known as the multilingual site. In this case, one or more pages of a website are translated into other languages. It has the advantage of allowing for indexing by search engines. This helps in attracting more traffic and hence tourists. This option incurs a high cost and may be complex to materialize given that each page may require translation.
The third option, as Wintle says, is the dedicated websites for each target market. In this case, websites are translated in accordance with the required target language. Wintle believes that this is the best option although it has its associated costs that are quite high.
Nonetheless, Wintle agrees that tourism websites require translation into various languages to attract more tourists. The paper is based on Wintle’s opinion, which is derived from research. This viewpoint is quite understandable given the level of explanation and depth involved. Language is therefore quite essential in tourism (Wintle 1).
Popular information source
English for tourism
This article, by Hardwick, emphasizes on the importance of English as an international language. In fact, she states that the language is essential for anybody who deals with tourists from any part of the world. She therefore goes on to elaborate on a course that introduces various aspects of the language for tourism purposes.
In this regard, the article tackles the main points in English. Likewise, it emphasizes on essential vocabulary to enhance service delivery in tourism industry. In addition, the article gives description of English for tourism on various areas. These include hotel English, airlines, ethical tourism, destinations, responsible tourism, and business travel, among others. It encourages both tourists and the industry to invest in English as it improves understanding.
The website also contains articles written by other professionals like Richard Sidaway, among others. The article contains important information on hotel amenities that are common in various hotels around the world. In this respect, it tries to educate tourists and tourist guides to have such information at hand for better service delivery in the tourism industry (Hardwick 1).
The British council website is a popular information source where various people who range from tourists to students research information that are related to travel requirements and English tests, among others. Information provided in this website must therefore be credible to ensure that only correct information relating to travel and tourism is taken.
This source is therefore credible despite not having references as may be given in other scholarly articles. Moreover, information received in the article is meant for a wide range of people. This requires use of understandable language. In this regard, the article has used simple language for universal use and understanding. In addition, the article uses facts based on observations made throughout the recent past. For instance, English language is well known to be utilized in almost every part of the world (Hardwick 1).
Conclusion
Tourism and language are inseparable. Language complements tourism and the converse is true. Tourism has developed over the years to allow for interactive liaison between the stakeholders involved. Moreover, it has abandoned the top-down approach previously observed.
The articles are quite essential in giving an in-depth description of the relationship between tourism and language. Moreover, they attribute these changes to technological advances that have brought about globalization. In essence, understanding of various languages is essential for success in tourism industry (Hemingway 1).
Works Cited
Cheng, Chia-Kuen, Li, Xiang, Petrick, James, and O’Leary, Joseph. “An examination of Tourism Journal development.” Tourism management. 32.1 (2011): 53-61. Web.
Dann, Graham. “Remodeling a changing language of tourism: from monologue to dialogue and trialogue.” Pasos. 10.4 (2012): 59-70. Web.
Hardwick, Carolyn. English for tourism. 2012. Web.
Hemingway, Alexandra. Using your language skills: Hospitality and tourism. 2012. Web.
Jayaprabha, Palanisamy and Saredha, Arumugam. “Automatic conversion of web content into ontology-based resource description language for tourism domain.” International Journal of innovation and learning. 12.3 (2012): 267-282. Web.
Lewis, Benny. Where are all the language tourists? 2012. Web.
Mulcair, Amy. “Central America’s language tourism.” BBC. Travel. Web.
Wintle, Fabienne. Translating your tourism website in other languages – is it worth it? 2012. Web.