Speak to me...
September 13, 2006 at 12:17 Like most expats, we’re part-time tourists, traveling through Belgium and other parts of Europe on weekends and holidays.
While we have a shelf full of guidebooks, we often we rely on the Web to get up-to-date information on nearby historical and cultural sites and other attractions. It’s the ultimate one-stop information resource—providing photos, background, maps, directions, and hours of operation for countless tourist spots.
However, here’s the glitch: while the information at the official Web sites for many attractions may be in English, that doesn’t mean any of the interpretive signs, brochures, guides, or tours will be. It is more than a little annoying to see that someone has invested the time and money in an English-language Web site to lure English-speaking tourists to their business and then fails to address their needs adequately once they’ve bought their tickets.
The museum at Bouillon, exploring the city’s history from the Middle Ages forward, has an English language brochure describing the museum in general terms but nothing describing the intriguing items in the exhibits. On the day we visited in May, we were the ONLY guests, and yet the dour young woman who took our money and spoke English seemed less than happy when we politely asked her about items on display. The castle at Bouillon was fascinating, but would have been more interesting if only we knew what we were looking at.
The caverns at Han have a Web site in English promising multi-language guided tours. After we purchased our tickets and took the special train up to the cave’s entrance, we discovered multi-language tours meant you could queue in a line to follow a Flemish OR a French tour guide. Oh.
The living museum at Bjorik has audio guides in English available for rent. These were excellent resources and very well done. However, there’s a limited number of them available, and the day we visited with friends from America, there weren’t enough to serve our small group.
A friend of mine visiting Brugge in August asked a tour operator if his guided tour was also delivered in English. “Yes! Our tours are in English,” he replied.
Not a lie, but not exactly true either. She and her party bought their tickets, got on the boat, and the guide launched into a long and lively monologue in Flemish, speaking with great expression, pointing vigorously to various buildings, and cracking jokes that the Flemish-speaking tourists all laughed at. Then he’d turn quickly to the English-speaking members of the group and say, “This is the town hall,” before once again resuming a colorful and detailed history with the Flemish speaking tourists.
This sort of thing happens over and over and over again.
Now I understand that my lack of language skills cannot be accommodated everywhere, and I certainly don’t expect that. However, if a tourist attraction advertises and promotes itself in English, then it should be prepared to handle English-speaking tourists when they arrive. A brochure, an audio guide, or a friendly member of the staff available to answer questions makes all the difference.
September 14, 2006
© 2006 Veronica McCabe Deschambault. All rights reserved.
Reader Comments (2)