Tourism and multilingualism in Cape Town: language practices and policy

Magister Artium - MALanguage diversity continues to create a language barrier to international tourism. Tourists from non-English speaking countries face a language barrier in South Africa and this affects their experiences in the country. Measuring and understanding something of this challenge is the purpose of this study. The focus is on how the tourism industry in Cape Town uses languages to sell and promote the city internationally. The study investigates procedures, strategies, and policies adopted by the tourism industry in Cape Town to cater for tourists from across the world. In addition, the study also investigates how tourists from non-English speaking countries adapt linguistically to cope with their stay in Cape Town. The study targeted both tourism organisations and international tourists who use tourist facilities in most popular tourist areas in Cape Town. Both primary and secondary data were collected. Convenience sampling was used to select both tourism service providers and tourists. To enhance validity, reliability, and accuracy, various tools have been deployed to collect the data. Primary data were collected from both tourism service providers and international tourists using questionnaires, interviews, photographs and observations. Secondary data collection involved observations of public signage as well as analysis of electronic and printed promotional materials such as brochures, guidebooks, menus, newspapers and websites. Collected data were captured in spread sheets to enable descriptive analysis of tourists’ languages and of language use in tourism organisations in different of forms of niche tourism in Cape Town. Survey results reveal that a little more than half of all surveyed tourism organisations in Cape Town sell and promote their products using only South African languages including English whilst a minority sell and promote their products using English coupled with foreign languages. The majority of multilingual staff in those surveyed tourism organisations who have adopted multilingualism are working part-time or employed temporarily. In addition, results also indicate that English dominates other languages in public signs and printed and electronic promotional publications used by surveyed tourism organisations in Cape Town. Foreign languages are used most in tour operations and travel agencies sector whilst South African languages dominate in accommodation and restaurants sectors. On the other hand the research shows that a big proportion of foreign tourists in Cape Town were able to speak English and other foreign languages. The research shows that the majority of tourists from non-English speaking countries are more interested in learning foreign languages compared with their counterparts from English speaking countries. Only less than a quarter of all surveyed tourists from non-English speaking countries in Cape Town are monolingual in their home languages. These tourists struggle to communicate with service providers in Cape Town. Translators and gestures were used by non-English speaking tourists as a way of breaking down communication barriers in Cape Town. Contrarily, a big proportion (two thirds) of all surveyed tourists from English speaking countries in Cape Town does speak only English. Foreign tourists in Cape Town speak tourism service providers’ language rather than tourism service providers speaking tourists’ languages. The majority of tourism service providers in Cape Town are reluctant to learn foreign languages and to employ multilingual staff. This means that most tourism organisations sell and market their product in English only. Other South African languages such as Afrikaans and Xhosa are used frequently in informal communication in the ourism industry in Cape Town. Seemingly, Afrikaans dominates Xhosa in all forms of tourism except in township tourism where the majority of service providers are Xhosa-speakers. To market and promote Cape Town internationally, the tourism industry in Cape Town should employ multilingual staff who can communicate in tourists’ native languages. Multilingualism should be practised in all tourism sectors rather than in one or few sectors because all tourism sectors compliment each other in meeting customer’s satisfaction. Failure in one tourism sector may affect other tourism sectors’ performance.South Afric

Tourists’ Responses to Government Intentions for Red Tourism In China

This study analyses the Chinese government’s involvement in Red Tourism, with a special focus on the government’s political intentions in conveying messages at Red Tourism sites, and, critically, how tourists respond to the messages presented there. There are two separate identifiable phases in the development of Red Tourism since 2004. The first phase is from 2004 to 2010 and the second one is from 2011 to 2015. Shaoshan, the birthplace of Mao Zedong, and Zhijiang, which is dedicated to commemorating the surrender of the Japanese Imperial Army, are selected to examine the government’s political intentions behind the messages presented at these two Red Tourism sites. The former is the best example from the first phase, while the latter is one of the most important in the second phase. The messages produced by the Chinese government are communicated to tourists in Red Tourism sites, encouraging tourists to embrace certain political ideals. However, the messages presented at Red Tourism sites do not necessarily lead to tourists accepting unreservedly the government point of view. Tourists are free to reject this discourse and construct their own reading of the sites, and this they frequently do. Therefore, the sender of the messages, the government, and the receiver of the messages, the tourists, may not be in agreement. It is to be hoped that this study contributes to a better understanding of Red Tourism in contemporary China, while the responses of visitors may will provide valuable insights into the state of Chinese society today

Language-Based Interfaces and Their Application for Cultural Tourism

We are beginning to make use of technology that intervenes in the contents of the communication. Language processing has indeed a large practical potential if we take into account multiple modalities of communication. Multimodality refers to the perception of different co-ordinated media used in delivering a message but also in the combination of various attitudes in relation to communication (e.g. in information access the goal-oriented and the exploration-oriented). In the paper reference is made to some prototypes developed at IRST, conceived for cultural tourism. In a recent one the specificity is the combination of two forms of navigation taking place at the same time - one in information space, the other in physical space. Collaboration, an important topic for intelligent interfaces, is discussed toward the en

Language-Based Interfaces and their Application for Cultural Tourism

Language processing has a large practical potential in intelligent interfaces if we take into account multiple modalities of communication. Multimodality refers to the perception of different coordinated media used in delivering a message as well as the combination of various attitudes in relation to communication. In particular, the integration of natural language processing and hypermedia allows each modality to overcome the constraints of the other, resulting in a novel class of integrated environments for complex exploration and information access. information presentation is a key element of such environments; generation techniques can contribute to their quality by producing texts ex novo or flexibly adapting existing material to the current situation. A great opportunity arises for intelligent interfaces and language technology of this kind to help realize systems for individual-oriented cultural tourism. In the talk reference will be made to some prototypes developed at IRST that were conceived for this specific area. A just finished European project concentrated on the combination of two forms of navigation taking place at the same time-one in information space, the other in physical space. A new project will integrate various aspects of IRST research, i.e. language, agents, sensory systems, virtual environments, with the aim of introducing advanced technology in the cultural tourism domai