How do conductors etc best go about talking to a foreign person especially one who apparently dosen't have a ticket. Is it best to use key words and see how much they pick up? There are occasions when they look blank at everything you are saying no matter how slow and clear you are and you wonder if they are genuine or trying you on
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How best to speak to a foreign person with poor English
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Cliveblackpool
Member
Had one of those several months ago at St Annes. The conductor 'caught up' with a foreigner, who had dodged him on the 142 several times. 'Tickets please' made out he had already seen them! Could not produce one, 'Where are you going' he said Preston. 'We are going to Blackpool!'
'£7.30 please' held out his hand - with that he produced some euros. 'No Good' The guy continued to not understand and kept making a silly laugh. We arrived in SAS and the guard (who was determined the guy paid) spoke on the platform phone. after holding the train up for 10 minutes, a Bank Card was eventually produced! Rtn ticket to PRE issued and we continued to South.
The majority of foreigners speak enough English to buy a ticket and ask for connection times. Those that don't have a ticket and don't want to pay are usually the ones who pretend they don't understand especially when it comes to excess from Off Peak to Peak time tickets.
Occasionally we do come across passengers who genuinely don't speak a word of English, however they usually have a ticket to their destination but struggle to comprehend connection times and changes. If its a busy train and you can find another passenger to translate for you then it makes the job far easier.
Occasionally we do come across passengers who genuinely don't speak a word of English, however they usually have a ticket to their destination but struggle to comprehend connection times and changes. If its a busy train and you can find another passenger to translate for you then it makes the job far easier.
brianfraser
Member
"Ticket" is an international word, like taxi or computer.
Besides, even if you don't speak any English, if a uniformed guy on a train is making his way down the carriage checking tickets, it's pretty obvious what he's asking for when he arrives at your seat.
Besides, even if you don't speak any English, if a uniformed guy on a train is making his way down the carriage checking tickets, it's pretty obvious what he's asking for when he arrives at your seat.
I've always found the best way to talk English to Johny Foreigner is very loud & very slow. It has always worked for me on my various foreign holidays and it also works a treat on the train too.
Being fluent in a few foreign tongues also helps - I've an expert in Warlord German & Del Boy French!
Maize wee mon petit pois. Billets silver plate!
Being fluent in a few foreign tongues also helps - I've an expert in Warlord German & Del Boy French!
Maize wee mon petit pois. Billets silver plate!
I remember a rather frustrated guard on a SE service couldn't get his point across to a French traveler a few weeks ago that he was on the wrong train. Fortunately, I speak some French, so I offered to help him and he was so happy I was there to help haha. Had to explain to the French man he wanted a ticket to St Pancras, not Victoria, for Eurostar. He thought Eurostar went from Victoria.
I guess most do speak enough to understand keywords, and it's even handier when someone else speaks the language.
I guess most do speak enough to understand keywords, and it's even handier when someone else speaks the language.
90019
Established Member
Don't forget the gesturing and the emphasising and/or elongating certain words as you go along.
JohnCarlson
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Understanding what is happening can be a little difficult. A girl i know was meaning to get the Grand Central from York to Sunderland but ended up on the none stop East Coast to LKX. She hadent realized the platforms were reversible an she just heard Grand Central from the guard over the speaker when he meant Grand central tickets were not valid.
PFX
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Having been on the reverse of this type of thing on the Paris Metro (and having enough conversational French to get by when I can control the conversation) I can wholly appreciate Posts 1, 2 and 8. The rest I will take as humour.
Je nais parles pas francais.
Ich spreche kein Deutsch.
etc.
That's the easy bit.
Je nais parles pas francais.
Ich spreche kein Deutsch.
etc.
That's the easy bit.
Stephen55a1960
Member
I was on a Virgin service from Manchester Piccadilly to Euston some years ago. As we departed Milton Keynes, the guard asked four Spaniards for their tickets. "Me no speak English" said one. They were rumbled, when the guard spotted one of them doing the Times Cryptic crossword
!
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Monty
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I find speaking slowly and clearly while emphasizing key words I can usually get some form of two way communication going, patience is required too.
I was on a Virgin service from Manchester Piccadilly to Euston some years ago. As we departed Milton Keynes, the guard asked four Spaniards for their tickets. "Me no speak English) said one. They were rumbled, when the guard spotted one of them doing the Times Cryptic crossword
Brilliant.to be fair PFX if you are going to go to the bother of learning to say you dont speak their language you may aswell go the whole hog and actually learn it.
PFX
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Quite.
Gwenllian2001
Member
to be fair PFX if you are going to go to the bother of learning to say you dont speak their language you may aswell go the whole hog and actually learn it.
And how many English people bother to learn French; Spanish; German or any other European language? The mention of shouting at Johnny Foreigner might have been made in jest but it does, sadly, have an element of truth.
185
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Just do a Basil Fawlty. Always seems to work for me!
RIGHT!
RIGHT!
stanley T
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The boot was on the other foot for me at Hannover station. I thought I had understood the DB ticket machine (huge queue in ticket office) but when the tickets were checked I had accidentally bought a 50% reduced ticket, only valid with a Bahncard, did not have one. The guard (rather attractive young lady) spoke to me slowly and loudly in German, as one does to dim foreigners. Cash supplement was paid.
Indeed they probably dont because as a nation we kind of think that everyone should speak English but thats not to say a large portion of people who visit these countries dont learn the language.
In my view you should either bother to learn more then say you dont speak it or dont even bother with that and just be ignorant.
90019
Established Member
Not knowing a second language isn't necessarily a sign of ignorance.
Id say so if you are visiting that country.. Even when I went off to Thailand I spent a good month learning casual conversation so that I could get by, turns out most of the people I met spoke very good English :cry:
Stephen55a1960
Member
I'm off to Germany shortly by train. I speak some German (having done a non degree course at University). The Germans I have encountered, in this country, speak very good English too.
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90019
Established Member
Thing is, there are some of us who aren't actually capable of learning a second language.
I get tired of being labelled as ignorant because I don't know any other languages. English can be tricky enough at times as it is.
Stephen55a1960
Member
I certainly found German hard enough to learn. French (old style O-level) was very very difficult - taught by a native French speaker with an appalling grasp of English
with an appalling grasp of English
Sounds like my Thermodynamics lectures
Caught a train in Germany, from Munich to the alps on a day trip. Outwards was fine after I found the right counter to buy the ticket, I needed BOB rather than DB. On the the way back had a confused conversation with the ticket inspector, still not sure what was going on but making an effort to at least start the conversation in German buys you some good will. Think. Was supposed to punch my own ticket like the trams.
90019
Established Member
I certainly found German hard enough to learn. French (old style O-level) was very very difficult - taught by a native French speaker with an appalling grasp of English
I spent 8 years, I think it was, attempting to learn French at school, and somehow managed to get a C at GCSE.
The result is that I know almost no French whatsoever, and nothing of any use.
If you have difficulties with learning then fair enough - you are not the ones I am aiming the 'Ignorant' tag at so for that my apologies but those that can, should in my opinion. Hence why I do my very best to listen when I encounter foreign people in this country who are really trying to speak English but are struggling and those that dont even try do not really get my full attention.
Yeah that may sound ever so rude of me but thats the way I am and I make no apologies for it either.
WestCoast
Established Member
Travelling around Europe by train you'd have to know an awful lot of languages to communicate with locals in their native tongues. In fact, you don't even have to cross borders to change languages - Switzerland alone has four official languages and Belgium has three. This is why people from say, Estonia might talk to people from Spain in English, because it's a common language they both have some knowledge of.
Personally, I can speak German well, plus I can just about get by in French (invaluable) and Dutch (of little value). I can understand more Spanish than I can speak it.
I normally learn 'hello/thank you/excuse me' in every country I visit - I can't become conversant in Danish/Swedish/Finnish/Czech/Polish quickly (those are the countries I've visited/passed through in the last year or so).
For example, I was on the Berlin to Vienna train earlier in the year, which actually passes through the Czech Republic. The on-train staff can't expect the passengers travelling between Germany and Austria to speak any Czech, can they?
We are as a nation quite used to people not from here speaking English though. You might feel different as a member of staff in somewhere like Denmark, where very few foreign non-residents have a decent enough command of the language to hold a conversation. That's opposed to here where a lot of foreigners from non English speaking countries can speak enough English to get by, because it's a popular language to learn worldwide.
However, if someone who genuinely doesn't speak English learns a few basic words, I suppose any helpful member of the public/staff in the UK would try and assist them. At least I'd hope so.
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brianfraser
Member
Absolute nonsense. Everyone is capable of learning to converse functionally in another language. Of course, it's not easy and people often underestimate the time and effort required, coming up with all manner of excuses like "I'm not talented at languages", "I'm too old", "Everyone in that country speaks English", "I was rubbish at French at school" etc.
Footballers learn languages all the time and they tend not to be the most academic blokes in the world. In certain European countries, nearly everyone does in fact speak good English. Now, where are the citizens of those nations who were unable to learn due to lack of talent?
I'm not expecting people to learn loads of languages. Clearly that's unrealistic. For example, I'm fluent in German, I can make a stab at Dutch but put me in France or Spain and I'm just another tourist relying on English.
But this "I can't do languages" excuse is just a massive cop-out. In my experience, those who say they can't learn are those who don't really want to, or have perhaps tried and found the early stages tough going before opting out.
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