How to Deal with Non-English Speaking customers

[Tomcroos]

Hi guys i don't know how to deal with non- English speaking customer, if i am you how would you deal with them ?

[roamingwolf]

Easy Tomcroos,all you have to do is to talk louder:E

But not a prob really unless you are trying to help them fill out customs forms.Thats a nightmare and best left to the customs people unless you want to get yourself in deep manure.

[beachbumflyer]

You could try learning another language, or languages. A lot of people do.

[boardingpass]

First, start by learning English properly. Then, start learning some other languages like most European flight attendants do.

[roamingwolf]

Then, start learning some other languages like most European flight attendants do.
You could try learning another language, or languages.
Top ideas both of you but how many do you learn.
You can learn German,Italian,French,Dutch,Spanish then you get a pax who is Azerbaijani or Turkish or Ukranian and your back to square one.You can't learn them all so what you guys think Tomcroos do then?

[jimworcs]

I know I am going to get hammered for this, but logically there is very little benefit for an English speaking person to learn a foreign language, for work reasons. English is now so dominant as a second language that it has become the most likely language to be understood by a non native speaker. The frequency with which a second language would be used, compared to English, is considerably lower.

This is not cultural imperialism nor am I saying that native english speakers should not learn a language. There are cultural benefits and insights which cannot be obtained any other way, but for practical purposes if you can speak English you will be able to communicate with more people than you ever would with your second language.

[roamingwolf]

jims got it right.Like I said how many languages could you learn and even then after 4 or 5 you would still meet someone with another language.
It is only the older pax that has trouble and most others with a bit of sign language will get the message.
I've been flying for 26 years and have no trouble with english and a smattering of please ,thankyou and yes/no in a few others.I've had more trouble with some scottish or Irish accents than other languages.

[indamiddle]

always carry a pen and a sheet of paper with you. when you get a punter who doesn't speak english try charades. this can be a lot of fun for you, the passenger and those passengers in close proximity. this works well except for the japanese for some reason. maybe they don't play this game in nippon. talking louder or even yelling at them (seen this many times) usually doesn't work unless they speak english and have a hearing problem!

[Domestos]

Indamiddle's idea of a piece of paper and drawing pictures is an excellent one.

When it comes to a meal service, I carry with me a copy of the inflight menu (which is written in English and the other language). When I get to a passenger I cannot communicate with, I simply point to the menu. When it comes to drinks, I simply signal that I am drinking...and then pull out various items from the cart top, like OJ, Coke, Wine etc....until they nod and take it from me.

I have also found that using some form of universal basic hand gestures/sign language helps (I'm not referring to the hearing-impaired version, just the universal common hand/body gestures).

Yelling at non-English passengers is what Australian Customs are really good at. They seem to think that people will understand you if you keep raising your voice. Australian Customs are perhaps one of the most ignorant and rude bunch of border control people I have ever come across. We are all human beings...no need to shout at people like they are dogs....and certainly no need to take people's dignity away.

[PENKO]

No guys, it's very simple. There are a few languages that are as widely spoken as English. Spanish is one of them. Learn basic Spanish.

French is another.

As a bonus, once you know one, the second one comes at half the effort. This will of course not break down all language barriers, but it will solve a lot of 'problems' you might encounter instantly. It is also a nice civilised feeling to know a bit more than your mother told you eh?


Really, you don't have to be fluent, just knowing some words will improve things 100% already. How nice is that? It just takes one weekend of study.

[Domestos]

PENKO....you raise a very good point...however I guess it all depends on the demographics and location of the airline you work for. If you worked for a European based airline, then chances are you are better off learning something like Spanish or French....however, if your airline was say based in Australia...then it would be beneficial to learn something like Mandarin or Japanese....at the end of the day, it all depends on demographics and market location.

The most widely spoken language in the world is Mandarin....
List of languages by number of native speakers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers)

Though I guess it would be easier for those coming from Latin-based languages to pick up Spanish and French.

[PENKO]

Absolutely right Domestos!

[Little_Red_Hat]

I pretty much do what Domestos has described (Must be a company thing :E)

Another handy tactic, if the passenger has a little English or you can guess the rough region where they are from, is to say a few country names from that area... for example, I had a passenger who was Eastern European, I ran through a few names like, Poland, Russia, when I said Russia I saw his eyes light up in recognition. Luckily we had a crew member onboard who spoke a little Russian. Other times you can get somone with a similar language e.g Croatian/Bosnian/Macedonian (don't shoot me I'm not talking politics here just language) and sometimes you can wing it if you know one or the other as some words are similar...

However, I NEVER write on or touch a customs form, instead, I draw a picture of a person leaving the pane going into a building, and mime handing the card over to the Customs official... they have translators on the phone anytime if they're needed, that's what they're for so never fill it in yourself. I spotted a fellow crew member doing it once for a woman who spoke passable English, but couldn't write it. She seemed very surprised when I informed her she could be held responsible for any false information on the card. I know we as crew try to be helpful but remember it will be YOUR ass on the line if the info is bogus & you wrote it down, not the pax's ass!

Some people are very organised. Once had an old man come on board with a plastic follder, it contained all his documentation and had a letter introducing him, saying that he spoke X language, he is going from A to B and will be met by so-and-so at X time at airport B, and full contact numbers for relatives at both ends. Also detailed that he had an allergy to dairy and they had ordered him a special meal. Great preparation on the part of his family and it made it so much easier for all of us, and for him to have a comfortable, stress-free flight. Wish this was more common!!! :ok:

[Domestos]

Little Red Hat.....ten points for your artistic skills!!!! Very clever and lateral thinker. I think we all need to take art lessons.....my stick figure drawing isn't very convincing and informative!!!! LOL :) That is very dedicated of you, I guess we all have our own special ways as human beings to communicate with others....some people draw, some people act, some people sign language....it all amounts to how creative and lateral thinking we all are.

I have another tip, along the same lines as Little Red Hat's.......sometimes I would ask people sitting around the passenger if they speak English and language 'X'...chances are, there will be somebody in the vicinity/zone who is bilingual....I ask if that person would be so kind as to help the passenger fill in the card and take them through immigration. I always feel for people who can't speak English coming to Aust...I always imagine myself in that person's shoes...it must be so terrifying and scary to be bombarded with all the Quarantine regulations etc.

[BelArgUSA]

Multilingual idiot here.
Fluent French, Spanish, English, good Dutch, some Portuguese, a little German.
Can understand some other languages, like Italian or Scandinavians.
Can read Greek or Russian alphabet as an example.
Sorry, I slept during my Latin/Greek classes in school.
xxx
French is excellent if you often operate in Africa.
Spanish is South America. They might understand some Spanish in Brazil.
I think Mandarin is slowly taking over Japanese as Asian business language.
xxx
English...?
In South America, rural areas, English is worthless.
In Miami, English is "second language"... I met some tourists speaking English there.
:}
Happy contrails

[Little_Red_Hat]

Must be why I kick ass at Pictionary!!! ;)

I only really do stick men drawings but they seem to get the point across- one of those universal things!! :}

The looking around for a fellow pax thing is a good idea too, I've done it once or twice as quite often you'll get a group of people from the same area sitting near each other (not necessarily travelling together) and once or twice having communication troubles another pax has stood up and told me they can understand what the pax wants (love it- onboard translators!!!!:ok:)

Interestingly, I've had to do the pen-and-paper thing with some hearing-impaired pax, remember Auslan/Ameslan are languages too! It got to be quite fun after awhile, thinking up the right way to write things or to mime so the couple could understand me. At the end, the lady took the papaer and wrote 'Well done, normally people just shout at us!" on it. I was pretty chuffed with that!! :D

[Worrals in the wilds]

I ask if that person would be so kind as to help the passenger fill in the card and take them through immigration.

If you don't mind me saying, that's a kind idea but you may do them a dis-service if the other pax helps them with the card and gives them the wrong information.

If the card is not completed (due language or literacy issues) the pax cannot be fined for failing to declare quarantine items. If the card is completed and the officer is too slack to check the whether the pax understood the card properly they could be fined unfairly.

It is safer for the pax to leave them to the officials, they have translation cards or can process the pax as a 'nil declaration taken' if required. Even though ACS / AQIS often lack people skills (and don't they :rolleyes:) they deal with this every day.

Apologies for posting in the CC forum because I'm not crew, but I was an airport based government operative until recently. :)

[Domestos]

Truly talented you are!!!! I wish I was multilingual like you....they say people who can speak multiple languages are more intelligent. If you were at my airline, your name badge would look like an army general....full of colourful bits.

Worrals in the wilds....thank you for the tip. I had no idea they processed non-English speaking people in that way....good info to know. BTW...'airport based government operative' sounds like hardcore FBI or MI6 or KGB......LOL:)

[BelArgUSA]

Domestos -
xxx
Definitely not intelligent...
Acquiring languages is... exposure, mostly.
I am a native of Brussels, Belgium, two official languages there (French, Dutch).
Then came English and German in school, pop music or TV/movies.
xxx
I had to survive 25 years of career as pilot in USA.
After that airline bankruptcy, went to fly in Argentina (learned Spanish).
Just retired to the beach in Brazil (improving my Portuguese).
xxx
Languages were a tremendous help in my career.
Every kid (besides English) should learn 1 or 2 languages.
:ok:
Happy contrails

[boardingpass]

jimworcs, "there is very little benefit for an English speaking person to learn a foreign language, for work reasons." That's fine if you fly from Liverpool to Belfast, but try flying a domestic flight in Italy, France or Spain and see how far you get with just English. You've obviously never tried separating a Gucci bag from a Signorina in an overwing exit.

If you work in Europe, French and Spanish would be useful as you can also pick up parts of Africa and South American tourists. The Portuguese and Italians might understand some Spanish too (and you might understand them if you speak Spanish). In my experience, the travelling Dutch and Germans are pretty good with English, whereas with Italians, unfortunately you will need to learn Italian (although you still have to shout at them anyway because they don't listen).

You don't need to be 100% fluent, but learning some vocabulary for an effective overwing briefing and cabin secure (seatbelt, bag, table, armrest, windowblind etc) makes your life easier and offers better customer service. With a couple of languages to choose from, usually you can find a common language to communicate in, even if it's neither of your first languages (you can also use other pax to help translate).

Yelling at non-English passengers is what Australian Customs are really good at. They seem to think that people will understand you if you keep raising your voice. Australian Customs are perhaps one of the most ignorant and rude bunch of border control people I have ever come across.

This is true! I couldn't believe the welcome after 30 hours flying having them shouting at everyone in the early hours of the morning. Totally unnecessary. Although I still think LAX is worse.

[CS-TNP]

Speaking english is "mandatory", it's the universal language, and anyway it's so easy to learn, fortunately!:} But speaking other languages is an advantage for everybody. And don't forget that learning russian, chinese and arabic will open many doors.

Cheers

[jimworcs]

Just to be clear, I am not advocating not learning a second language. The key here is most definitely not the total number of people who speak a language as their mother tongue. It is the dominance of English as a second language. Clearly, Mandarin is spoken by huge numbers, as is French, Spanish and Portugese. However, I would hazard a guess that English is the choice of the vast majority of Mandarin, French, Spanish and Portugese speakers and has become, by default, the international language. That was my point. The benefits of learning multiple languages in terms of being able to communicate, understand cultural differences and improve social relationships are undoubted.

[PENKO]

Well, clearly English is not that dominant eh? Why else would this thread exist? Come fly to Italy, France or Spain, Poland, Deutschland or Greece to name a few and your lost with just English.

[Rush2112]

I guess the point is where are you? If flying around China, speaking only English might not be that good - but then would you have gotten the job in the first place!

[QFKFY]

Um, not trying to brag, but I speak Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, English, was a German major at university, and learned Japanese for 3 years. The list is still growing, planning to learn Spanish, as my partner is South American. I used to think all flight attendants speak other languages, but until I get in as a FA myself, I realised it's not the case.

Girls and boys, during our slips, shopping is not everything; try to learn at least one other language, it will open up your world; you will truly appreciate and embrace other cultures. As I still see racist FAs treating pax appallingly.

[Domestos]

Yes I too agree with you....I have seen a lot of racism amongst crew towards passengers and towards other crew at our airline...(I believe you and I work for the same airline). It is appalling to hear some of the comments made in the galleys. A lot of the domestics have no clue about cultural sensitivity and half of them have never left the country....except to do a CHC or AKL return. You would like to think all FAs were compassionate, open minded, and culturally sensitive....definitely not the case where I work. I think they should stay doing what they do best....tossing biscuits and muffins between SYD and MEL.