Fuddland

In general, the teaching materials I’ve been provided with have been of a high standard; easy to teach from and well thought-out, but there’s one exception: I teach the employees of a five-star hotel twice a week, and the main textbook consists of long, very boring articles about various aspects of the hotel business, together with comprehension questions and discussion topics. The whole thing is way, way too advanced for the students, using complex words and phrasings to get across what are usually quite simple ideas.

But the worst thing is, sometimes the English is just plain wrong. It looks like the book was written by a Chinese person [or persons] whose English is obviously of an extremely high standard, but it does occasionally fall foul of the dictionary trap, in which they’ve looked up a Chinese phrase in a dictionary and simply copied the translation — anyone who has used an online translator knows how unreliable this approach is. When the results aren’t simply nonsense, the words are not ones that would generally be chosen by a native speaker. Here are a few examples taken from the chapter I taught last night, on the subject of handling complaints.

If the travel agent contacts his clients with a questionnaire about such evaluation items as “Did you enjoy your holiday? Have you any complaints?”, he will not only get valuable feedback from clients but also create a prosperous corporate image.

A questionnaire about evaluation items? No. And when was the last time you used the word prosperous, apart from when wishing someone a happy New Year?

Complaints may occur in various situations, but many are indispensably connected with the work and attitudes of the employees of the industry.

At a stretch, they might mean invariably, not indispensably. But then there’s the related discussion question, which contains the common Chinese misuse of should, “What should indispensably lead to guests’ complaints?”

Tourists expect a variety of information from travel directions to explaining unfamiliar items on menus, where and what to see and do at destination, as well as knowledge about the history and tradition of the places they are visiting. Tourists tend to regard all these as the source of answers to their questions. Therefore it should be emphasized on training staff on offering information as clearly and as accurately as possible.

Tend to regard all what? Information on what to see and do is the source of answers to their question about what to see and do? You don’t say.

Before you do anything, you need to listen and make sure you understand what is being said. This avoids misunderstanding and show your heartfelt care and willing to help.

I think I’d get a little uncomfortable if hotel staff told me they had heartfelt caring for my complaint.

To agree with the complainer is another good way of calming him down, usually because he expects you may rush to the defense of whoever is in the wrong. Never lose your temper on all occasions. Just have him out of his system might be the only solution.

Okay, what? “Usually because he expects you may…”? “Never … on all occasions.”? “Just have him out of his system…”? It was by this stage in the text I was ready to suggest using the book to make papier mache models of each other for the remainder of the class time.

Worse still, the accompanying audio CD sounds like the articles are being read aloud, word-for-word, by whatever native English speaker happened to be passing at the time. There’s background noise, stumbling over words, and a general lack of clarity from the speaker. And it’s hard to hear someone say something like, “Just have him out of his system might be the only solution”, without wasting the rest of the class explaining exactly what he meant to say. I know the students aren’t going to be fluent by the end of the course, but usually they expect I may teach them heartfeltedly.

#1

Hannah | 2007 / 04 / 26 – 00:33

Hopefully writing this has have you out of your system.

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