English for Tourist Guide

English for Tourist Guide

By: Aris Darmapati

English is very important in tourism business. As a global language, English language can be easily used by the guides. English alleviate the job. So, in order to improve guide’s proficiency, there are some points that need to be considered by a tourist guide, they are:

Tourism Location

A tourist guide must understand the tourism sites to ensure the absence of errors in his work. It is useful when a guide wants to explain the location or condition of tourism spot to the tourists. A guide needs to learn or find out much information related with to the location. A guide must find a variety of information related to the site. He or she can read from various sources such as books, magazines, or through interviews with local residents.

History

In Bali, it is important for a guide to know about the history of a tourism object or site. So a guide must read a lot of history books. He or she must understand the various myths and beliefs that exist in the local community. A guide should know about Hindu history, sacred places, temples, caves and others. It means the more knowledge about history, the easier the job of a guide. Because of the complexity of history, a guide has to work hard enough to master it.

Culture & Local Community

It is similar with the history; local culture and community need to be understood by a guide. In Bali, a Balinese person who becomes a tourist guide feels easier to explain his or her culture to the tourists. Seeing this advantage, the guide should improve his or her knowledge about the culture. Sometimes, culture and local community become the main allure in the tourism sector and need to be explored by a guide.

Talk and Talk

It is better if a tourist guide talks a lot. A guide has to talk to the entire tourist as often as possible. Tourists need a radio that moves and keeps talking. So, tourists will not bother asking him or her anymore if everything has been explained by the guide. Finally, if they feel a lack of something, then they will ask.

Vocabulary & Translation Problems

Vocabulary and translation become problems in tourist guiding. Sometimes, Balinese vocabularies are untranslatable. We are unable to translate some words into English, for example:

-          Sesari

-          Kukul

-          Penjor

-          Sanggah

-          Lungsuran

-          Bungkak

-          Bungsil

-          Klepan

-          Danyuh

-          Busung

These words are untranslatable into English; so, a guide needs to find the closest meaning of those words. Explaining the function or description of each word can help the tourists in understanding it.