First cruise after Covid and really struggled with the language barrier.

[dltaeg]

We just got off Odyssey today after a lovely holiday, however we found we really struggled with the language barrier and staff understanding what we were trying to say or what we needed. Even at customer service (1 problem we had with drinks resulted in 5 trips to customer service). 

 

We were always polite and clear without being patronising as we understand this isn't the staffs fault however I was wondering if this is RC wide after covid or maybe just Odyssey? 

[flamingos]

I was on Odyssey in January and had no problems at all. I'm sorry you had such difficulties.

[not-enough-cruising]

We have been on 4 cruises since Thanksgiving 2021, we have not had that experience (none of our trips were on Odyssey)

[ReneeFLL]

I guess it depends on what you were trying to say or ask them. Most of them understand english pretty well and we haven’t had many problems.

[DirtyDawg]

17 minutes ago, dltaeg said:

We just got off Odyssey today after a lovely holiday, however we found we really struggled with the language barrier and staff understanding what we were trying to say or what we needed. Even at customer service (1 problem we had with drinks resulted in 5 trips to customer service). 

 

We were always polite and clear without being patronising as we understand this isn't the staffs fault however I was wondering if this is RC wide after covid or maybe just Odyssey? 

Where in the UK are you from? It might have been your accent. 

I have long time friends from Scotland and Wales and I don't understand them half the time!

[smokeybandit]

With background noise and crew still having to wear masks, it can be challenging.

Our waitress last cruise was Chinese. She was very good and was delightful. But with the mask and background noise, it was difficult to understand her. Take off the mask, it would have been fine.

[dltaeg]

27 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

Where in the UK are you from? It might have been your accent. 

I have long time friends from Scotland and Wales and I don't understand them half the time!

 

🤣 I think the father in laws Manchester accent was more challenging for the staff but me and the husband have moved about the UK so much we don't really have an accent. 

 

However I'm from southport so sound like the comidian Lee Mack. 

[shipgeeks]

Might masks (crew and/or passenger) have contributed to the problem?

We've done two cruises so far this year; did not have any difficulty understanding or being understood.

[Tlbecker1]

I am sorry that was your experience.  We were on the Odyssey in March and didn’t have any issues.

[sowhat]

1 hour ago, dltaeg said:

We just got off Odyssey today after a lovely holiday, however we found we really struggled with the language barrier and staff understanding what we were trying to say or what we needed. Even at customer service (1 problem we had with drinks resulted in 5 trips to customer service). 

 

We were always polite and clear without being patronising as we understand this isn't the staffs fault however I was wondering if this is RC wide after covid or maybe just Odyssey? 

Guest Services understand  when they want to, if they can not find the answer to a question, they just reply  with a random  answer

[Maria63]

British English can often be significantly more challenging to understand for non-native speakers than American English (absolutely no offense to Brits, personally I'm a great fan of your culture & traditions). English courses don't necessarily go into the regional accents, and everyone worldwide is also much more used to hearing American English from international entertainment.

[DirtyDawg]

31 minutes ago, dltaeg said:

 

🤣 I think the father in laws Manchester accent was more challenging for the staff but me and the husband have moved about the UK so much we don't really have an accent. 

 

However I'm from southport so sound like the comidian Lee Mack. 

You might not have an accent at home in the UK but come over to the other side of the Pond and believe me, you'll have an accent just like John, Paul, George and Ringo! 😉

 

 

[Merion_Mom]

I agree that masks can muffle the voice enough that comprehension is compromised.

 

I just lower my mask to briefly communicate, then put it back on.  🙂 

[brillohead]

On the subject of accents:

On a cruise on Explorer a few months ago, EVERYONE at our table thought this guy's name was "Bran/Brann".  We all called him that all week long. 

 

On the very last night, someone asked him if it was short for Brandon, and he replied, "No, just Bran".  So then the question got asked if it was spelled "Bran" or "Brann", and the answer was "Bryan"!!!

The couple was from Belfast, and their accent was so thick that "Bryan" was just one syllable!  🤣  We all got a heck of a laugh at that one!

[pcur]

First of all, I was on 3 ships from Jan-May this year, with crew from all over the world, and never had a problem understanding them, or being understood myself.  Plus, I wear hearing aid and wear a mask most of the time on a ship.

 

Second of all, and NO OFFENSE intended, I stopped at a meat shop in London to ask directions to an auto repair shop nearby (hubby didn't think "left" and ran over a curbside barrier, trashing the tire), and the extremely helpful ladies in the meat shop we so kind......I could not understand one single syllable of anything they said to me.

[joeyancho]

14 hours ago, Maria63 said:

British English can often be significantly more challenging to understand for non-native speakers than American English (absolutely no offense to Brits, personally I'm a great fan of your culture & traditions). English courses don't necessarily go into the regional accents, and everyone worldwide is also much more used to hearing American English from international entertainment.

That is because Americans have perfected the English language,  LOL 😆.  But seriously,  I think you are right.   My daughter ( an American ) lives in London for quite some time now.  Folks understand her easily.  I think this is because of the influence of American media ( i.e. movies, TV, internet  content, music).  However, depending on the regional accent, she, at times, has difficulty understanding some people, despite their speaking English.  

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by joeyancho
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[joeyancho]

I have severe hearing loss which is,  for the most part,  corrected by hearing aids.  I noticed that during the pandemic I was having more problems than usual understanding conversational speech.  I didn't realize how much I depended on lip reading in addition to the actual sound of a person speaking.  Communication is more complex than we realize.   For some people a simple thing such as a mask creates problems.  

      All this being said I find that the crew is pretty good at communicating and understanding.   Especially since English (a tough language to learn) is their second or third  language.  

[Maria63]

When I learned English at school in the 1970s, our teacher made a point of teaching us the "proper" English pronouncement - and it meant something you might describe as "upper class British". She was driven to despair when all the kids in my class were into American English and American culture. The first burger bar opened in our capital in the mid 70s, and it was a very big deal and the absolutely coolest place in town.

[brillohead]

36 minutes ago, joeyancho said:

I didn't realize how much I depended on lip reading in addition to the actual sound of a person speaking.  Communication is more complex than we realize.   For some people a simple thing such as a mask creates problems.  

It's not just you -- it's the world in general, even those who don't have hearing difficulties.  Check out this video comparing "bar" and "far" -- the sound is the same the whole video, but if you look at the left side you'll hear "bar" and if you look at the right side you'll hear "far". 

When you combine foreign accents plus facemasks that muffle the sound plus facemasks that cover the lips, it makes a lot more sense why people are having so much difficulty in understanding what the staff are saying! 

 

 

 

[the penguins]

3 hours ago, pcur said:

First of all, I was on 3 ships from Jan-May this year, with crew from all over the world, and never had a problem understanding them, or being understood myself.  Plus, I wear hearing aid and wear a mask most of the time on a ship.

 

Second of all, and NO OFFENSE intended, I stopped at a meat shop in London to ask directions to an auto repair shop nearby (hubby didn't think "left" and ran over a curbside barrier, trashing the tire), and the extremely helpful ladies in the meat shop we so kind......I could not understand one single syllable of anything they said to me.

You mean butcher (not meat shop) and garage (not auto repair shop). Don't get mad our grandson is Texan and we have exactly the same issues when visiting him. In fact some of my stories of confusion have now been taken up by a local observational comedian on the North Dallas comedy circuit who has included them in his act. For example the fact that there is no "S" in Lego. Kids do not play with their LEGOS just with LEGO. The "S" if needed is added to the bricks.

[the penguins]

7 minutes ago, ChC said:

 

You are absolutely correct, yet I agree with Americans that the garage should be called Auto Repair Shop or other names. Living in UK the thing made me mad is that the multi use of a single word/illogical in the language. Garage also means the where you park your car at home, it causes confusion when you also call the MOT/Repair shop as garage. So when a husband tells wife, I am going to the garage now. Does he mean he will go into the little shed by their hours, or the auto repair shop 20 miles away?

 

Then we have the butcher. Butcher is a profession, it is the profession qualification of the person. The shop itself should not be called butcher. Because the shop does not cut the meat, the owner/employee/butcher does. British people have used this word to describe the shop for centuries, yet logically it is incorrect. Meat Shop is actually logically correct. 

 

American English for its fault, at least it is modern, and it injects more logic and tries to take away confusions, so it is more clear and easier to learn. For example, center vs centre....Well, for people whose first language is not English, center is easier to remember and can pronounce easily. Many people struggle with pronouncing centre correctly when learning British English (I am not joking, you can see the whole class of people who first learnt their English, all has a very confused face, and it is frequently one of the questions they would get it wrong in exams). 

 

British English is wonderful, a lot of cultural heritage and rich in history. However, as English is my second language, and I travel frequently in English speaking countries, American English is more modern and more logical to me. It has nothing to do with cultural invasion (shows, books etc.). It is just for people like me who learnt English as a second language, 20 years later found/concluded American English is much easier, clearer and logical. 

I love the confusion caused and have had many amusing incidents. It also causes  great hilarity at dinner with our many American friends.

However your assertion that American English is always more logical seems a little optimistic 

Restrooms? The last place I would rest.

Comfort Stations? Even more confusing.

or an our last excursion our guide offered as a "technical stop".

Jelly ? We have Jelly with ice-cream not on bread.

And when we damaged our hire (sorry rental) car and asked for it to be changed the guy from AVIS insisted what we wanted was a "swop out".

 

 

[Billy Baltic]

20 hours ago, dltaeg said:

We just got off Odyssey today after a lovely holiday, however we found we really struggled with the language barrier and staff understanding what we were trying to say or what we needed. Even at customer service (1 problem we had with drinks resulted in 5 trips to customer service). 

 

We were always polite and clear without being patronising as we understand this isn't the staffs fault however I was wondering if this is RC wide after covid or maybe just Odyssey? 

 

When we were on Wonder earlier in the Summer our son became friends with a lovely lad from Liverpool. We're from Ireland and would hear the accent quite a bit so it wasn't an issue. I got to enjoy the broad "awwwww right" greeting around the ship. However, the crew could not understand him or his family. My son would end up translating for him in the teens club 🙂 

 

[Billy Baltic]

35 minutes ago, the penguins said:

I love the confusion caused and have had many amusing incidents. It also causes  great hilarity at dinner with our many American friends.

However your assertion that American English is always more logical seems a little optimistic 

Restrooms? The last place I would rest.

Comfort Stations? Even more confusing.

or an our last excursion our guide offered as a "technical stop".

Jelly ? We have Jelly with ice-cream not on bread.

And when we damaged our hire (sorry rental) car and asked for it to be changed the guy from AVIS insisted what we wanted was a "swop out".

 

 

 

For me the big difference is speed. I find Americans tend to speak more slowly. I'd imagine that is a great help to an international crew. Some areas of the UK (and Ireland for that matter) have distinct accents and speak very very fast. After years of exposure, I still struggle with some Glaswegian conversations.

 

 

 

[Kezzie62]

Oh boy!! As a U.K./USA Citizen there are oddities in both languages! Parkway that you drive on, Driveway that you park on, you send a parcel by truck it’s a shipment if you send it by ship it’s cargo! There are 1000s

[zap99]

4 hours ago, joeyancho said:

That is because Americans have perfected the English language,  LOL 😆.  But seriously,  I think you are right.   My daughter ( an American ) lives in London for quite some time now.  Folks understand her easily.  I think this is because of the influence of American media ( i.e. movies, TV, internet  content, music).  However, depending on the regional accent, she, at times, has difficulty understanding some people, despite their speaking English.  

 

I don't have a problem understanding American English, but my ant does.