| In-flight Language Learning Takes Off on International Carriers
Interactive Programs Offer Travelers New Amenity
The Signal - Business Section, October, 2005
Seatback entertainment just got a whole lot smarter for fliers on a handful of international airlines. Thanks to the innovative new concept of in-flight language lessons that is taking flight on carriers such as Singapore Airlines, China Airlines, Lufthansa and others, passengers now have the option to pursue higher learning as a travel amenity.
This interactive, online airline university offers travelers certified courses in 22 languages. Each course takes one hour to complete and each language interrelates as a building block to learn another. In plain English, this means you can learn French using English, or Spanish using French, English using Chinese. You get the idea.
This complimentary new service for passengers also comes fully sanctioned. No cap and gown graduation ceremony, but an official certificate is presented to those who complete a course.
Talk about a useful frequent flier benefit. Better than engaging the latest video games on your seatback, or watching the in-flight G-rated movie, you can now learn to speak another language. Created by a software firm that began as a game developer, the new language product called World Traveler is part of an effort to enhance onboard programming for passengers by teaching them something useful.
While this Berlitz-edited program is currently available on select international air carriers only, it’s really just a matter of time before we begin seeing it appear on domestic flights too. Since they say it takes just one hour to learn a language, why not learn Japanese on your way to Chicago, or Italian enroute to Dallas?
Most appropriately targeted to the business traveler, World Traveler is a pioneering idea for executives who travel back and forth to international destinations. Knowing how to speak the local language will surely help these road warriors perform more effectively on the job. The idea makes good sense, but creating a practical version of this in-flight-U for tourists would be something for the airlines to consider as well.
Calling it “tourist language,” the program would offer a brief overview of the key phrases needed to get around and manage fairly well in a foreign, non-English-speaking country. In the same amount of time it takes to watch a movie, travelers who attended this language course would leave the plane with much more than an extra bag of peanuts in their pocket. Passengers would take with them a newfound understanding of the basics of a foreign language.
Forget the language barrier for these educated travelers. Communication will be smoother and the ability to communicate is possible. We all know how important it is to be able to converse with the waiter at a restaurant who presents you with a menu written literally in Russian. Or to ask “How much is this?” or even more urgently, “Where is the restroom?”
I’m all for this new program of in-flight language learning. But what it still lacks is the school spirit. Let’s get the marketing experts involved to create school colors and “Class of” merchandise to accompany the completion certificates they already give away. As a former UCLA Bruin, I’m partial to bears and blue and gold.
Commentary provided by Eric Maryanov, president and founder of All-Travel.com, the Los Angeles-based travel management company with an office in Valencia. He can be reached at 661.775.7511..
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