Posted by jamyrene · May 1, 2007 · 4 replies
Hello
...i'm doing a research on the English language for tourism, and i want to prepare an interview for tour guides, in order to understand which linguistic devices are used to fascinate tourist.
could someone help me to write the questions, please...???
I suspect that the guides may not know consciously how they use the language and therefore won't necessarily be able to tell you. The best thing to do would be to follow them on a tour, record what they say and then analyse it linguistically. But if you can't, why not ask them to simulate it? Ask them to imagine they're in front of a building or other site that they visit regularly and that you're the group of tourists. And then record what they say.
🙂 This could be a good idea...but many guides don't want that someone records their speeches...😞
Interview them two at a time, and have one ask questions that a tourist may ask, while the other answers, then swap roles.
I agree that people often aren't aware of the language that they use, so recording (or at least observing) actual tours might be useful.
Also, many guides have different styles. I try to teach my students (who are tourism majors, that one of the best ways to engage people in what you are saying is to be unique and consistent with your personality. Some guides might use humor more, for instance, while others might try to interest their customers with factual information. Folktales or historical anecdotes are two other possibilities. I don't think it would be possible to find a list of words (or sentences) that are used universally by tour guides to interest their customers.
Still, I think observing / recording guides is a good place to start, and I also think roleplays can be useful. I've used a bunch in my teaching, anyways. I've got a couple posted at my website.
Take care,
Dave
