When I fly abroad, I usually travel on American airlines (not just American Airlines, but also United and Delta). On every flight to or from a country where English is not the primary language, there are always one or two flight attendants who speak the native language. It’s fun (and sometimes tedious) to hear and compare the announcements in two different languages.
But everything isn’t as great and multi-cultural as it seems. On my flight back from Turkey a few years ago, I sat behind a very traditional, older Turkish woman who didn’t speak any English. When the American flight attendant who was pushing the drink cart down the isle stopped at her row and asked her what she wanted to drink, the woman responded “su”, which means water in Turkish. However, the American flight attendant, didn’t understand, and (rather rudely, I thought) replied that they didn’t have soup, so what would she like to drink?
I’m not really sure why I didn’t jump in and help them out. I had been in Turkey for almost a month and had picked up quite a few useful words and phrases, “water” being one of them. And yet I just sat there and watched this miscommunication continue for a few more minutes until the Turkish flight attendant came over and was able to fix the situation.
Me in Turkey
From what I understand, flight attendants are assigned to certain routes that they keep for a long period of time. So unless this woman had just recently been switched, it is safe to assume that she had flown this route many times. And yet she never bothered to learn even the most basic Turkish words that she would need to use at her job! This was mind-boggling to me, and annoyingly reflective of the stereotype about Americans that we assume everyone else speaks English so we don’t bother to learn other languages. Wouldn’t it make more sense for airlines to have a completely bilingual crew in order to ensure that everyone, whether they speak English or not, has a pleasant flight?
This is why I am usually impressed by the language capabilities of flight attendants on foreign airlines, the few times I have flown on them. I recently discovered a new ad campaign from Emirates that highlights the airline’s linguistic capabilities and multiculturalism. The campaign is called “Share a Smile“, with the tagline “with our multi-lingual crew”. On its website you can find videos highlighting different charming phrases in 14 different languages.
I have never flown Emirates before, so I have no idea if every member of their crew is actually bilingual, but they are sending the right message with this ad campaign. Every language is beautiful and deserves to be respected, as do all of the multi-national individuals who fly on airlines, no matter what they look like or what language they speak.
So bravo Emirates!
Until next time, gule gule
Destination Consumer 