The continual decline of spoken English in Australia

[Max Samuels]

opening the floodgates to virtually anyone who wants to enter as an international student to take the money without any regard for the impact on prestige and academic standards in ensuring that underqualified candidates pass.

Shhhhhhhhhhh!!! You are going to have us both deported and citizenships cancelled!!

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I don't think QF have many cabin crew who are proficient in multiple languages; it's not like CX, for example, where it is mandatory for every crew member to be fluent in English plus 1 Asian language. An inevitable function of being an Australian airline since, as a general rule, Australia does not do a great job in terms of teaching foreign languages to a high standard. I think that is largely a function of the fact that there isn't an obvious second language that should be generally taught in the same way that in the US they teach Spanish, Canadians teach French, and the UK teaches French or German.

This is true however QFi does recruit staff who speak other languages and monitors this and gives them little flag badges to pin onto their uniforms.
So for example my best friend wears a French flag pin next to his name tag when he's working.
I have never seen a crew member wearing a French flag pin on a QF flight to or from Nouméa.
And this would be the only French-speaking port QF currently flies into!
It will be interesting to see if this changes if and when they start direct flights to Paris.

 

[Isochronous]

This is true however QFi does recruit staff who speak other languages and mnitors this and gives them little flag badges to pin onto their uniforms.
So for example my best friend wears a French flag pin next to his name tag when he's working.
I have never seen a crew member wearing a French flag pin on a QF flight to or from Nouméa.
And this would be the only French-speaking port QF currently flies into!
It will be interesting to see if this changes if and when they start direct flights to Paris.

I've noticed they're consistent with having Mandarin-speaking crew on SYD-PVG and the HKG flights usually have one crew member who can speak Cantonese. I've also seen the occasional FA with an Italian or French flag on their name badge but of course, as you say, with the exception of NOU there are no flights to destinations which speak those languages.

 

[dajop]

And this would be the only French-speaking port QF currently flies into!
It will be interesting to see if this changes if and when they start direct flights to Paris.

Years ago, I noticed it commonly on MEL-SIN, (in fact can even recall some announcements in French). Assumed it was for those travelling on AF code, which was important before the shift to DXB I guess (noting that at one point, before QF originally rerouted 1/9 to DXB, AF used to fly A380 to SIN, after QF moved the flights , it went back to a smaller aircraft).

 

[esseeeayeenn]

(in fact can even recall some announcements in French)

A relevant little anecdote.

Recently in New Caledonia I flew with Air Loyauté, a small airline which flies between the Loyalty islands north-east of the main island (Grand Terre).
I was flying from Maré to Lifou.
The pilot was standing next to the stairs of the small aircraft and as I boarded he looked at me and at his clipboard and simply said "Trois!" (three).
I repeated "Trois?" simply because it took a few seconds for me to process and realise that he was telling me to sit in row 3.
However he heard my accent and asked "Anglophone?" to which I replied "Ouais" (yeah).
On board he crouched at the front of the plane and gave a quite lengthy safety briefing. In French of course.
When he had finished he took a deep breath and turned to me, saying "And now for you ...".
I quickly cut in with "Non, j'écoutais, j'ai tout compris!" (No, I was listening, I understood everything.).
At which he smiled and the other PAX laughed.

So we shouldn't confuse an accent with ignorance or stupidity!

 

[Spongbob]

So spoken English has been downgauged?

 

[only4tehlulz]

As long as it is IELTS 6, it is OK...

 

[Spongbob]

Oh, I have some informations about your hotel accommodations, and other abolishments.

 

[VPS]

We speak the same language but we don't understand

 

[kyle]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

REVERT.

W.T.F.

That has made my day!

Now, I am just going to do the needful.

So other people are seeing words like 'revert' and 'needful' too!

 

[Milboo]

Just not true. 28 yrs as a legal practitioner, seen it used twice.

And as I have previously pointed out it's grammatically incorrect.

If I saw it used my assumption would be that English was not the person's first language.

We clearly work in different circles! I see it used and shock horror...use it myself from time to time.

 

[opusman]

So other people are seeing words like 'revert' and 'needful' too!

Only from Indians and West Australian lawyers

 

[VPS]

After a bit of comment about this last week I received in an email from a service tech about my Lenovo laptop with the words I will revert to you - and English isn't his first language.

 

[Deleted member]

To add some levity to the “Clarity, accent “ debate. This worth a look

 

[Deleted member]

This is true however QFi does recruit staff who speak other languages and monitors this and gives them little flag badges to pin onto their uniforms.
So for example my best friend wears a French flag pin next to his name tag when he's working.
I have never seen a crew member wearing a French flag pin on a QF flight to or from Nouméa.
And this would be the only French-speaking port QF currently flies into!
It will be interesting to see if this changes if and when they start direct flights to Paris.

I could be mistaken, but I think I did see one when I flew to Noumea

 

[UP4014]

Another issue is the written word, with automated editing in newspapers I see grammatic errors all the time.

 

[Melburnian1]

Another issue is the written word, with automated editing in newspapers I see grammatic errors all the time.

Indeed. Incorrect tenses. Occasional words incorrectly spelt. 'Discreet' instead of 'discrete.' Overall, declining.

 

[Melburnian1]

I transited through Flinders St and/or the station that was under the Gas & Fuel buildings (forgotten the name) twice a day for my last four years at secondary school. In four years I never understood the announcements as they were totally incomprehensible due to the very heavy Greek/Italian accents....n summary the announcements have actually improved immeasurably over the last 50 years.

...The announcements are now 'normally' all very clear. In the last few years I have not heard an incomprehensible announcement.

The former station's name was Princes Bridge. One of its platforms can still be used if necessary, but in practice is not IIRC.

While you may be referring to clear announcements at Flinders Street station or other CBD stations, travelling through the Melbourne suburbs can reveal some shockingly poor (including, but not limited to, heavily accented) announcements when there's a disruption, or about safety with prams/no smoking/don't stand too close to a platform edge. It's the same in Sydney when there's problems.

It's not a matter of racism but a fact that the two worst categories are the bogan Australians, who speak very poorly, and - dare I say it - some of those from the subcontinent whose pronunciation makes some announcements incomprehensible. In relation to the latter I did not say 'all.'

If they're required to make public announcements as a key part of a job description, but can't be understood by travellers, there's a huge question mark about whether they should be employed. When there's disruption, thousands or hundreds of passengers may need to quickly leave a station, or line up to board an inadequate number of replacement buses.

In an absolute worst case, if a station or train was attacked with a 'device', it would be shocking if the PA instructions to immediately evacuate could not be understood by passengers.

 

[CaptJCool]

Nobody said anything about deporting. Just not in roles where it is part of the job to speak and be understood.
I wonder, how many non-native Japanese speakers have you placed in roles at JR stations? Making announcements to passengers about train delays etc? I'd guess zero?

Actually, your input/comment is quite timely. Even Japanese people are beginning to complain/notice about the number of non-Japanese speaking workers that are popping up in restaurants and small hotels in Japan....

I suspect in Japan they put stuff through radio announcer school....
This involves investing in your greatest resource - front-line staff who deal with customers every single day.

Which part of my post didn't you read as you haven't responded to what I posted?

The announcements are now 'normally' all very clear. In the last few years I have not heard an incomprehensible announcement.

When Harold Collins took over at Sydney Trains he despatched platform announcers to radio announcer school.

The only reason for incomprehensible announcements is appalling employers who think their staff rank so low, why would we possibly spend any training investment on them when I as a senior exec must drive around in white limos and fly all over the place to wine and dine. Wait what, before Howard, senior execs never used the trains. Snobs.