GTA commences Spanish training for tourism staffers

May 15, 2014 News

The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce yesterday commenced its effort to bridge the language barriers existing between Guyana and its Spanish-speaking tourists.
This initiative is being spearheaded by the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), with the aim of increasing the number and raising the satisfaction level of Spanish-speaking passengers travelling to Guyana.

Some of the participants of yesterday’s Spanish training at CJIA

This five-day basic ‘Conversational Spanish Language Training Programme’ kicked off at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) located at Timehri, yesterday morning.
It targeted over 220 frontline employees at CJIA. These included officers of the Customs and Immigration departments, taxi drivers, security guards, airport vendors, and members of the administrative body.
The trainings were conducted by Ms. Gemma Wenner, who, the GTA said, has a commendable background in various language training areas.
When Copa Airlines first announced that it will be bringing its operations to Guyana come July, Tourism Minister, Irfaan Ali said that in order to sustain and further build markets in the Americas, it is important for local tourism stakeholders to know Spanish.
As such, he announced that all frontline tourism staffers, including himself, will need to learn the language. He said that a substantial amount of training would be done by the time Copa Airlines begins its twice weekly operations here from July 11.
The Minister also stressed that it will be compulsory for tourism staffers to learn the language. “This is a non-negotiable position,” Ali emphasized.
The Minister said too that in another effort to bridge the language gap, a number of major tourism materials will be translated to Spanish and other languages.
These will also be displayed in the Copa aircrafts, which are connected to 68 destinations, in 30 countries across the Americas.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in 2010 spearheaded a similar initiative, in light of the face that there is an evident language barrier between Cuban doctors and local patients.
Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, who was at the time Minister within the Health Ministry, said that several concerns were raised, suggesting that the Cuban doctors who have been supporting the operation of the health care system here are not always able to relate efficiently with patients.
Although he admitted that there are some Cuban doctors who are not efficient in their communication, the Minister noted that the problem may be related to the fact that the foreigners are versed in Standard English.
He explained specifically, that, “Because they were taught proper English, sometimes communicating with our people could be a challenge. When they hear some of our ‘creolese’, they sometimes question if we really speak English.”
Kaieteur News understands that these language trainings within the health sector are continuously ongoing.