新浪首页 > 新浪教育 > 老外直言:中国自助游太不容易(图)

中国自助游太不容易!
http://www.sina.com.cn 2004/07/12 10:23  北京青年报

  Recently two French friends of mine who had come to China in 1993 announced their intention of returning for a second visit. They asked me to draft a hassle-free itinerary that would enable them to travel on their own. Why the caution? There are two big problems. By far the greater is the difficulty of getting basic information in China. The second headache is language, which remains a major obstacle to relaxed, confident travel. True, a huge wave of English study swept over China after Beijing was chosen to host the 2008 Olympics. But though many study, few learn -- learn, that is, enough useful spoken English to offer outsiders effective help.

  Tourists are not on the job when they leave home. If travel in China is too much of a slog, they will choose another destination. Poor information -- absent, wrong, inappropriate, hard to obtain, hard to understand -- constantly threatens to undermine the pleasure of visiting this country.

  Everywhere signs are inadequate. Suppose a tourist wants to take a bus out to the Great Wall: where to get the bus, where to buy a ticket, when buses run, whether seats are limited, which number to phone to find out -- all of these things are unclear.

  And nowhere in China do there seem to be the sort of well-marked street-side tourist offices or information booths where a traveller can go and get complete, free information about an area -- the sights, lodging, transport, entertainment, shops, food, timetables, prices -- in a number of languages. And travel agencies in China don't even have local maps! Why would they? They exist only to sell plane or train tickets to customers who already have an itinerary. Ask a travel agent in Guiyang what's worth visiting in the area and the answer will probably be "Nothing." Why bother to stock information and maps for travellers when there is no money to be made for the travel agency? What would be the point of knowing how many kilometres there are between Guiyang and, say, Sanjiang? In Qinghai not a soul could tell me how many buses run from Xining to Golmud, or when. As travel agencies don't sell bus tickets and get no commission for helping tourists, why should they go to the trouble of obtaining this information and spreading it around?

  One time, before leaving Beijing for Qinghai, I checked the Xining website. There wasn't much information there -- another lost opportunity to make travellers feel at ease -- but it did say that there was a travel agency in an important hotel near the train station. Once at the hotel, however, I had to ask five people staffing the front desk before one finally said, "A travel agency? Uh, maybe in the courtyard…" And lo, there was a travel agency of sorts, with two young women chatting away, unable to answer even my most basic questions. But believe me, you don't have to go to out-of-the-way places like Xining to encounter this sort of problem in China.

  Tour guides: very few really know what they are doing. Often their knowledge of English is so limited that they must stick to a fixed text, which they recite by rote. They can't actually converse with visitors, and questions are an unwelcome embarrassment. The information guides give is superficial, and they have no further knowledge to add. Just try asking a local guide (even in Chinese) about the significance of a Taoist monument for Taoists, for example. Most visitors soon recognize the inadequacy of guides here and, out of pity or disgust, stop asking real questions.

  Foreigners who travel in China have usually visited other countries. Guides should not talk to tourists as if China were full of wonders without parallel elsewhere. The Neolithic was not unique to China, nor were stone axes and knives, bone needles, or fired pottery. Westerners may well have seen similar things elsewhere -- and almost always in better museums. Also, cross-culturally sophisticated guides would not date Chinese objects by dynasty, as this will puzzle any Westerner not versed in Chinese history. It is better to say "This temple was founded in 1550" or " about 450 years ago" or "in the 16th century" rather than "in the Ming Dynasty".

  Tourism could give a powerful boost to the economy in many parts of China, not least in poor but beautiful areas with few other resources. But tourists will never feel at ease till the authorities and private entrepreneurs understand the value of dependable information provided by friendly, intelligent faces in a timely fashion -- or on well designed websites. The fear of being helpless amid chaos and indifference will keep countless travellers away. It doesn't have to be that way: China could easily learn from Europe how to set up a convenient system of public information for travellers that would provide abundant benefits for visitors, businessmen, innkeepers, preservationists, guides, and language students alike.

老外直言:中国自助游太不容易(图)

  不久前,我的两个法国朋友想再来中国旅游,她们曾在1993年来过一次。她二人请我设计一条没有麻烦的旅游路线,这样她们就可以自助游了。她们为何这么谨慎呢?因为存在两大问题。最重要的问题是,在中国获取旅游的基本信息相当困难,第二个令人头疼的问题是语言不通,要想轻松踏实地旅游,语言仍是主要障碍。不错,在北京成为2008年奥运会主办地后,学英语的热潮席卷了全中国,但尽管很多人都在学,却很少有人能学到手,我的意思是,学到足够的口语向外国人提供有效的帮助。

  旅游者离家后并不是去上班,如果在中国旅游太过艰辛,他们就会选择其他的国家。糟糕的信息———包括信息的缺乏、不准确、不适当、难以获取、难以理解,都常常会破坏在中国旅游的乐趣。

  各地的标志都不充分。如果一位旅游者到北京想乘公共汽车去长城,在哪儿上车,在哪儿买票,汽车什么时候开,座位是否有限制,打哪个电话能得到这些信息———所有这一切都不清楚。

  在中国能否找到标志明显的临街的旅游咨询处或是信息资料亭,让旅游者免费得到该地区的完整资料:观光点、旅馆、交通、娱乐场所、商店、食品、交通时刻表、各种价格,而且是用几种语言介绍———目前似乎哪儿都找不到。而且,中国的旅行社甚至都没有当地的地图。为什么要有呢?旅行社的存在只是为了向那些已经确定了旅行路线的游客卖机票和火车票。在贵阳,若是问一个旅行社工作人员当地有哪些地方值得游览,回答很可能是“没有。”当无利可图的时候,旅行社为什么要自找麻烦为旅游者提供资料和地图呢?知道贵阳到其他地方(比如三江)相距多少公里又有什么意义呢?在青海,没有一个人能告诉我从西宁到噶尔木有多少班汽车,以及什么时候有。由于旅行社不卖汽车票,即便这些信息对旅行者有帮助,可从他们身上拿不到佣金,那又何必花费精力了解这些信息并且告诉人们呢?

  有一次,离开北京去青海之前,我查阅了西宁的网站,那上面的信息并不是很多(又丧失了一个让旅游者感觉踏实的机会),但网站说在火车站附近的一家大旅馆里有一家旅行社。可是,到了那家旅馆后,我连问了前台5个人,最后一个终于说道:“旅行社?嗯,可能是在院子里……”看哪!院子里的确有一个所谓的旅行社,作为工作人员的两个年轻女子在聊大天,连我问的最基本的问题都回答不了。相信我吧,你不一定非得到西宁这样边远的地方才会遇到这样的问题。

  至于导游,极少有人能胜任自己的工作。他们的英语往往很有限,乃至离不开需要死记硬背的书面材料。他们不能和游客展开真正的交谈,问他们问题只是让他们感觉尴尬,这可不受他们的欢迎。导游所讲的内容很肤浅,他们也没有更多的知识能加上去。不信你就试试,比如,即便你用中文问当地导游有关为道士修建的建筑有什么意义,看看能听到什么。多数旅游者很快就知道了当地导游的水平,出于可怜或出于反感,也就不再问什么实质性的问题了。

  到中国旅游的外国人往往已经游历了其他一些国家。导游在向游客解说时不要把中国说成是到处都有世界上无与伦比的奇迹。新石器石代并非中国独有,石斧、石刀、骨头针、陶器也不只在中国有,西方人可能在别的地方早看到过类似的东西———而且,几乎总是在更好的博物馆里。还有,真正懂得跨文化交流的导游不会用朝代来说明展品的年代,因为这样会使那些不精通中国历史的西方人感到糊涂。如果说“这座庙建于1550年”或“大约450年以前”或“16世纪”,则比“建于明代”要好。

  旅游业会给中国很多地方的经济以强有力的推动,这一点对那些缺少其他资源的贫穷但美丽的地区尤为重要。但是,只有在政府和民营企业家认识到能及时找到由友善而聪慧的人(或是由设计完备的网站)所提供的可靠信息的价值,旅游者才会感到心安。担忧在有了麻烦时或是在冷漠中得不到帮助的忧虑之心将把无数的旅游者挡在门外。事情并不一定要这样么,中国其实可以很容易地从欧洲学到如何为旅游者建立方便的公共信息系统,这一系统将为旅游者、商界人士、旅馆主人、名胜古迹保护者、导游和学外语的学生提供丰厚的好处。




   更多精彩内容尽在:新浪网英语频道

   在线英语交流:[ E文杂谈 ] [ 午夜英文剧场 ] [ 翻译热线 ]



英语学习论坛】【评论】【 】【打印】【关闭
Annotation


新闻查询帮助

热 点 专 题
中法文化年精彩纷呈
北京暴雨阻塞交通
2003年审计报告
日本调查东海资源
惠特尼休斯顿北京个唱
欧洲杯落幕 美洲杯
凤凰卫视中华小姐大赛
青少年教育 网络妈妈
违法和不良信息举报



教育频道意见反馈留言板 电话:010-62630930-5178 欢迎批评指正

新浪简介 | About Sina | 广告服务 | 联系我们 | 招聘信息 | 网站律师 | SINA English | 会员注册 | 产品答疑

Copyright © 1996 - 2004 SINA Inc. All Rights Reserved

版权所有 新浪网
北京市通信公司提供网络带宽