Actually, I think we can. These are people who are in the business of dealing with international customers on a daily basis. Even though I can make a good linguistic argument (linguistics is a hobby of mine) that English is a poor choice for international communications, the fact remains that it is almost universally accepted as the most practical medium for international communications. And so, it is quite reasonable that any international traveler would expect airline personnel to be conversant in English, anywhere in the world. Again, I am not referring to a vendor selling meat-on-a-stick in the streets, I am specifically talking about personnel whose primary job is to assist travelers.
I have been a bit surprised in my travels in China to find that Western language skills are quite lacking in many contexts (high-level business executives, for example) where I would normally expect them to be better, even in countries far less developed than China. It seems to me that this issue is something which is going to leave the PRC less competitive than it would otherwise be, if they don't address the problem aggressively.
I have even found concierges at five-star hotels with a dysfunctional command of English. And I am always perfectly willing to switch instead to Spanish, French, etc., if that would be more productive, but the problem isn't that these employees don't happen to have learned English as their international language, it is that they have learned no language other than their mother tongue.
You know if you would have done this as a guessing game and masked the country in question... I think any one of us here would have guessed you were referring to China. You have to learn to roll with the punches when you're there, there's no need to get upset or angry as its not going to change a thing... they just don't care.
We all know that things are done very bureaucratically and with a great deal of inefficiency... we all know that a command English is an exception rather than the rule. Nothing much is going to help with the lack of customer service rampant in the country but at least with the language issue if ease of communication is a must then hire an interpreter to travel with you, they can be found easily enough all over the country.
If you really need English in Asia, well then there's Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
I didn't say you were being ironic. nickyboy was, and you mistook his post as literal!
I can certainly understand that people's experiences of different service providers can be wildly different- for example, I've gotten some really extraordinary service from Alitalia on a number of occasions, which must be the statistical equivalent of winning the lottery!
Similarly, I had a few poor experiences with CX, which I gather is pretty unusual, too...
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Signature temporarily removed- apparently somebody hasn't seen me trying to speak Chinese.
Actually, I think we can. These are people who are in the business of dealing with international customers on a daily basis. Even though I can make a good linguistic argument (linguistics is a hobby of mine) that English is a poor choice for international communications, the fact remains that it is almost universally accepted as the most practical medium for international communications. And so, it is quite reasonable that any international traveler would expect airline personnel to be conversant in English, anywhere in the world. Again, I am not referring to a vendor selling meat-on-a-stick in the streets, I am specifically talking about personnel whose primary job is to assist travelers.
My work required me to travel to and inside China quite extensively in the last few years, and based on my experiences, I agree with you that the Chinese working in the service sector certainly could use a bit of improvement in their language skills. Now that aside, I don't think it is fair to demand more from them than from the French, the Japanese, or the Koreans. The Japanese and Koreans are at least 20 years ahead of the Chinese in terms of development, yet you would have the same language problems there. And the French are just being French...
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I have been a bit surprised in my travels in China to find that Western language skills are quite lacking in many contexts (high-level business executives, for example) where I would normally expect them to be better, even in countries far less developed than China. It seems to me that this issue is something which is going to leave the PRC less competitive than it would otherwise be, if they don't address the problem aggressively.
I wouldn't worry about China's competitiveness. As some already pointed out, you will be hard pressed to find a "high-level" Japanese business executive who speaks passable English. And they seem to be doing fine. Now if one thing is going to hold China back, it's their quality control (food, toy, equipment safety, etc.) I expect them to fix that problem soon though, and this current economic downturn will actually help with that, as buyers become more selective, not only demanding lower prices, but higher quality as well.
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I have even found concierges at five-star hotels with a dysfunctional command of English. And I am always perfectly willing to switch instead to Spanish, French, etc., if that would be more productive, but the problem isn't that these employees don't happen to have learned English as their international language, it is that they have learned no language other than their mother tongue.
Actually English has been taught in all Chinese middle schools since the 1980s, and Chinese high school grads have to achieve high scores on the English exams if they want to have a shot at college. The problem is it's quite different scoring high on a written test from actually speaking or conversing fluently in a different language.
You mentioned "countries far less developed than China" have better language skills: I would venture to hypothesize that the countries you have in mind are much smaller countries, with the exception of India, which were also once (or still) colonized by the British. India by the way, was also a British colony.
As to the OP, you were entirely right that the services could have been better, and that the staff could have been more helpful. But the bottom line is you should have been there 5 minutes earlier: in my opinion, you really should get to the airport two hours before an International flight, especially in a foreign country, and one that you have a language problem with. The Chinese will learn to improve their services, it's just until now their successes have been based on productivity rather than quality. You will certainly experience attitude problems there from time to time, but I doubt it that you have never experienced those problems in Western countries. Most of the time, if you ask nicely and politely, they will help you out.
CZ has a reputation of being the Chinese airline with the worst services, but they are also the cheapest domestically, and therefore fly the largest fleet and the most passengers despite that. You get what you pay for.
you really should get to the airport two hours before an International flight, .
The official rule ranges between 45 mins and one hour (perhaps a bit longer for PEK 3) and I've stuck with those numbers throughout the years and have only been burned once (PEK-XIY during a crazy day). While the cut-off times can be serious/absolute, as long as you adhere to them, you'll be fine. What's more, even if you don't have status, there tend to be fast lines on offer for pax that push the limits.
The official rule ranges between 45 mins and one hour (perhaps a bit longer for PEK 3) and I've stuck with those numbers throughout the years and have only been burned once (PEK-XIY during a crazy day). While the cut-off times can be serious/absolute, as long as you adhere to them, you'll be fine. What's more, even if you don't have status, there tend to be fast lines on offer for pax that push the limits.
My comment was offered as a suggested solution to the OP's problem. He would've been fine if he didn't cut it a little too close. I'm aware of the cutoff times, but I am also aware of people's tendencies to try beating the deadline by a couple of minutes. That's how you get burned when something unexpected happens, either on the road or at the airport. It can happen anywhere, but probably more magnified in China because the lines there can be significantly longer, depending on the time of the day or days of the year (compared with holiday and business travel in the US). That's also why most airlines "suggest" you get to the airport at least two hours early for an internatinal flight. While having elite status can save you time at check-in, it is useless when you pass through Entry and Exit Control, followed by security screening. For foreigners these Border Control lines can be very long and slow, not very good if you do not have sufficient time.
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Originally Posted by JimAtl
Actually English has been taught in all Chinese middle schools since the 1980s, and Chinese high school grads have to achieve high scores on the English exams if they want to have a shot at college. The problem is it's quite different scoring high on a written test from actually speaking or conversing fluently in a different language.
Perhaps it would be a lot easier to just take out a piece of paper and a pen and start writing back and forth with the other person (instead of speaking) if you need to communicate in English while in China?
Perhaps it would be a lot easier to just take out a piece of paper and a pen and start writing back and forth with the other person (instead of speaking) if you need to communicate in English while in China?
Hehe.. Actually that's exactly what I did when I first went to China in 1978 (with my father at the time), as they were still studying Russian then. I also had a dictionary with me at all times. They have changed a lot since then, so I no longer need the dictionary. Considering I still can't go to France without a dictionary, that's an improvement. Actually if English is your first language, you won't have as much problem in China as the OP. It's much harder for two people to communicate both using their second language. (Someone else pointed that out also.)
