Do you take an App-class every time you travel to another country, or are you happy when your hotel speaks your native tongue? Of course, you can communicate in English at Green Pearls® accommodations around the world. But some sustainable accommodations also offer entirely different languages, which has led to some remarkable moments. It is also interesting to note that Russian and Ukrainian have become a popular language on vacation.
A welcome in the local language is part of the service
At ECO-APARTHOTEL THE DREAMERS’ CLUB on the Croatian island of Korčula, it is part of “our personal promise of excellent service” that all guests are greeted in their native language whenever possible. Owner Tanja speaks Croatian, English, German, Italian, French and Slovenian, covering the national languages of about 90% of the guests. For this summer, however, the eco-apartment hotel has expanded its repertoire and now welcomes guests in Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian. “In our experience, the Germans and French in particular are delighted when you speak their language,” says the Aparthotel. The guests really light up.
Romanian in the Canary Islands
The Canary Island of Gran Canaria is geographically part of Africa, but politically part of Spain. At the small boutique hotel Casa León Royal Retreat, guests speak fluent Spanish, German and English. Some of the staff also speak Dutch, French, Italian and Norwegian. The hotel restaurant also employs a restaurant professional from Romania. Recently, an Austrian couple sat at the table talking in Romanian. Here, the employee could not hold back and addressed the guests – the surprise was great! Everyone involved was delighted that there were people in Spain, off the coast of West Africa, living in Austria and in the Canary Islands talking in Romanian 🙂 .
Sustainable Hotels with Permanent Staff
A special feature of many Green Pearls® accommodations is that they rely on permanent staff. Especially if you visit a resort several times (maybe even several times a year), you will notice that in many places there is hardly any permanent staff. Particularly in the summer high season you will meet many seasonal workers from all over the world who lose their jobs after the high season. We don’t need to tell you that this is problematic, do we?
As we explained in our blog article on social sustainability, our partners pay attention to fixed employment contracts and training. Many hotels, such as the Klosterhof – Alpine Hideaway & Spa in Bayerisch Gmain, deliberately do not employ seasonal or temporary workers.
In sustainable hotels and vacation rentals, the accommodations are often owned by families. In many places, the staff can be considered part of the “extended family”. At Berghotel Rehlegg in the Bavarian Alps, employees come from 14 different countries. “We have found that our new colleagues learn German quickly and feel at home in the language,” they say.
Ukrainian refugees find work at STURM
“All employees see themselves as part of the STURM family,” says the ecologically oriented hotel in Mellrichstadt in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in the Rhön region. In 2022, two Ukrainian women found their place at STURM. As refugees, they spoke neither German nor English. But with the help of AI and translation programs, they were able to communicate very quickly. There was a touching moment at the Christmas party. The owners, Mr. and Mrs. Schulze Dieckhoff, gave a personal speech. To ensure that everyone, including the two Ukrainians, understood everything, the speech was translated into Russian by another employee. This way, no one felt left out, which STURM remembers as “very emotional”.
Greetings in Filipino
Only one language that has not yet been used in the small town of Mellrichstadt: Filipino/Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines. Janet from the STURM team comes from this island state. As in most countries, people in the Philippines greet each other differently at different times of the day. But not only “Good morning” = “Magandang umaga” and “Good evening” = “Magandang gabi”, but also “Good early day” = “Magandang araw” and “Good afternoon” = “Magandang hapon”.
Multilingualism in the Alps
The Alps are the highest mountain range in Europe. The high mountains are spread across Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Slovenia. It’s no wonder that many languages are spoken in this region!
Three Languages + Dialect = South Tyrol
Until World War I, South Tyrol was part of Tyrol (now Austria), where German was spoken. In 1919 the border was moved from Italy to the Brenner Pass and the South Tyroleans became Italians.
During World War II, Mussolini tried to make the German-speaking South Tyroleans “real” Italians by banning German from schools and changing German names to Italian. This only worked to a limited extent, however, and even today over 60 percent of South Tyroleans speak German at home. Children attend either a German-speaking school with Italian as their first foreign language or an Italian-speaking school with German as their first foreign language. The second foreign language is English.
Trilingual Hotels in South Tyrol
This means that you can communicate in German, Italian and English in all South Tyrolean hotels and accommodations. “Our staff* is highly trained and fluent in all three languages,” says Paradiso Pure.Living. The hotel is located in the Dolomites, on the Alpe di Siusi.
At the Hotel Weihrerhof at Wolfsgruben-Lake in Oberbozen, in addition to these three languages, there is also “our favorite language”, the South Tyrolean dialect. For example, they greet each other with “Griaßdi”.
The ADLER Lodge RITTEN has 60 employees who take care of the guests in the wooden lodges and in the main building. 60 percent of them are South Tyroleans and 30 percent are Italians. Only 6 employees come from abroad and speak the following languages: French, Russian, Moldavian and Spanish.
Multilingual Tyrol
At the Biohotel Grafenast, at an altitude of 1,330 meters, with a fantastic view of the Tyrolean Inn Valley, the front desk staff is fluent in at least 3 to 4 languages and welcomes guests with alpine warmth. As typical in the Alps, people great each other by first name and are not as formal as in other areas of the country.
Nine family members work at the Tyrolean Hotel Klosterbräu in Seefeld, which is now in its 6th generation. The main language spoken is Austrian German. In addition to the usual foreign languages spoken at reception, the staff also speaks Hungarian, Spanish, Polish, Croatian, Romanian, Slovakian, Arabic, Czech, Greek, Bulgarian, Bosnian, Serbian, Turkish and Latvian.
In East Tyrol, slippers are called “Patschn”.
“East Tyrolean is a dialect that is very difficult for non-East Tyroleans to understand,” says the Naturhotel Outside in the Hohe Tauern National Park. But some words make more sense than in German. For example, the somewhat abstract German word “Dachboden” is called “Unterdach” (under the roof) in East Tyrol. However, most of the communication with the guests in the alpine nature hotel is in High German. English, Italian and, as a bonus, Bosnian/Croatian and Romanian/Bulgarian are also spoken.
From Rio to the Alps
In its guide to business etiquette, the Nuremberg Trade Fair recommends that when dealing with business clients from Brazil, it is best to start with small talk about soccer. But you can also talk to Brazilians about the mountains! After all, there are some mountains in Brazil that are over 2,800 meters high. In Rio de Janeiro, people like to climb the surrounding hills and rocks. People greet each other colloquially with “Oi!
At the Hotel Das Rübezahl in Allgäu, on the northern edge of the Alps in Germany, the Thurm family speaks Brazilian Portuguese as well as German, Allgäu-Dialect and English. After all, Giselle Thurm is from Rio de Janeiro 🙂 In the alpine boutique hotel near the fairytale castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, many other languages are spoken: Croatian, Latvian, Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic, Romanian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Hungarian and Spanish!
Do you speak Tājīkī?
In the unofficial competition for the most exciting languages, the HUBERTUS Mountain Refugio Allgäu is way ahead. No less than 16 languages are spoken in the hotel: German (including Austrian and Swiss German), Croatian, Polish, Czech, Romanian, English, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch, Hungarian, Vietnamese, Bulgarian, Serbian, Indonesian and Tajik!
“Tājīkī (Tajik) is the language of Tajikistan – a relatively small landlocked country of about 9 million people located between Kyrgyzstan, China, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. The language split off from Persian (Farsi). However, the Cyrillic alphabet is used instead of the Persian alphabet – a remnant of the Soviet assimilation policy.
19 Languages in SCHWARZWALD PANORAMA
But our Green PearlsⓇ partner, the SCHWARZWALD PANORAMA in the popular spa town of Bad Herrenalb, takes the cake when it comes to multilingualism. The employees come from 27 (!) different countries, which means that 19 different languages are represented in this extraordinary hotel. “Our absolute linguistic talent from the breakfast service speaks seven languages at once,” they tell us. “German, English, Dari, Farsi, Hindi, Russian and Arabic!” (“Hello,” “Namaste” and “Salam” we already know – in Russia it’s “Priwet,” Google reveals. Writes: “Привет”)
German dialect “Plattdeutsch” at Okelmann’s
The Okelmann family offers their guests at Okelmann’s Eco-Hotel in Warpe, Lower Saxony, a regional specialty: Plattdeutsch. “Plattdeutsch is the language of our region, which Maren and I still speak and which we grew up with,” says Kristin Okelmann. “As soon as we meet other “Plattschnackers”, we immediately feel at home. You’ll also find their love of this German dialect in the hotel. The rooms are labeled in Plattdeutsch in addition to the “normal” numbers. For example, “Sesstein” stands for 16. English is usually spoken with international guests.
“Denglish” as the new Baltic language
The Lifestylehotel SAND on the German Baltic Sea has an international team. In addition to English, German (including Bavarian), Macedonian, Polish, Dutch, Russian and Greek are spoken. If there are any language barriers at the reception desk, an employee from another department will be happy to help, so that guests can check in in a relaxed manner. However, a language of its own has developed among the staff: Denglish, a mix of German and English that everyone somehow understands.
English in Thailand
You have probably experienced that English sounds different everywhere. When traveling in Asia, you often have to get used to the local English. At Keemala on Phuket, however, they speak excellent English (to European ears) – which can be a big help if you don’t speak Thai or Chinese, the other two languages spoken at this sustainable luxury resort.
Dutch and Swabian in Italy
Our southern Italian partners, such as Relais del Maro in Liguria or A’ Cràpa Mangia in Campania, also usually welcome foreign guests in English. But Relais del Maro now also has a Dutchwoman who looks after guests at the Albergo Diffuso in Dutch. Since the Mediterranean here borders directly on the Côte d’Azur, it is also possible to communicate in French.
Germans are in for a surprise in Campania. In addition to the Italian dialects of Cilentan and Calabrian, the German dialect Swabian is also spoken here! “When Swabians come, we just have to laugh, because the world can be so small,” they say from Campania.
Languages on vacation
Languages on vacation are always an interesting topic when traveling. It is not only about words, but also about writing and even gestures. People communicate decreasingly with their “hands and feet”. Instead, they take out their smartphones and speak into the translation program’s speech recognition. Such a pocket translator is helpful, but of course it doesn’t replace non-verbal communication, which might actually get you further than an AI. A smile still makes most people likeable!
And another tip from the response: Saying “hello” or “thank you” in the local language will open doors and hearts. And if you add the phrase “Sorry, I don’t speak [insert local language here]. Do you speak English?” in the local language, you’ll probably not only get a warm smile, but you’ll certainly get some help.
What are your experiences? Leave a comment and tell us which languages are most important to you and how the language potential in vacation accommodations could be better COMMUNICATED 🙂
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