Foreign language skills as the main factor of successful career in the hospitality and tourism industry

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Lviv state university of physical culture named after Ivan Boberskyi

Foreign language skills as the main factor of successful career in the hospitality and tourism industry

Andriana Bilodid,

second-year student at the faculty of tourism

Abstract

communication tourism foreign language

Languages are the central theme of communication in every aspect of human endeavor, be it in the social, economic, and political sphere. To remain competitive and increase your career opportunity and job prospect, you have to communicate smoothly to pave the way for unfettered business connection flows. And here is where learning a new language becomes the latest trend in Ukraine and offer careers in foreign languages. Understanding of performance expectations are keys to achievement of tourist satisfaction and a basic prerequisite of successful communication in the tourism industry. Good oral and written communication skills are important to hospitality practitioners at different positions and levels. Thus, tourism and hospitality play a significant role and intercultural contacts contribute to the development of intercultural dialogue. The importance of studying foreign languages also contributes to the development of intercultural competence in the area of tourism and hospitality industry being a prerequisite for successful carrier in tourism industry.

Key words: Foreign language, communication skills, hospitality and tourism industry, intercultural competence, career paths.

Main part

Foreign language skills open up plenty of specialist career paths, including Career in Travel, Tourism & Hospitality for language learners

During the last decade, the sphere of hospitality and tourism industry has been developing especially fast. Tourism, as a field of activity, allows a person to achieve career success in such areas as hotel business, restaurant service, recreation and leisure, transportation and travel services. In any field, specialists provide appropriate services to people from all over the world and knowledge of English only helps in providing quality services.

However, not everything is so good in the labor market in this area, as both travel companies and the hospitality industry feel a great need for professionally trained, highly qualified tourism managers and other professionals in the hotel and restaurant business, who would have good knowledge not only in management, tourism and economics, but also fluent in one or two foreign languages. Language is an integral part of the human mind and, therefore, only the interaction of all mental structures and processes (perception, understanding, memory) ensures its functioning [1, c. 26-31].

Nowadays, the role of English is important for tourism industry as a means to communicate, negotiate, and execute transactions with tourists by tourism employees. A tourism manager is, first and foremost, a manager who not only supervises the work of other employees, but also has communication with representatives of foreign companies. Communication for him becomes the main activity [4, c. 200-203].

Thus, the actuality of our research is determined by the researching of English language important in hospitality and tourism organizational management and also good foreign language skills needed by employees of hotel and tourism sector in achieving career success.

The research is aimed at the study of English language issue and good foreign language skills most important in hospitality and tourism organizational management.

The task of the research is to indicate the various key dimensions of English language in hospitality and tourism; research the most important language skills in English identified as managerial skills of hospitality and tourism employees; investigate the usual problems encountered by employees in their daily work including the need of foreign speaking, listening, reading, writing skills; understand the role of English knowledges and the need of good foreign language skills for successful career in hospitality and tourism industry nowadays.

Consequently, the object of research is the importance of foreign language in hospitality and tourism sector, and the subject concerns the need of the main English language skills for employees.

Methods of research: literature analysis, comparative method and method of structural analysis.

Due to the actuality of researching the importance of foreign language skills in tourism sector and some difficulties by tourism employees in contact with foreign tourists appeared in their daily work, the aim of the research is to study the most important English skills in the professional activities of future professionals in the hospitality and tourism business.

Good English skills are simply a real door opener everywhere. Because if we want to make a career in English - we always open up new worlds and career opportunities. It is important that staff members in the hospitality and tourism industry are fully trained in language and communication skills. They must be comfortable with the language they use to interact with customers. In a property such as hotel or resort, there are many departments such as housekeeping, food and beverages and front office [3, c. 30-33].

Importance of foreign language in hospitality and tourism organizational management has not yet to be fully investigated [5, 6, 7]. According to T. Titthongkam & J. Walsh, language is a system of spoken or written symbols that can communicate ideas, emotions, and experiences. English language plays an important role in the daily work of employees but they also have and struggle in speaking and using vocabulary in the hospitality and tourism field [9, c. 1-6].

Understanding the role of foreign language, stakeholders can improve the coordination skills. Language is a source that encompasses daily practice and almost all other aspects of human life. The researchers T. Titthongkam & J. Walsh indicated the various key dimensions of language in hospitality and tourism [11, c. 2]:

• to increase customers satisfaction;

• to enhance and maintain language competency of tourism people;

• to motivate international tourist;

• to increase better understanding on demand and culture;

• to create effective internal and external communication.

It should be noted that the graduate of the Faculty of Tourism profile must possess not only an appropriate amount of professional knowledge, skills and abilities, but also possess high foreign language competence. It is the profound knowledge of professionally-oriented foreign language for a specialist working in the field of tourism, which is a sign of his high professional competence [2, c. 349-356].

Consequently, the need for foreign languages to be mastered at the appropriate professional level by managers in hospitality and tourism businesss greatly enhanced by the integration of the modern generation into the global sociocultural space. Considering this, only the specialist, who speaks at least one foreign language, has developed skills of intercultural communication and possesses skills of foreign language competence will be able to adapt to the multicultural environment and to realize professional and personal potential. Therefore, the factor of knowing foreign languages of tourism manager is one of the main after professional knowledge [8, c. 225].

The mastery of good foreign language especially English, influences many developments in the tourism industry to accommodate and serve foreign guests. However, while serving the tourist, the employees often get some difficulties. Language barriers do block the way of a hospitality industry's long term success and as the global market of tourists and tourism employees increase, so does the demand for high quality foreign language for tourism specialized skills. Most hospitality and tourism employees need in in their routine work good English skills such, as

Speaking skills: to guide, escort, interact or communicate with others, especially, with the foreign tourists;

Listening skills: to listen to the foreign tourists' enquiries, to lead tourism employees to understand the things that the foreign tourists would need and want when they ask for tourism information;

Reading skills: to look for and read the tourist information when foreign tourists ask for more in-depth information about the tourist attractions; to read information that are often requested by foreign tourists, such as, the price and characteristics of souvenirs, foods and facilities;

Writing skills: to explaine by the fact, to prepare and outline the information given to the foreign tourists etc. [10].

In our opinion, the usual problems of hospitality and tourism employees are using inappropriate words and expressions in speaking, being unable to understand foreign accents, having inadequate vocabulary in reading, and lacking grammar knowledge in writing accurately, choose the appropriate words and expressions, use correct grammar when they speak, read and write about tourism.

All of the above it can be concluded that hospitality and tourism is a field of human activity in which the most important thing is communication, so the practical knowledge of a foreign language is extremely important in the professional activities of future professionals in the hospitality and tourism industry. English is essential for professional development, opens up opportunities for people - communication, education and successful careers. The professional success of tourism professionals cannot be possible without knowledge of English, because the international community joins it as a movement of international communication. Free management of a foreign language, along with excellent professional navigation, allows professionals to get a decent job and build a successful career.

The perspectives of further research are formation of the idea of professional success in hospitality and tourism specialists and the creation of such conditions that are necessary to increase the degree of subjectivity of specialists by revealing its potential and activating internal personal resources, which contributes to successful professional self-determination, project and realization of professional prospects in the future.

References

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