Institute of Tourist Guiding Accredited Training Course

Are you fluent in one or more languages in addition to English and/or Welsh?

Are you interested in working as a tourist guide for overseas visitors to Cardiff?

Then we would like to hear from you. Cardiff urgently needs qualified tourist guides in who can guide in a range of languages. French, German, Russian, Mandarin and Spanish are our priorities, but we will also welcome applications from speakers of other languages.

Once qualified, tourist guides work on a freelance basis. They may be contracted by specialist tourism organisations to guide, for example, groups of overseas journalists and as members of the Wales Official Tourist Guides Association they are invited to tender for work that has come via WOTGA's enquiry system. In addition most guides actively promote their own services to potential customers via a variety of routes.

This course will qualify you to guide in Cardiff. However in future it may be possible for you to enrol on a second course at a higher level which would qualify you to guide across the whole of Wales. Discussions about this are at an early stage, but further details will be posted here once they become available.

The Course

The course will provide candidates with the knowledge and skills they need to guide overseas visitors to Cardiff at a site, on a walking tour and on a coach tour.

Candidates will be assessed through written and practical examinations which lead to an Institute of Tourist Guiding Award for Cardiff.

The course is being developed by an experienced Welsh guide trainer from the Wales Official Tourist Guides Association and will be delivered by experienced guides supported by expert speakers from a variety of tourism and cultural backgrounds in Wales.

The course is endorsed by the Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff Council, Capital Region Tourism and Herian.

The course falls into two sections:

Level 2 — Guiding at a Site

The site is likely to be the National Museum in Cathays Park, though this has still to be finalised.

The planned course dates for this section are:

Tuesday 06 January 09
Tuesday 13 January 09
Tuesday 20 January 09
Tuesday 27 January 09
Saturday 31 January 09
Sunday 01 February 09
Tuesday 03 February 09
Tuesday 10 February 09
Tuesday 24 February 09 - (Examination)

Level 3 — Guiding on a walking tour and a coach tour

The walking tour may be around Cardiff City Centre or Cardiff Bay. The coach tour will be a fixed route within the Cardiff County boundaries.

The planned course dates for this section are:

Tuesday 10 March 09
Tuesday 17 March 09
Tuesday 24 March 09
Tuesday 31 March 09
Tuesday 21 April 09
Tuesday 28 April 09
Saturday 09 May 09
Sunday 10 May 09
Tuesday 12 May 09
Tuesday 19 May 09
Tuesday 02 June 09
Tuesday 09 June 09 - (Examination)

Course Venues

Venues are yet to be confirmed, but all will be in or around Cardiff

Examinations

Even though this is a course for speakers of other languages, it will be delivered and examined through the medium of English. It is important, therefore, that candidates whose mother tongue is not English have a high level of fluency in written and oral English.

Assessment of Language Skills

The following statements are drawn from the Institute of Tourist Guiding Language Committee Policy:

Guides and trainees on courses whose mother tongue is English must apply to take a language proficiency test in any other languages in which they aspire to guide. Equally, those whose mother tongue is not English must have their English tested if they wish to guide in English regardless of circumstances.
The current system of language testing is very much geared to the real needs of professional guiding. A guide must be able to hold the attention of a group for as much as several full days guiding, according to level, on a moving vehicle, on foot, in museums, art galleries, churches, archaeological sites etc. The subject areas covered comprise history, art history, archaeology, politics, religion, flora & fauna, agriculture, music, legal system, literature, gastronomy, geography, geology and many other specialist fields. Information conveyed to visitors must be instantly comprehensible to the audience.
The tourism industry and the guiding profession in particular have always been characterised by the beneficial and welcome presence of people of many nationalities and ethnic backgrounds. Language testing policies have no discrimination based upon race or nationality. What determines where or in what language a person guides is solely a matter of qualification.

Prior to their being offered a place on this course, mother tongue English/Welsh speaking applicants will be required to have their level of fluency in the language/s in which they wish to guide assessed via an oral language test leading to the Institute of Tourist Guiding Language Proficiency Certificate. Those who do not pass the test will not be offered a place.

Test Standard

The linguistic standard expected will be high enough to ensure an interesting and well-balanced commentary delivered in a confident manner over a full day; ease of conversation with visitors giving additional information and explanations when requested; the ability to summarise information given in leaflets, brochures, etc.

The examiners will put themselves in the position of a foreign visitor who does not understand English, and will therefore look for the following in the candidate's performance:

Accent/Clarity: The guide must speak with a clear accent, without strong foreign or regional distortions. Intonation must not be unduly influenced by mother tongue. Colloquialisms which are not commonly accepted in standard educated speech must be avoided since they have been known to cause offence and misunderstandings. The examiners must feel confident that the guide can be listened to for as long as a whole day without strain.
Fluency: Guides have to impart a great deal of information in a very short time and they must feel confident in coping with large groups of visitors in any eventuality. They should not have to search for words in order to express what they wish to say, nor falter unduly in their delivery. Their speech should be interesting and precise, and should avoid undue repetition.
Grammar and vocabulary: Grammatical accuracy must be sufficient to avoid misunderstandings, although a certain number of minor errors can be tolerated. Vocabulary must be sufficiently detailed and varied to give an accurate and interesting account of the places described. A vast knowledge of technical words (e.g. architectural features) is not required, although variation in vocabulary is important.
Comprehension: Guides should be able to understand the standard educated form of the language when spoken clearly, at native speed.

The Test

The test lasts approximately 30 minutes and consists of four parts, which may be presented in any order:

Part A: Sight Translation [7 minutes]

A passage of about 100 words will be set, taken from an English document, and requiring an exact translation into the foreign language. Suitable sources of text are selected from guide books, travel manuals and similar related material. Candidates will be handed the text by the examiners, and will be given up to 2 minutes to study it before translating it at sight. Candidates may be asked to explain particular words or phrases.

Part B: Consecutive Interpreting [8 minutes]

This part of the test emulates the situation a guide may encounter when interpreting the commentary of a site or house guide to a group.

Short extracts of text will be read by the examiner for the candidate to express in the language being tested. Suitable texts will be chosen from site information, guide books and brochures and may include inscriptions, mottos or quotations. Candidates may be asked to explain particular words or phrases.

Part C: Prepared Talk [5 minutes]

From the list of topics below candidates should choose two topics. Prepare a lively five minute talk about each of these two topics to present to the examiner. The examiner will select one of these two topics for you to speak about without notes. Your talk should be as wide ranging as possible and should include a good variety of vocabulary. NB This is a test of your language skills not a test of facts nor of guiding skills.

The UK perspective on the Euro
Nearby places of interest
Local literary figures
Links between the UK and the culture your visitors come from
Local night life
Parks and green spaces
Local customs and traditions
Reality shows on British TV
Sport
The local education system

Part D: General Conversation [10 minutes]

The aim of this part of the test is to ascertain the guide's general oral competence. The examiners may ask questions about any aspect of the guide's job, interests and background, together with any other matters of general interest. The conversation is intended to reflect the kind of conversation which may well develop in normal circumstances between a guide and a tourist.

Results

Candidates will be notified formally in writing by the Institute of Tourist Guiding shortly after the test has been taken. They will take the form of a Pass or recommended Re-sit (Grade 4 shorter term, Grade 5 longer term). A Pass will constitute an endorsement in that language and will be added to the guide's entry on the Register.

Course Fees

Thanks to sponsorship from Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff Council, Capital Region Tourism and Herian, we are able to offer this course at a fee of £400 per person to include examination fees.

Interviews

Interviews will be held on 26 and 27 November at a venue in Cardiff to be confirmed.

Language Test

It is planned that these will take place in Cardiff during week commencing 8 December 2008. Further details will be posted here as they become available.

How to Apply

Please download and complete the attached application form (Microsoft Word 37Kb) and send it to enquiries@ttfw.org.uk. Alternatively you can download and print a PDF form and mail it to: Diana James, Tourism Training for Wales, Unit 16, 126 Bute Street Cardiff CF10 5LE