Article sourced from TravelDailyNews.com

The world’s largest privately held provider of language services and translation-related technologies, TransPerfect, presents data and offers solutions to ease future travel plans.

The most frequent obstacles to travellers when travelling in a foreign country is public transport, dining out, public signage and poorly translated websites.

TransPerfect announced survey results regarding the top four travel issues that visitors face in foreign countries. The survey indicates that communication barriers are the primary issue for travellers visiting cities abroad. Survey takers detailed the most common problems they face due to language barriers and expressed the need for easy solutions.

“The travel survey results reinforce what we already knew; travelling in a foreign country can be a fun and exciting experience, but that enjoyment is tempered by confusion when travellers encounter text they can’t understand”

According to the survey, the top four problems are:

1. Public transportation – The number one obstacle while travelling in a foreign-speaking country is navigating the public transportation system. Survey takers noted that manoeuvring transit systems is the most difficult issue.
2. Dining out – Among the top reasons this was rated number two is ordering food. Respondents shared that reading menus and communicating with the wait staff can be extremely difficult.
3. Public signage – Tourists cite not being able to read signs as a big problem when exploring cities in foreign-speaking countries.
4. Booking hotels online – Travellers are often frustrated by poorly translated websites, which can lessen their chances of booking vacations.

The TransPerfect survey also focused on which tools, tips, and solutions travellers wish they had while abroad. Responses included: mobile applications, translation dictionaries, access to interpreters and more knowledge of the local language.

“The travel survey results reinforce what we already knew; travelling in a foreign country can be a fun and exciting experience, but that enjoyment is tempered by confusion when travellers encounter text they can’t understand,” said Liz Elting, co-CEO of TransPerfect. “We help eliminate these obstacles for travel-related businesses with solutions such as GlobalLink, the travel industry’s leading software for streamlining the process of website translation. And for individual travellers, we’ve released technology such as TransPerfect’s TransImage, a free iPhone application that translates images captured with the phone’s camera, including street signs and menus.”

Lindsay Quail