In my last article, I discussed the idea of keeping it simple and speaking to your audience within the context of a historical site or museum. This week, I’d like to look at writing text for art exhibits, which is a more difficult task because art itself is so much more subjective than historical events. … Read more
One of my professional passions is to help people make the complex simple. For some reason, people think that to sound intelligent, or be taken seriously, they have to give long, complicated explanations. In fact, the opposite is true. There is a genius in simplicity. This idea of simplicity translates across industries. Let me give you an example from … Read more
Top tips to make your guests feel like VIPs The coronavirus numbers in Germany are dropping nicely, so my husband and I decided to book a holiday for late summer. That said, we are being quite conservative about the whole thing. The first thing we agreed on was no flights. Instead, we plan to drive. We also wanted … Read more
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what life will be like once this pandemic has finished once and for all. Some people I’ve spoken to think that life will go back to exactly as it was pre-pandemic. Others, like me, think that we can’t put the genie back in the bottle. I’m not … Read more
Last week, we discussed how to develop a tour when English isn’t your first language. But understanding the language doesn’t guarantee that you’ll give a good tour. In fact, when I asked a question on LinkedIn about language issues, many people said it wasn’t the guide’s language skills that determined the quality of the tour. … Read more
Last week, I wrote about the need for good English skills in the tourism and heritage industries and that you don’t need to speak English fluently to get the job done. Instead, I recommended aiming for functional fluency, which is a narrower approach to vocabulary and grammar. Ideally, you would have a great English trainer … Read more
I recently read a conference paper about the lack of English language skills among the tour guides at the Aceh Tsunami Museum in Indonesia. The author concluded that of the thirteen guides tested, only one was considered fluent in that “their speech would be fully acceptable by native speaking standards.” Of course, being able to … Read more
Landing a job that requires experience presents a real Catch-22 situation for anyone trying to break into a new field. How are you supposed to get professional experience if no one will give you a job to get that experience? That was the situation I found myself in after I graduated with my BA in history. I … Read more
Over the past two months, I have seen a deluge of articles about video conferences and online meetings: how to look good online, basic etiquette, and how to deal with technical issues. But few are addressing one of the basic communication issues that arise during these online meetings: that more than 70 per cent of communication is … Read more
Last week we looked at the Objective and Summary sections of your CV. This week, I’d like to discuss how to describe your professional experience. The most important thing to keep in mind when writing this section is that your experience must connect to the job description. To give you a real-life example, I would … Read more
Last week, we talked about how to layout your CV and what to include in it. Today, I’d like to talk about writing the Objective and Summary. CV is short for curriculum vitae, which literally means “the course of my life.” It’s a story. The Objective introduces the main character (you) and the Summary tells … Read more
Let’s face it: with everything happening in the world, you might need to look for a new job. That means writing a CV, building your network, and job interviews. But what if you have to do it all in English? No worries! We’ll be discussing this and much more over the next couple of weeks. … Read more
