Is this standard? Cost double for English speaking tour?

[babycutie]

I think alot of people are missing the point here. It is generally accepted that the world is full of different cultures and languages. In saying that though, the tours that op posted are in Vietnam. So I would understand a Vietnamese speaking guide to be much lower in cost, perhaps even French or Russian as they are the second languages in many parts, but why Chinese and why by so much? Neither Chinese nor English are the native languages.

 

Only conclusion I can come to is supply and demand, there is no point setting up a price if no one is willing to pay it and I am sure rci has run that tour enough times to know what exact price to set it at before they start losing patrons on it. It may just be that price is lower for their Chinese speaking tour because even at that much higher price, people are still willing and able to pay higher for an English speaking tour.

 

 

Agreed! Because RCI can as there is enough demand.

 

In Vietnam, Chinese language is foreign. Even Chinese passport holders need a tourist visa to visit Vietnam.

 

 

 

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[Nos_4r2]

"Just sign up for the lower-priced option. You're just seeing stuff and paying double for an English guide would, for your and your family, be wasted."

 

 

"Seeing "stuff" is one thing. Having a clue as to the historic and/or anthropological relevance of what you are looking at in order to fully experience it makes all the difference in the world. In my opinion you are cutting off your nose to spite your face. If getting full benefit out of your trip isn't in the budget, maybe scrimp someplace like the bar tab or casino to make up the difference. The chances are that you might never get back to that part of the world, so I would do everything possible to get the absolute most out of it.

 

If you only want to "see stuff" stay at home and watch it on the Travel Channel or a Rick Steves or Lonely Planet video. "

 

The world does not revolve around English. There are a lot of countries where English is taught, however it is not the 'native language'.

 

I used to know quite a bit of Spanish, but a move 30 odd years ago took me away from day to day use. I have retained the alphabet and numbers and a few words, but not much else.

 

If we are going to travel the world we need to accept that our language is not the norm.

 

"I'm going to a foreign country and they want to charge me MORE for a guided tour because I speak English?! I'm an AMERICAN! Everyone should cater to me, even when I'm in China surrounded by people speaking Chinese! 'Merica!"

 

Also as mentioned earlier. Half the posts here seem to completely miss the point and went straight to focusing on the money side of things, belittling op and insinuating a lack of cultural awareness due to use of the word 'stuff' rather then offer any actual advice.

 

Rather then answer the question that was asked, you all some how showed your own cultural ignorance by just accepting the notion without any justification that it is perfectly normal for a chinese language tour to be half the price of an english speaking tour in VIETNAM.

 

This is directed to the posters I have quoted above in this post. As you all seem to be soooo culturally educated, well traveled and went to the great effort of trying to belittle OP, can one of you please do us all a favor and enlighten us all through personal experience by answering the original question?

 

Why is it that a CHINESE language tour is half the price of the exact same ENGLISH language tour in VIETNAM?

 

Particularly in a South Vietnamese city such as Ho Chi Minh where English is quite widely spoken?

[spookwife]

This is all bewildering to me. Anyone under 30 in Japan has taken years of English. They might be nervous to speak it to an English speaker in case they do it wrong, but they speak read and understand it from their schooling.

 

)

 

 

Actually not quite the case. They do not speak it well at all. They understand it, and can read it fluently. They cannot speak it as they are missing a few letters and are learning formal( the Queens) English.

 

They do not know conversational English at all, or the use of colloquialisms. As a Native speaker living there, I could have make up to $50 an hour per person teaching them informal English and helping them master the pronunciation of the letter ell.

 

Their command of grammar and sentence structure is better than mine( and my degree is in English Lit) but for everyday use, they need help

 

 

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[ChrisOz]

I have a lot of experience traveling and working through "oriental" Asia, to use the old colonial terminology.

 

Assuming RC are NOT hiring any person who claims to speak great English but have actually obtained a guarantee from the provider that the guide is of "native speaker" quality then you are going to pay a ton of money extra for that level of English proficiency.

 

To be honest, anyone with native speaker English should not be slumming it working as a guide.

 

Plenty more money, and I mean plenty more, can be made translating product documents and such.

 

Side note: due to my family's experience working in this part of the world we regrettably are unable to travel on Mariner.

 

The rudeness, especially the pushing and shoving, together with the anticipated no adherence to the non-smoking policy would be for us intolerable.

 

Edit: Just read the previous post. Agree 100%. I used to command $50 USD per hour twenty years ago just talking to groups. One on one "conversation" even more. Grammar... whew... I had to really be on my toes. Some of those kids are good. Real good.

 

Ever travelled anywhere and had your English speaking guide cracking jokes and "playing with words"? That's a step up from your typical struggler. I would anticipate that kind of guide. Not perfect, but heaps of fun and able to hold a conversation. The really good ones will already have really good jobs, lol.

[daze6399]

 

Why is it that a CHINESE language tour is half the price of the exact same ENGLISH language tour in VIETNAM?

 

Particularly in a South Vietnamese city such as Ho Chi Minh where English is quite widely spoken?

 

 

 

This is just a guess, but from what I have read the cruises in this area seem to have primarily Chinese pax onboard, with English speaking guests making up a significantly smaller portion of the demographic. Combine that with the information provided about English translators being in high demand and it would seem to make sense that an English speaking guide would be more expensive. I would venture to say that on cruises to Alaska and the Caribbean that Chinese language tours are much more expensive than English language tours, if you can even find a Chinese language tour.

 

IMO while paying double seems like a lot, it does actually make sense to me.

[Nos_4r2]

This is just a guess, but from what I have read the cruises in this area seem to have primarily Chinese pax onboard, with English speaking guests making up a significantly smaller portion of the demographic. Combine that with the information provided about English translators being in high demand and it would seem to make sense that an English speaking guide would be more expensive. I would venture to say that on cruises to Alaska and the Caribbean that Chinese language tours are much more expensive than English language tours, if you can even find a Chinese language tour.

 

IMO while paying double seems like a lot, it does actually make sense to me.

 

It was a rhetorical question I actually answered further above with an answer similar to yours.

 

I can see a few posts have been deleted. But I was just having a crack at those who posted here previously with ridiculous self-righteous statements that had nothing to do with what op asked.

[daze6399]

It was a rhetorical question I actually answered further above with an answer similar to yours.

 

 

 

I can see a few posts have been deleted. But I was just having a crack at those who posted here previously with ridiculous self-righteous statements that had nothing to do with what op asked.

 

 

Gotcha, I was mostly just weighing in and using your post as a jumping off point. [emoji2]

[BillOh]

Being a qualified English speaking guide in a non- English speaking country is a really good job. The tour companies will have to pay significant salaries to attract qualified candidates. Of course it's going to cost extra. If you just want to see the same stuff then I'm sure you can go on the non- English tour.

 

A possibly rational answer among the judgmental posts. Nice job.