Singapore Airlines thought it was possible. Last week it announced a fully interactive, language learning programme on Krisworld, its in-flight entertainment system.
To learn a new language from a choice of 22 languages, passengers can select their mother-tongue along with the language to be learnt. With a choice from four lessons (numbers, dates, words and phrases), each language is read out by an expert on the screen and displayed for correct pronunciation.
Having picked up such basics, passengers can also grade themselves. "The whole learning process is interactive and that makes it entertaining and serves as a useful knowledge tool," says B K Ong, general manager, India, for Singapore Airlines.
With Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Turkish, Tamil, Arabic, Hindi, Malay, Tagalog and Dutch, in addition to English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese, the language learning programme promoted through
Berlitz Word Traveller intends to help travellers interact with people from most corners of the globe.
Singapore Airlines had first offered its language learning software in its flights to New York and Los Angeles in July 2005. It conducted a consumer survey with 11 languages.
According to Ong, "The survey results illustrated that more than three-quarters of the passengers considered learning of a language on board to be a good idea. And nine out of 10 passengers wanted it as a part of the in-flight entertainment service."
With twice the number of language options now, the airline hopes that the opportunity offered by the language learning programme will be tapped by an even wider global audience.
"This specially tailored language learning programme has proved to be very popular with our customers of all ages and in all classes of travel," says Yap Kim Wah, senior vice-president, product and services, Singapore Airlines.
With Singapore Airlines the first to speak in so many tongues on board its flights, it now remains to be seen whether other airlines will follow suit?
