Paper 9: Tour Guiding Essentials

Module 30: Principles of interpretation

THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM

Principal Investigator Prof. S. P. Bansal,

Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi University, Rewari

Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Prashant K. Gautam,

Director, UIHTM, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Prof. Sandeep Kulshreestha,

Paper Coordinator Director, Indian Institute of Travel & Tourism Management

Dr. Saurabh Dixit,

Paper Co-Coordinator Nodal Officer, IITTM, Gwalior

Dr. Ramesh Devrath,

Content Writer
Assistant Professor IITTM, Gwalior

Content Reviewer Dr. Prashant K. Gautam,

Director, UIHTM, Panjab University, Chandigarh
 Items Description of Module
Subject Name Tour Guiding

Paper Name Tour Guiding Essentials

Module Title Principles of Interpretation
Module Id 30
Pre- Requisites Basic knowledge of tour guiding.

Objectives To educate students about the techniques of interpretation and

its importance.

Keywords Tour guiding, tour guide, interpretation, interpretation

technique.

1. Learning Outcome
2. Introduction
3. Important Principles to be considered in Interpretation
4. Personal Interpretation Technique
5. Interpretative principles
6. Interpretation by the Tour Guide
7. Summary
8. Bibliography

QUADRANT-I
1. Learning Outcome
After completing this module students will be able to:
1. Understand the concept of interpretation
2. Learn important techniques to be considered in interpretation
3. Understand the importance of interpretation to tour guide in tourism industry
4. Learn about various principles of interpretation

PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

2. INTRODUCTION

Introduction to Interpretation
“Interpretation” refers to the process of explaining the meaning of something to an
audience. Tour Guides should be very clear about the principles and techniques of
interpretation, because they will have to interpret and communicate facts to different
types of tourists throughout their career. Facts should be explained in a way that is
understandable to the tourist.

Definition of Interpretation:
The action of explaining the meaning of something (Definition of interpretation in English).

In any interpretation process there is a:

 Sender who sends the message
 The medium through which the message is transmitted
 The person to whom the message is being sent
 The feedback to the communication

Introduction to Principles of Interpretation

Tourist activity can disturb the activities of the local environment. Tour Guiding
interpreters have a management role in a tourist destination. They have the duty to
ensure that the natural resource of the tourist site is protected. Tour guiding interpreters
explain the local rules for visitor behaviour. Tour Guides entertain the tourists by
providing them with the true meaning of the tourist site. They help the tourists
understand their roles, responsibilities, and limitations in the tourist destination. This will
help the tourist to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the destination in a better manner.
Introduction to Techniques of Interpretation
Tour Guides use unique techniques to convey messages about the natural, cultural,
management, and recreational resources of a tourist site. First of all, the interpreter
considers the quality of the audience they are dealing with. They create a story that
provides with a message that is relevant to the audience. The message or story will be
one that creates some kind of awareness about the region. This message also triggers the
required call to action from the audience, like creating a required thought, response,
reaction or action from the tourist. This kind of communication is an art. It is an
important skill that Tour Guides should develop. This skill can be learned and mastered
by the repeated practice of interpretation principles and techniques.
3. Important Principles to be considered in Interpretation

There are four major things to be considered by the interpreter like:

 What is the interpretive message to be communicated to the audience?
 Who are the audience?
 What environment is one located in?
 What interpretation technique will be used to convey the message?

Important Techniques to be considered in Interpretation

The interpretation technique that will be used to convey a message can be a:
 Personal Interpretation technique
 Non-personal interpretation technique

Personal – Techniques involving a human component (nickysnoyink, 2015)

1. Guided tour

2. Point Duty – where a guide remains in one place

3. Roving – a guide moves around

 4. Personal Interpretation Technique

Personal Interpretation techniques will involve a human being who will directly
communicate to the visitors. The guide will personally have a face-to-face
communication with the tourists. They will give direct explanations and lectures. This is
a very personal form of communication and it will be made in a language that is
understandable by the audience.
The communication pattern will be modified to suit the audience. If the visitor has
challenging medical conditions like visual or hearing impairment then the communication
pattern will be modified by the interpreter. The guide will take questions, chats and jokes
from the visitors. This is a very strong communication pattern because the interpreter
moves at the pace of the visitor. It is possible to get direct feedback from visitors.
Engaging the Feelings of Audience with POETRY using Personal Interpretation
Technique
Personal interpretation is very important for guided tour. The guide remains in one place
(point duty) or the guide moves around making presentations, lectures, talks, re-enacting
historical events, being interactive etcetera.
(Peran Komunikasi Dalam Organisasi)

Lack of attention leads to lack of learning. Therefore, it is very important for the tour
guide to do what it takes to help the visitor pay attention to the interpretation.
When you are delivering a personal interpretation, the message should be tailor made to
suit the audience type. Any kind of communication should be made in the language that
it is understandable by the audience. It should be like poetry.
POETRY represents the following:
 “P” for purposeful
 “O” for organized
 “E” for enjoyable
 “T” for thematic
  “R” for relevant

Purposeful experiences for visitors happen with “learning by doing”. These experiences
involve asking questions that have significance in the life of the person undergoing the
direct experience. Tourists develop ideas, concepts, and generalizations about their visit
to a tourist destination. They develop the meaning from the first hand experience at the
destination and they improve their level of thinking from their understanding of the
concept.
When the tourist is “learning by observing” and “not by doing”, the accurate personal
interpretation made by the tour guide helps the visitor to understand the happening in a
clear manner.
Organized interpretation helps the tourist remember facts very easily. What comes
before and what comes after should be clearly explained.
Enjoyable interpretation improves the sensitivity and concentration of the listener to
what is being explained. When real things and real time instructional materials are used,
the sensitivity is greatly improved.
Thematic interpretation is important to help the visitor understand what is actually
meant by a drive, emotion, sentiment, happening, or event in a particular place.
Relevant interpretation will avoid the tourist from wildly imagining the meaning of a
happening. Thematic interpretation is very important to avoid wrong perception of
events. The same event can be understood in a different manner by different people. It is
the role of the tourist to help the audience to understand the events in a way that it should
actually be understood.

Importance of Tourist Guides

A human communication process makes it possible for everyone to be able to speak,

share, and contribute in the discussions. The tour guide will be able to take to questions,
chats and jokes. They respond to the requirements of the audience. The tour guide
makes use of conceptual or methodical approaches and techniques in the interpretation
process to help the tourist. Therefore in the presence of a tour guide, and a little bit of
non-personal interpretation with brochure and media, the tourist is enriched with an
understanding of the tourist destination and their role in the tourist destination.

Protection of Resources for Present and Future Generation

Tour Guides provide interpretation about heritage. They provide visitors with
intellectual and effective access to the cultural and ecological significance of places,
objects, and cultural systems in places. A responsible simulation of ideas and opinions
will encourage the protection, preservation, and appreciation of resources and culture for
the present and future generations.

5. Interpretative principles

1. The interpretation should directly talk about what is being displayed or described.
It should relate to the personality type and experience of the visitor. If the
interpretation does not obey this rule, then the experience of the visitor will
become blank and unresponsive.

2. Information is not interpretation. Interpretation is a revelation that makes use of

information to express the intended concept.

3. Interpretation combines several material facts that can be scientific, historical or

architectural in nature to express the required information.

4. Interpretation is an art that can be taught to a certain degree. The main aim of
interpretation is to instruct the tourist about how they have to behave in a tourist
destination without making them angry.
5. Interpretation addresses the whole matter. It should not talk about just one part of
the matter in a phase or process.

6. Interpretation made to children should not be a just a dilution of facts made to

adult tourists. There should be a definite approach dealing with tourists.
Interpretation for children will need a separate program.

7. Interpretation should be well-organized and appropriate to reveal a specific

theme.

8. Interpretation by the tour guide should help with self development, self esteem,
love, belonging, social interactions, security, safety, air, food, shelter, etcetera.

9. Interpretation should identify a specific issue and address it wholly. It should be

based on one whole idea

10. The overall purpose of interpretation should be conveyed in a simple and

interesting manner without the use of unnecessary jargon and complicated words.

11. Interpretation should have a clear objective. It should be tailor made for a specific
type of audience and location.

12. The method of presentation should be practiced well.

13. The information provided should be true and well researched.

Six Principles of Interpretation (Tilden, 2009)

1. Any interpretation that does not somehow relate what is being displayed or described to
something within the personality or experience of the visitor will be sterile.

2. Information, as such, is not Interpretation. Interpretation is revelation based

uponinformation. But they are entirely different things. However all interpretation includes
information.

3. Interpretation is an art, which combines many arts, whether the materials presented are
scientific, historical or architectural. Any art is in some degree teachable.

4. The chief aim of Interpretation is not instruction, but provocation.

5. Interpretation should aim to present a whole rather than a part, and must address itself to the
whole man rather than any phase.

6. Interpretation addressed to children (say up to the age of twelve) should not be adilution of
the presentation to adults, but should follow a fundamentally different approach. To be at its
best it will require a separate program.
Suitability of Interpretation to Audience

When interpreting something, the tour guide should be clear about the audience type?
The type of audience to be addressed is very important. The audience can be made up of
one or more types of the following:

1. Young adventure tourists

2. Jet age tourists with interest in aviation, aeronautics, technology and more
3. Guiding gurus
4. Energy healers who are typically the eat, pray and love type of travellers
5. Armchair tourists
6. Techie travellers
7. Party travellers
8. Minimalist travellers who carry a small luggage with them
9. Older couples
10. Younger couples
11. Families travelling with children
12. Repeat travellers who have been here last year
13. The complaining traveller
14. Travellers who do things by schedule
15. Group travellers
16. Solo travellers
17. Traveller who needs a gym wherever they go
18. Talkative travellers who talk to everyone they come across
 19. Beach travellers who go with the flow and travel without a plan
20. Mall Travellers who have only little money and will want to buy everything at the
mall and they are going to be in this place only for once
21. Budget travellers who have been saving to make this trip possible
22. The traveller who is not sure of where to go
23. Guide book travellers who follow the guide book rules strictly. They dine at
places that the guide book approves of.
24. Know it all traveller who believes that they know more than the tour guide
25. Itchy feet travellers who want to travel and do something different
26. Vintage voyagers who want to create travel albums from vintage places
27. And more...

The interpreter should have a clear idea about what type of audience they are dealing
with. They need to interpret facts to suit the audience type and their needs. The
suggestion provided by the interpreters will help the tourist decide whether a specific
tourist destination is worth visiting to suit their taste or not.

6. Interpretation by the Tour Guide

If you are a tour guide who is going to interpret facts to your audience you have to be
very clear about why you will be conducting an activity. The tour guide should be very
clear about the outcome they are willing to achieve. They have to be clear and simple.
The objective should be simple and easy to understand. The objective should be suitable
for the audience type, location they are willing to visit. The objectives should be
(About us, 2015)

measurable. Objectives should focus on knowledge, the understanding skills, and the
ability of the participants to appreciate their visit that has been carefully planned to suit
their personality type.

Core Interpretive Technique - Involve the tourists

When you are demonstrating facts to your audience as a tourist guide, you should involve
the tourists in your conversation. You should have the capability to catch hold of the
attention of the speakers. You should be willing to take questions and you should get
people to thinking.

As a tour guide interpreter, you should be able to show people the big picture in the travel
process. You should be able to explain how something works and how it is done. When
you are using complicated jargons and big words, you should be able to give a clear
explanation for it.

The interpretations that you give should be accurate, tasteful, legal, safe and viable. It
should be something that is true, involves and tourist and innovative to make the facts
interesting and easy to remembers.

Smiles, questions, responses, are proof that you have involved your participants.

Techniques in Interpretation

The following is a summary of the interpretation techniques used by interpreters in

different tourist settings. The four major types of interpretation techniques are:
 Consecutive interpretation
 Simultaneous interpretation
 Whispered interpretation
 Sight translation
(My Highlights)

Consecutive Interpretation

In a situation where the speaker and the recipient speak two different languages, there is a
clear need for an interpreter who knows both the languages.

Consider a situation where the speaker speaks language 1, the listener speaks language 2,
and the interpreter speaks language 1 and language 2. The interpreter servers as a bridge
to help speaker 1 communicate to speaker 2. A little bit of extra time is required in this
process because the interpretation takes place only after the speakers pause.

In the consecutive interpretation process, the speaker talks and pauses, waits for the
interpreter to communicate the matter to the end listener. Once the spoken matter is
conveyed, the speaker continues to speak, then pauses for the interpreter to communicate
the message. If the listener has anything to say, the interpreter conveys that to the
speaker in the speaker’s language and the conversation continues until the required
communication has taken place.

This is a very commonly required communication technique for Tour Guides.

Simultaneous Interpretation
In simultaneous interpretation, the interpreter will be making translations as the speaker
is still speaking. This is a real time interpretation process. The interpreter should have a
strong command of the languages of interpretation, the language in which the subject
matter is being delivered, and as well an expertise in the actual subject matter.

(Team, 2015)
There is no extra time required because the interpretation is taking place simultaneously
as the main speaker continues to speak.

Simultaneous interpreters sit in a sound proof booth and they continue to interpret what
the main speaker is speaking of in a conference or seminar simultaneously through a
microphone.

 Those in the audience who can understand the main speaker listen to the main
speaker directly.
 Those in the audience that cannot understand the main speaker, listen to the
simultaneous interpreter via headphones.
 The audience with language interpretation requirements plug in their headphones
to the interpreter and they listen to the interpreter as and when needed.

Simultaneous interpretation does not involve the direct involvement of the main speaker.
This is an interpretation comfort provided to those who cannot directly understand the
main speaker. Several conferences, seminars and government meetings provide these
services for their ministers and scholars.

Whispered Interpretation – Chuchotage

Simultaneous interpretation techniques require advanced communication tools. In the

absence of the set up for simultaneous communication, whispered interpretation also
known as Chuchotage is used. In this process, the interpreter whispers the interpretation
in to the ears of one or two people who require the translation process. This interpretation
happens simultaneously as the speaker continues to speak; however, the communication
is in the form of a whisper directly in to the ears of the listener. This is commonly used
when the interpretation is done for a small group. Since this interpretation is also done
simultaneously, a lot of time will not be spent in the process.
A tour guide can whisper translations when meeting with the locals of a tourist
destination in helping the locals communicate to the visitor.

Sight translation

This is about translating a text from a source language to the target language in the
presence of an interpreter. When the audience cannot directly read and understand a text
from a different language, the interpreter will do the translations to communicate the fact
to the end audience.

This kind of services will be very commonly required in reading the sign posts in a
different language in a tourist destination, translating menus, reading the bus routes.
There are just a few to name services provided by the tour guide by way of sight
translation.

If the audience has any questions or clarification, a skilful interpreter will be able to
clarify the issue with further elaborate explanation. This is a very common need, because
not all tourists understand facts in a single interpretation. They are forever looking for
translations. This is possible only with a human interpreter.

7. Summary

Tour guide interpretation is an invaluable service. Any visitor who is able to take help
from a tour guide will be able to experience the trip in a trouble free manner without
having to deal with the many problems that might arise out of miscommunication or lack
of communication skills.
The tour guide making the interpretation should do so by obeying the principles of
interpretation. The most appropriate techniques of interpretation should be used in the
process. Not all interpretation techniques are suitable for all types of audience. The type
and mode of interpretation should be selected by considering the type of audience.
Communication should be made by taking in to consideration the personal strength and
weakness of the audience involved. Translations and interpretations should be made in a
language understandable by the audience.
The message should be made in to a story that is easy to understand and remember for the
audience. The interpretation should create the desired thought, response, reaction and
action in the tourist. It should not create wrong and wild perception. The success of any
communication process lies in making the tourist believe what the concept, place or
situation truly means. Interpretation is meant to avoid wrong perception.

Bibliography
About us. (2015). Retrieved 5 2, 2017, from Indian Tour Guides:
http://www.indiantourguides.com/about-us.php
Definition of interpretation in English. (n.d.). Retrieved 05 02, 2017, from English:
Oxford living dictionaries: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/interpretation
My Highlights. (n.d.). Retrieved 5 2, 2017, from Tourist Guide:
http://www.touristguide.ind.in/myindia.htm
nickysnoyink. (2015, 5 26). INTERPRETATION PRINCIPLES AND TECHNIQUES.
Retrieved 5 2, 2017, from DocSlide: http://docslide.net/business/interpretation-principles-
and-techniques.html
Peran Komunikasi Dalam Organisasi. (n.d.). Retrieved 5 2, 2017, from pinandita18:
https://pinandita18.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/peran-komunikasi-dalam-organisasi/
Team, O. (2015, 6 19). 10 Jobs That Are Perfect For People Who Love To Travel.
Retrieved 5 2, 2017, from Office Chai: 10 Jobs That Are Perfect For People Who Love
To Travel - See more at: https://officechai.com/stories/good-jobs-for-
traveling/#sthash.rLYHtM1N.dpuf
Tilden, F. (2009). Interpreting our heritage. Univ of North Carolina Press.