Dealing with conflicting announcements in multiple languages?
On Friday, while the Eurostar I was on was pulling into Calais Fréthun station, the train manager announced in French that we were arriving into Calais, then in English that we were arriving into Lille Europe (the stop after), and finally in Flemish that we were arriving into Calais. Because I've done the trip quite a bit, I knew it was Calais not Lille, but at least one person from my carriage got off then re-joined shortly after looking rather confused.
This got me thinking though, what would've happened if I hadn't known the journey well enough to know which language's announcement had the mistake in it?
In a situation where you hear two (or more) announcements in different languages which appear to contradict each other, what steps/strategies can you take to work out which is correct, to know what to do?
Best Answer
I can only think of two that occasionally helped me:
Know the journey. It might struck some people as a bit obsessive but I often look at a map, check the signs on the platform at intermediary stops and count the stops before my destination.
Don't be shy about asking around, anybody. Some people will know the train network very well and many locals will have free Internet on their phones and be happy to check online or discuss between them to find a route for you, etc. Railway personnel, when available, has also often been very helpful.
Incidentally, knowing several languages and paying attention helps tremendously. At least, if you know something might be wrong, you can start taking measures or at least check the name on the platform when entering the station but if you only knew one language and were oblivious to the rest you might not even be concerned.
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