Handling my Difficulty in Communicating with Japanese Tourists Who Could not Speak English Well During my Internship at Bali International Diving Professionals as a Diving Instructor.

ABSTRACT

Bahasa Inggris sangat penting dalam era globalisasi. Dalam
tugas akhir ini, saya memaparkan kesulitan yang dihadapi saat
berkomunikasi dengan wisatawan Jepang yang tidak bisa berbahasa
Inggris dengan baik pada proses magang. Proses magang saya
berlangsung di Bali International Diving Professionals (BIDP) selama
satu bulan dengan posisi sebagai instruktur selam. Adapun tujuan dari
penulisan ini adalah untuk membahas solusi yang tepat untuk
memecahkan masalah tersebut. Metode yang digunakan adalah kajian
pustaka yang mana pengumpulan data berasal dari jurnal magang dan
referensi dari buku dan artikel.
Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ada tiga faktor penyebab
masalah yaitu wisatawan Jepang yang tidak dapat berbahasa Inggris,
saya tidak bisa berbahasa Jepang dan tidak memiliki rekan kerja yang
dapat berbahasa Jepang serta tidak adanya buku petunjuk
penyelaman dalam bahasa Jepang di BIDP. Adapun akibat dari
masalah tersebut adalah saya banyak menghabiskan waktu saat
memberikan instruksi penyelaman, para wisatawan tidak mengerti
petunjuk yang diterangkan dan saya lelah dan khawatir karena harus
menjelaskan instruksi penyelaman. Solusi yang diambil untuk

mengatasi masalah tersebut ialah saya bekerja dengan orang baru
yang dapat berkomunikasi dalam bahasa Jepang, saya menggunakan
gerakan tubuh saat memberikan petunjuk penyelaman, dan saya
bersama rekan saya menggunakan PowerPoint dalam dua bahasa
yaitu bahasa Inggris dan Jepang dalam memberikan petunjuk
penyelaman.
Sebagai kesimpulan, solusi terbaik yang diterapkan dalam
mengatasi masalah tersebut adalah saya akan menggunakan gerakan
tubuh saat menerangkan tentang instruksi penyelaman dan saya
bersama kepala BIDP akan menggunakan PowerPoint dalam dua
bahasa yaitu bahasa Inggris dan Jepang dalam memberikan petunjuk
penyelaman.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ...................................................................................... i

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................... iv
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................... 1
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.

Background of the Study
Identification of the Problem
Objectives and Benefits of the Study
Description of the Institution
Method of the Study
Limitation of the Study
Organization of the Term Paper


CHAPTER II. PROBLEM ANALYSIS ............................................. 6
CHAPTER III. POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS ...................................... 10
CHAPTER IV. CONCLUSION ....................................................... 17
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDICES:
A. FLOWCHART
B. INTERNSHIP JOURNAL
C. COMPANY BROCHURE

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study
English language is important in tourism industry because English is
an international language and the most common language spoken
everywhere. Caroline Hardwick states, “The current position of English as

the main language used for international communication means that it is
essential for people dealing with tourists of any kind’’ (par. 1). The benefit
of using English in tourism is to communicate with foreign tourists
especially to inform, to request, to question or to give directions.
I had some working experience in tourism industry when I did my
internship at Bali International Diving Professionals (henceforth, BIDP) one
of the famous diving service providers in Bali. I worked as a diving
instructor for about 1 month. During my internship, I prepared the diving
equipment such as filling gas into gas tube and measuring Bouyance
Control Device (BCD), also giving fins and mask to the tourists. I also
became a guide, gave diving instructions to the tourists, and explored
under water around Bali (Tulamben, Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan,
Menjangan Island, Puri Jati, and Secret Bay) with the tourists.
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Most of the foreign tourists were Japanese. There were four or five
Japanese people in one group. They came to BIDP for diving three or four
times in a week. Before diving, the diving crew who could not speak

Japanese and I picked up the tourists from the hotel to the diving spot.
Then, we tried to use the equipment in BIDP office and we went to the
diving site. I should give diving instructions before they were going to see
beautiful scenes underwater.
As a diving instructor, I had a problem when communicating with
Japanese tourists who could not speak and understand English well.
Before diving, I had to give instructions to the tourists about how to dive,
what they had to do and what they should not do underwater, also about
diving safety. However, I had difficulty in communicating with them. I could
not explain the instructions in English because they did not understand
what I was talking about. Thus, I would like to find out the solutions and
solve the problem to increase the diving service.

B. Identification of the Problem
The research questions are formulated in the following statements:
1. Why did I have difficulty in communicating with Japanese tourists
when I was working as a diving instructor ?
2. How did the problem influence the Japanese tourists and me ?
3. How should I solve the problem ?


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C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study
The objectives of this study are to find out the causes of my difficulty in
communicating with Japanese tourists, to know the effects of the problem
and to solve the difficulty in communicating with Japanese tourists.
There are several benefits of this study: First, for the staff at Bali
International Diving Professionals, they will gain some information about
giving better service to foreign tourists. Second, for the readers, they will
get some information about overcoming the difficulty in communicating
with Japanese tourists when giving instructions about diving. Third, I will
learn how to communicate with Japanese tourists who could not speak
English well and how to solve the problem.

D. Description of the Institution
The data is based on the information from scubadive and bidpbalidiving. Bali International Diving Professionals (henceforth, BIDP) was
established in 1999. BIDP is a Scuba Schools International (SSI) Instructor
Training Centre & Professional Dive Centre and one of the famous diving

service providers in Bali. BIDP office is located in Blanjong I street No. 33
Sanur – Bali. Avandy Djunaidi is the owner and the director of BIDP.
BIDP provides fun diving and diving trips around Bali and to the Nusa
islands east of Bali’s beach, scuba diving courses from junior level to dive
master level certification, provides technical diving with nitrox and trimix
gasses, double cylinder configuration and deco stages which is operated
by BIDP in Sanur, organize scuba diving trips and certification courses for
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handicapped

people and

also arranges an

amazing underwater

experience for handicapped, arranges liveaboard diving to Nusa Penida

island, Komodo National Park and Sumbawa and also provides
professional video shooting and production, shows beautiful underwater at
Bali.
The vision and mission of BIDP is to provide all divers, from all
nationalities, of all abilities and levels, with an excellent, safe and
enjoyable dive experience in Bali. Divers can dive safely because BIDP
provides good facilities. There are many facilities in BIDP to support safe
and enjoyable diving. First, they have four fully air conditioned mini buses
to pick up the tourists from the hotel to the office and the harbor. Second,
there is a speedboat with helpful boat crew to take the tourists to diving
spot. Third, there is a classroom and a swimming pool to support diving
instructors to explain the material about diving and to practice how to dive
in the pool. BIDP also has a full set of scuba diving equipment which is
made by acknowledged manufacturers in the world and there is a gas
filling station that produces good and clean gas for divers and instructors.
(www.scubadivebali.com/about-bidp/ and www.bidp-balidiving.com/aboutus/who-we-are/)

E. Method of the Study
The data collection is from my internship journal and library research
(books and articles from the Internet). The data of my internship journal is

based on my internship at Bali International Diving Professionals as a
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diving instructor. The data is used to analyze the causes, effects and the
potential solutions of the problem.

F. Limitation of the Study
The focus of this study is on handling my difficulty in communicating
with Japanese tourists who could not speak English well during my
internship at Bali International Diving Professionals. The subjects of this
study are the Japanese tourists and I. The period of my internship was
from 6 January 2014 to 30 January 2014.

G. Organization of the Term Paper
The Term Paper starts with the Abstract. It is followed by Declaration
of Originality, Acknowledgements and Table of Contents. The paper is
divided into four chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction, which consists
of Background of the Study, Identification of the Problem, Objectives and

Benefits of the Study, Description of the Institution, Method of the Study,
Limitation of the Study and Organization of the Term Paper. Chapter Two
presents problem analyses which analyze the causes and the effects of
the problem. Chapter Three contains potential solutions along with the
positive and negative effects. Chapter Four is the Conclusion of the
problem. It describes the best solutions and suggestions related to the
solution. There is a Bibliography which is the list of references used in this
paper. Furthermore, this Term Paper also has Appendices that contain a
Flowchart, my Internship Journal, and the Company Brochure.
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CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to discuss the chosen solution for my
problem which is difficulty in communicating with the Japanese tourists
who could not speak English well during my internship at Bali International
Diving Professionals as a diving instructor. There are three causes of the

problem namely the Japanese tourists had poor English, I could not speak
Japanese and did not have any partners who can speak Japanese, and
there was no Japanese instruction books from BIDP. Moreover, the effects
of the problem are it took a long time to give a briefing to Japanese
tourists, the tourists misunderstood my instructions about diving, and I got
upset and worried because I had to explain the diving instructions. To
solve the problem, there are three potential solutions. First, I will work in a
team with a new instructor who can speak Japanese to be my partner to
explain the diving instructions. Second, I will use body language when
giving the diving instructions in English. Third, I will ask Mr. Jaka to
design slides using two languages (English and Japanese) to give the
diving instructions.

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Based on the analysis, applying the second and third potential solutions
will be effective to deal with the problem. The second potential solution is I will
use body language when giving the diving instructions in English. Body
language is easy to practice so the tourists will follow the instructions quickly.
The third potential solution is my leader and I will design slide shows using
two languages (English and Japanese) to inform the diving instructions.
There will be colorful slides that explain about diving instructions. It will make
the tourists remember the instructions because the slides are translated into
Japanese. I do not choose the first potential because there are many
negative effects of the solution, such as teamwork might fail, might have
conflicts or arguments and the company will spend extra money to hire a new
instructor.
I have some suggestions for the BIDP staff. First, BIDP should provide
diving instructions books in another language besides English. Second, BIDP
should employ a diving instructor who can speak Japanese and other
languages and the last, the staff should study Japanese at least some
sentences related to the diving instructions.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Printed Sources
Nelson, Bob and Peter Economy. Managing For Dummies. New York:
Wiley Publishing, 2003.
Electronic Sources
“4 Ways You Can Use Your Body Language to Your Advantages”.
Americanexpress.com. 2013. Americanexpress. 13 December 2014

“7 Surprising Truths about Body Language”. Forbes.com. 2012.
Forbes. 30 October 2014

“About Bali International Diving Professionals”. Scubadivebali.com.
2014. scubadivebali.16 September 2014


“Advantages and Disadvantages of PowerPoint”. Boundless.com.2014.
boundless. 10 November 2014

“Bali International Diving Professionals”. Bidp-balidiving.com.2014. bidpbalidiving. 16 September 2014< http://www.bidp-balidiving.com/>
“Barriers to Translation, English to Japanese”. Passage.co.jp. 2014. passage.
30 October 2014

Burgess, Heidi. “Misunderstandings”. beyondintractability.org. 2013. Beyond
intractability. 27 October 2014

Derek. “Become a Dive master or Dive Instructor”. Earnontheroad.com. 2013.
Earn on the road. 15 November 2014

“English for Tourism – Tourism Information and Guided Tours”. Alison.com.
2014. Alison. 27 December 2014
Santillana, Carmen. “10 Reasons to Learn English”. Experienceenglish.com.
2013. Experience English. 13 December 2014.


Simonitch, Steven. “Why the Japanese are Bad at Foreign Languages (part
1)”. Rocketnews24.com. 2012. RocketNews24. 27October 2014

“Teamwork in the Classroom”. Nde-ed.org. 2014.NDT Resource Center. 29
October 2014 < https://www.ndeed.org/TeachingResources/ClassroomTips/Teamwork.htm>
“Tips for Effective Teamwork”. law.unimelb.edu.au. 2013. Melbourne Law
School. 13 December 2014.

“Translation / Interpretation Service”. shinyawatanabe.net. 2013.
Shinyawatanabe. 13 December 2014.

“Using Body Language in English Teaching”. Ukessays.com. 2014.
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Windermere, Anna. “The Advantages of the Teamwork Concept in
Organizations”. Smallbusiness.chron.com. 2014. Chron. 14 November
2014 < http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-teamwork-conceptorganizations-56220.html>