If you work in the restaurant industry (just like if you travel a lot) you know that a school-level English often isn’t enough: to understand and be understood you need not just the language, but also a basic knowledge of the food culture of the people in front of you.
That’s why European School is offering its new English for the Restaurant Industry course, aimed at those who study or work in the sector, at those planning a work experience abroad, and at travellers who love gastronomy as well as new experiences.
Want more information about the English for the Restaurant Industry courses?
Food culture, as we know, brings people together and sets them apart. And language, spoken and written, becomes a record of every habit and reaction.
Food unites us in the unique pleasure of a well-laid table, or divides us over habits that seem to belong to aliens, however strange they seem to us: ketchup on spaghetti? No bacon at breakfast? Language records these differences with untranslatable terms, as unique as the recipes that produced them: whether it’s pudding or carbonara.
Beyond language, for anyone working with foreign customers it is especially important to know the food-related expectations of English-speaking people, or of any foreign culture. This will help you avoid misunderstandings and confusion.
Food culture in England
As Italians we carry around a very strong prejudice about England: over there, people eat badly. Perhaps that’s down to the variety of food our climate has accustomed us to, but also to how little we actually know about what people eat in England.
Fish & Chips can be found all over the country, it’s true, but they are hardly the typical meal for an English person. On the contrary local cuisine is very varied, especially when it comes to meat: stewed, roasted and cooked in countless other ways.
Some flavour pairings may seem strange to us: this is often the effect of sweet-and-sour combinations (like sweet sauces used to accompany roasts), which Italian cooking, in fact, hardly ever uses.
Why a specific English course for the restaurant industry?
On 9 May in Lucca European School will be launching an English language course dedicated to the world of professional gastronomy and the restaurant industry.
The course will run for 25 hours, it is aimed at those who already have at least a minimal knowledge of English and is designed in particular for the needs of people who work with foreign customers or want to spend periods working abroad. Even everyday travellers and keen gourmets, though, will find it interesting.
Here is what the course programme covers:
- Communication and contact with the customer.
- How to behave with customers of different nationalities (the main rules of table etiquette).
- Analysis of typical recipes from the English-speaking world and Italy: specific menus for customers with special requirements (vegans, vegetarians, coeliacs, children’s menus, etc.).
- Sector-specific vocabulary (organisation and roles in the restaurant industry).
- Simulations of typical situations: telephone and online bookings, cancellations, welcoming guests, requests
- and special requests, problem solving.
- Customer/staff role play.
- Food and wine culture in Italy (culinary and sommelier vocabulary).
Professionalism. In English too.
The English for the restaurant industry course starting on 9 May in Lucca is just one of the profession-specific language courses offered by European School.
Our catalogue also includes language courses for tourist reception, horticulture, and retail sales.
Do keep following us on our Facebook page too, so you don’t miss our next initiatives:
the next one could be just right for you!
Discover the details of the English for the Restaurant Industry courses starting on 09 May
