The city of Lucerne, its Lake Lucerne, its old wooden bridge… foreign tourists love it. Particularly the Chinese, who go there in droves. As a result, for several days, the Coop-City in the old town has been displaying translations in English and Chinese for them on the labels of the still waters on the shelves.
“These translations were put in place following requests from tourists. Water is a very popular product,” explains the orange giant, which however does not plan new translations elsewhere in Switzerland.
Some visitors shrug their shoulders. Like Su, from Singapore. “You have to pay for water at the supermarket while water from fountains is free. It would be better to translate the indications on the fountains,” he believes. Jimmy, from South Korea, considers the gesture unnecessary. “Everyone has a smartphone to translate,” he says. He and his wife would prefer to know “where to find the best Swiss wine”.
For others, however, it does not go far enough. Like this young Mexican couple who would like “everything to be translated into English at least”. Not only water, but also public transport and attractions.
Because if tourists love the charms of Switzerland and welcome the welcome of the population, most deplore the lack of information and people who know how to speak English. Indeed, in many places travel brochures are only available in German or French. And in the stations, the screens only indicate in German the tracks on which the trains run. So many points that make their stay complicated.
But Sydney, a young 20-year-old Australian, puts things into perspective: “In the age of artificial intelligence, everything becomes easy to translate.”
