Foreign language announcements on Continental European trains?

[signed]

I took a TGV from Rennes, on one of the latest EuroDuplex delivered, and was pleasently surprised to hear a automated English annoucement over the PA.

I can't remember any time that was done on non-international services in France, especially knowing the other-language-averse culture of the French as a whole.

What other countries do English or other (languages that aren't official languages of the given country) on domestic trains?

 

[43096]

I took a TGV from Rennes, on one of the latest EuroDuplex delivered, and was pleasently surprised to hear a automated English annoucement over the PA.

I can't remember any time that was done on non-international services, especially knowing the other-language-averse culture of the French as a whole.

What other countries do English or other (languages that aren't official languages of the given country) on domestic trains?

SBB provide English announcements, in addition to native German, French and Italian as appropriate.

 

[stadler]

I took a TGV from Rennes, on one of the latest EuroDuplex delivered, and was pleasently surprised to hear a automated English annoucement over the PA.

I can't remember any time that was done on non-international services, especially knowing the other-language-averse culture of the French as a whole.

What other countries do English or other (languages that aren't official languages of the given country) on domestic trains?

Russia has English automated announcements on most of their newer suburban and regional trains (the newer multiple units working "Elektrichka" services) around the Moscow and St Petersburg areas. The newer trains on their metros in Moscow and St Petersburg do as well.

This is not Europe but Portland in Oregon in the USA has Spanish automated announcements on all of their trains (WES Commuter Rail) and trams (MAX Light Rail) and buses (Tri Met Buses) throughout the city. This seems particularly odd as they are nowhere near the Mexican border and Portland does not really have a particularly large Mexican population compared to other USA cities.

Estonia has English automated announcements on their trains. These are the Stadler Flirt trains that run all of their trains throughout the country.

Poland has English automated announcements on the majority of their trains these days. It is becoming more and more common in Poland and even many regional trains on small rural branch lines now have English automated announcements.

There are probably dozens of others. English is such a widely spoken language and has basically become the global default language so it is very common to hear announcements in English these days.

 

[Beebman]

I was in Finland in August where I took an IC train from Helsinki to Tampere and back and there were English language announcements (as well as Swedish ones).

 

[YorkshireBear]

Most German ICE have English announcements even if they are wholly domestic. Many of the newer units have basic announcements in English too.

 

[dutchflyer]

Here in Thailand/BKK-in THai language any thing on rails is called ´train: rot fay= firecar,´ also as ´fay fa´: blue fire=electric, for metro etc.
All automated announcements -and the (not that many) digital shown visual announcements are in at least Thai (has its own alfabet) and english-and in some few cases even also in Chinese/Japanese. Applies more to the much later built MRT/BTS= metro/skytrain as the SRT=state trains/rail.
In my country NL on NS-its all shown on screens (except the very few cases when that is broke) and thats clear enough. Conductors may also do spoken announcements and these depend on their mood/knowledge and perhaps if they have seen tourists on that train. On INTernational always also in language of country going to: either thus FR or DE.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Czechia has English announcements but by an American voice, which seems rather odd.

 

[Beebman]

I've just remembered the English language announcements on Japanese Shinkansen - they're voiced by an Australian actress called Donna Burke who was interviewed in October by ABC News in Australia:

Train travellers from Tokyo to Kyushu have grown accustomed to hearing an Australian voice translate rail messages to them. The voice behind those messages is that of Donna Burke, an Australian voice actor who has been on the Japanese rail intercom for 20 years. Donna spoke with News Channel presenter Joe O'Brien about her extraordinary roles and life in Japan.

 

[Amalie]

In The Netherlands, announcements for Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam Cs (the next station is…) are also often in English, at least for intercity trains. Conductors seem to often do English announcements for Intercity Direct trains to/from Amsterdam Cs and Rotterdam Cs.

Schiphol station is unique in that all train announcements are bi-lingual, although I found them always strange sounding as a Dutch person. The voice model is Dutch, so the English spoken has a somewhat Dutch accent. However, every Dutch city is pronounced as if it were an English word, which can give some odd results.

I can’t vouch for the French accent, but the German voice used for announcements also has a Dutch accent according to a German I know.

 

[Bletchleyite]

What other countries do English or other (languages that aren't official languages of the given country) on domestic trains?

Usual to get English in Germany and I think on board in the Netherlands.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Dec 2024 ==

Schiphol station is unique in that all train announcements are bi-lingual, although I found them always strange sounding as a Dutch person. The voice model is Dutch, so the English spoken has a somewhat Dutch accent. However, every Dutch city is pronounced as if it were an English word, which can give some odd results.

I think it might be the same voice as used on Aviavox in the airport there, a very common pseudo-generated voice (using syllable snippets, so older tech but more effective than the pure generated ones) which indeed does the English in a Dutch accent. This is used in lots of airports around the world too - certainly Luton has it. The voice is one of the manual announcers from Schiphol, so it's odd hearing her "in real life", though I don't know if she still works there.

The other odd Dutch-English connection is that the Class 700s have the distinctive Nederlandse Spoorwegen "bing bang bong" when an announcement is made manually. I assume this was probably a mix-up at Siemens given that they have also built rolling stock for NS!

 

[YorkRailFan]

Austria has English announcements onboard all ÖBB services (I think including S-Bahn in Vienna) as does WestBahn (when I last used them two years ago), certain announcements onboard the U-Bahn in Vienna are also made in English, such as for train stations like Wien Hbf and Westbahnhof.

 

[DanielB]

In The Netherlands, announcements for Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam Cs (the next station is…) are also often in English, at least for intercity trains.

The automated announcements on Sprinter trains are in Dutch and English at main hubs like Utrecht Central, Amsterdam Central and Schiphol.
And Arriva does Dutch, French, German and English on their Aachen - Liège service RE18.

I think it might be the same voice as used on Aviavox in the airport there, a very common pseudo-generated voice (using syllable snippets, so older tech but more effective than the pure generated ones) which indeed does the English in a Dutch accent.

It used to be such a system indeed, although some announcements at stations now sound like pure text to speech.
NS has only one voice, so English with a Dutch accent. Carriers like RET and HTM use a native speaker for the English version of the automated announcements in their buses, trams and metro. For some reason "volgende halte/next stop" with two different voices does sound a bit odd.

And additionally to what's already mentioned: departure boards at Dutch stations are bilingual Dutch / English as well, though there are some odd translations on them.

 

[johncrossley]

Schiphol station is unique in that all train announcements are bi-lingual, although I found them always strange sounding as a Dutch person. The voice model is Dutch, so the English spoken has a somewhat Dutch accent. However, every Dutch city is pronounced as if it were an English word, which can give some odd results.

In the case of Schiphol, even the station name is in English, so even when announcements are in Dutch they are in English! It was renamed to Schiphol Airport in 2015. Another airport station was renamed to Brussels Airport-Zaventem in 2016, which has the additional benefit of being language neutral so doesn't need translating in Dutch or French.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

In Spain, the newer units have automated safety, 'train for' and 'next station' announcements in English as well as Spanish. The station platform announcements such as at Madrid Atocha get me however - the automated English ones are by an American who sounds just like Ruby Wax.

 

[The exile]

Most German ICE have English announcements even if they are wholly domestic. Many of the newer units have basic announcements in English too

The irony being of course that the “basic” announcements are the ones you’re least likely to need translated.

 

[30907]

Czechia has English announcements but by an American voice, which seems rather odd.

Not really, as the US liberated (the Western) part of the country.
Only on Ex/IC etc trains unless things have changed. Also English speaking staff - I remember being v impressed with the IC conductor at Cerny Kriz in the back of beyond a few years back.

 

[nwales58]

I was in Finland in August where I took an IC train from Helsinki to Tampere and back and there were English language announcements (as well as Swedish ones).

As well as the automated announcements, live announcements on longer distance trains in many countries (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria ...) usually add english including for out-of-course events.

Swedish in Finland, of course, is not a foreign language

 

[JGurney]

Austria has English announcements onboard all ÖBB services

Vienna Haptbhanhof has all signage except one in both German and English.
I was very amused to spot the odd one out: the Lost Property office is labelled in English only, not in German.

 

[Richard Scott]

I'm sure all announcements in Italy are in English as well. If not all certainly the majority.

 

[rvdborgt]

Vienna Haptbhanhof has all signage except one in both German and English.
I was very amused to spot the odd one out: the Lost Property office is labelled in English only, not in German.

I suppose the German one got lost...

 

[D6130]

I'm sure all announcements in Italy are in English as well. If not all certainly the majority.

Automated announcements on high speed trains - both Frecciarossa and Italo - are also given in English and those on InterCity trains are usually made in English too....sometimes manually by the Capo Treno. On older regional stock - both loco-hauled and multiple unit - the announcements are entirely manual and the quality and choice of languages is dependent on the Capo Treno's knowledge and mood. The newer suburban and regional units have bi-lingual automated announcements and screens as standard.

Cross-border services - especially Cuneo-Ventimiglia, which cross into France and back into Italy again - have tri-lingual announcements....as do regional services in Sudtirol/Alto Adige, where German is the first language.

 

[stuving]

And then there's Belgium.

A few days ago there was a news item about a passenger who made a formal complaint that the contrôleur greeted a compartment of passengers with Goeiemorgen-Bonjour. This was in a Flemish-speaking region, so only Dutch should have been used. SNCB agreed with that, at least initially, though also complained that the rules were too strict and they would like to be more helpful to non-Belgians.

The contrôleur in question reckoned that these rules - which are those for government employees - really apply to tannoy and display announcements, not to a greeting like his. The rules do allow both languages plus German and English to be used on airport trains, and he says this could also have been done here (at Vilvorde).

 

[rf_ioliver]

I was in Finland in August where I took an IC train from Helsinki to Tampere and back and there were English language announcements (as well as Swedish ones).

All announcements and notices are in Finnish, Swedish and English. The Allegro (and earlier Sibelius/Repin) services were also in Russian. I have a feeling German might have appeared on some notices....vague memory of this so no guarantees.

Conductor announcements are (in my experience) invariably only in Finnish - though there's a few who will give a summary in English too

 

[MattSGB]

Slovakian IC and fast trains have what sounds like a New Zealand male accent announcing stations in English. It really grates on me for some reason. The gaps between words are really unnatural, it sometimes has a Slovak word order to English announcements and the pronunciation of Slovak place names is suspect at best.

 

[181]

For some reason "volgende halte/next stop" with two different voices does sound a bit odd.

regional services in Sudtirol/Alto Adige, where German is the first language.

I'm reminded of a journey I once made where most of the announcement was in stolid unemotional German (almost a monotone), but the starting station and the Italian version of the terminating station were named with a different voice and stereotypical Italian exuberance: 'Wilkommen am Bord dieser Zug von VERONA CENTRA-LE! nach Brenner/BREN-NER-O!. Er haltet in...[more stolid German]'.

 

[duesselmartin]

In Germany the VIAS RE19 train from Düsseldorf to Arnhem and Bocholt also has an automated translation in Dutch.

 

[nwales58]

Can't remember exactly, but somewhere in central switzerland I heard a recorded announcement in Mandarin, possibly Luzern-Engleberg, Jungrafraubahn or Vitznau-Rigi or might have been one of the cable cars so doesn't qualify. Titlisbahn has signs in Hindi but don't recall announcements. Anyone else know?

 

[DanielB]

That reminds me of bus 70 from Steenwijk to Giethoorn. Prior to COVID, the timetables, route maps and even the information displays in the buses were all translated to Mandarin due to the large amount of Chinese tourists visiting.

 

[stadler]

Here in the UK all Chiltern Railways trains play both Arabic and Chinese automated announcements on approach to Bicester Town station.

 

[johncrossley]

The village of Iseltwald in Switzerland has become famous because of a Korean TV programme filmed on the lake there, so it now has a lot of Korean visitors. Postbus now run double deckers there with Korean branding.