What is it? Another brilliant idea from Virgin Atlantic to keep passengers entertained: self-study audio-based language courses. Building on a highly popular in-flight Spanish course introduced last year, Virgin has teamed up with Swedish language-learning company Univerb to offer a Japanese course on flights from London to Tokyo.
Why do I need this? Knowing a few key phrases can make all the difference to travelling in Japan. Polite greetings and thanking people properly are important in Japanese culture and go a long way to ensuring you are treated well.
How does it work? All Virgin passengers, irrespective of seating class, have personal television screens. Click on v:port, the inflight entertainment system, choose the level that best suits you and follow the three-hour programme. Univerb courses are based on a listen, repeat and learn method.
What's so good about it? The handset, with its simple instruction keys, is easy to operate. Passengers can stop, start, fast forward and rewind at their own pace. Those who already speak basic Japanese can use the audio course to brush up their skills.
And the downside? Although beginners can pick up a few basic phrases, it is impossible to achieve anything like fluency on such a short programme. Some passengers might find it annoying having to hear the person next to them repeat ohaiyo gozaimasu 100 times and it would be useful to have a few cultural tips integrated into the courses.