Ears to the World

[orlando2011]

Hey y'all!
I will be visiting WDW in December 2011 with 4 people who don't speak english at all. I'm pretty fluent in english but it's going to be so difficult to translate everything into German for them. After googling quite a while, I found some articles about "Ears to the World". Apparently these are audio devices that provide foreign language information about attractions and shows. However, I couldn't find any official Disney information about them. Does anyone of you know whether these devices do exist or if there are any other means to provide my fellow travellers with some audio in their own language?
Thanks so much, Tino

 

[ZehnJahren]

I don't know anything about Ears to the World (but I've heard about it as well), but don't be so sure you have to translate everything. I lived in Germany for awhile, and even the people who didn't speak English spoke some Denglish (mixing Deutsch and English together). It's surprising the number of words you already know in the other language, and Disney keeps it pretty simple as they're often playing to the younger crowd who have a smaller vocabulary than adults. Disney is also very visual, so even if your friends don't speak or understand English they'll often know what's going on from visual cues.

There are also maps in German (I picked one up; I miss Germany), so at least they'll know where they're going and where all the important things are.

 

[vicki_c]

Here is a link explaining it - it says they have German.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/languagetranslation.htm

 

[Brandis]

I used them on the last 2 visits when I had friends with me who don't speak english.

We only used them at Epcot and MK though, as in the other parks there aren't that many attractions which support them.

You get them at Guest Relations inside the park, you have to leave a $100 deposit, other than that, they are free.

If I remember correctly, the guide map has an icon that shows which attractions they can be used in.

On the photo below you can see the headphones around my friends neck:

 

[DReynolds86]

Also, look at Cast Members' nametags for a German flag. Any CMs who speak a foreign language will have that respective flag pinned into their nametag.