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It's a different topic but the immigrants who arrived in my and your grandparent's generation were a different breed than the more recent arrivals. There was an active effort and pride in learning and speaking English correctly. Now it's exactly as you say, they know they are hard to understand, and don't care!
I bet there has never been a time in this country's history when people weren't saying 'wow immigrants these days don't even bother learning the language'.
It can be frustrating OP I agree. The guy on my right at work immigrated from Pakistan 16 years ago, he's probably about 50 right now and it can be a challenge to understand him, and I don't like saying "what?" too much as I don't want to like, idk, offend him or something? Sometimes he'll say something and I'll only catch bits and pieces and sort of smile and nod, then a few seconds later realize what he said.
Guy to my left and lady to his left are from Ethiopia and Eritrea respectively, their accents are much easier to understand. There are 3 other Pakis in my department that I have difficulty with, and the Indian lady I don't have any difficulty with.
Honestly though, I have a cousin from Australia and I struggle to understand much of what she says as well...lol.
Any time I've encountered someone with an Indian accent at a call center, and I expressed my frustration with understanding them, they can get very defensive and angry, as if it's your problem, not theirs!
It's good to hear that Tijuana has created over 10,000 call centers, recently, and hoping to increase it to 20,000 to steer more call centers to this part of the globe.
Some entrepreneur recognized the value of all these deported Mexicans being dumped into the Mexican border cities, many with good English skills gained from living in the U.S. for long periods of time, and he saw opportunities for these unfortunate people, and began to create call centers down there, pay scale of $100-$150 a week.
The article I read, on this, stated there were over 450,000 call centers in India, and 250,000 in the Philippines. So why not bring some of those call centers to this part of the globe!!!
The article I read, on this, stated there were over 450,000 call centers in India, and 250,000 in the Philippines. So why not bring some of those call centers to this part of the globe!!!
Is it 450,000 employees working in a call center in India, or 450,000 call centers in India?
Honestly, it's about money though. The company saves money by hiring them and only see the bottom line.
Leftee said it exactly right:
"What's gained in corporate monetary savings is lost in productivity."
I really fail to see how pointing out the frustration about this arrangement makes one a bigot or a racist.
When communication becomes hindered, it slows everyone down.
Riiiight. I'm sure this thread is about heavy accents and how it impacts productivity and nothing more.
People shouldn't be mad at people from India for doing what's best for their families. They should be mad at the Americans here who sold out their fellow Americans just to save some money.
It's like being mad at the person your SO cheated on you with instead of being mad at your SO for betraying you and cheating in the first place.
People shouldn't be mad at people from India for doing what's best for their families. They should be mad at the Americans here who sold out their fellow Americans just to save some money.
It's like being mad at the person your SO cheated on you with instead of being mad at your SO for betraying you and cheating in the first place.
Good point ! OP is probably only blowing off steam. I have the same issue with Indians/Pakis/Bengalis at my work although I am not in the US.
My only comment is that they are here to stay so get used to it. If you count the three countries I mentioned, they are the most populous people on earth and they are everywhere in tech. Learn to understand and communicate with them - ask what state they are from and about their local language and food; listen to Rosetta Stone if you think it helps. It will pay off. They are good people for the most part but their culture is very different from the US.
Last edited by Vacanegro; 06-12-2015 at 03:45 AM..
The problem is not that the Indians don't speak English. The reason why US corporations like India is because they ALL speak english. School is taught in english, but it's also why the pronunciations are so different because the language has evolved to become their own. I think the folks in Liberia also speak english as a native language and it's equally hard to understand.
After working many years in IT I got pretty comfortable hearing the Indian accents (and liking the food) and my brain got tuned so well that when I interacted with a Dutch national, I couldn't understand them.
One night on a conference call I took from home, my kids overheard some of it and wondered if the guy speaking from India was speaking english. It was always fun to see new employees in a meeting with similar reactions when you could see them straining to understand, but the comprehension did not come.
Favorite phrases I can still remember:
today morning = this morning
Lack = Some form of measurement
Wait till you deal with Indians in there native country. I'm that guy that goes over their and works with them.
It's not always the pronounciation, but the archaic phrases they use. India's english education seems to copy some sort of Old 19th century English textbooks or something because they always come up with amusing phrases that went out of style with Queen Victoria.
Can't tell you how many times I've been asked to "Do the Needfull".
Also the circular head movements...it's like a yes and no at the same time.
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