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I work in the software field. There are LOTS of Indian people where I work, including my direct supervisor. The accent is sometimes very difficult to understand. I also find myself distracted by the different sound and circular cadence of what they are saying versus the content. It happens unconsciously and I have to force myself to try and just listen to the words.
Many of them speak very quickly, you ask them to repeat themselves and they think that speaking even faster will help your comprehension
Have you ever had a frustrating experience on a call center with a person from India?
Try working like that from 9 to 5!
I don't get it. Many jobs list communication skills, both written AND verbal as paramount in the list of requirements. If I took a job overseas in a non-English speaking country, the onus would be upon ME to learn to communicate so that the native speakers could properly understand me. Why is it not the reverse?
You try to bring it up and you are seen at best as "not a team player" or at worst, a racist.
How do you know they're not trying to learn to communicate better? It takes time to reduce an accent.
How are you "bringing it up"?
Next time, use written communication more if verbal communication is difficult.
Have a native speaker contact the call center on your behalf! I'm not kidding.
OP, I hear you. It took me a good two years of active listening before I began to understand their accents. The harder ones are when the worker also knows French and spent time in France before coming to the US. One gal with that background had to repeat every third sentence to me for awhile, and then at management's (and her) request, we worked on changing her accent to "Midwestern." It was an uphill climb! The victory came on the phone one day: a supervisor called and he easily understood every word she said.
There is nothing racist about any of this. If I didn't master the accent while working in France, I would be out of a job tout suit! The French are very picky about speaking well.
Some accents are harder to understand than others. Indian English is often very hard to understand. Its the suprasegmentals issue. Only continuing exposure to the accent can make it more understandable.
When the majority of the workers are Indian and have a heavy Indian accent, it seems that the only one with a communication issue is the non-Indian. Everyone else understands it perfectly well.
I commiserate because I also work in the IT industry and a significant number of my coworkers are Indian. Some accents are more difficult than others, but eventually you will get the hang of it.
When the majority of the workers are Indian and have a heavy Indian accent, it seems that the only one with a communication issue is the non-Indian. Everyone else understands it perfectly well.
I commiserate because I also work in the IT industry and a significant number of my coworkers are Indian. Some accents are more difficult than others, but eventually you will get the hang of it.
Personally I feel they should make more of an effort to tone down the accent. They know they're hard to understand, but they don't care.
I remember my grandparents (all four were immigrants) tried so hard to get rid of their accents. I've got only one grandparent left and she does have an accent, but not a strong one. I remember one grandparent used to avoid using certain words because he was embarrassed by not being able to pronounce them correctly. A couple of them saw speech therapists for help getting rid of their accents.
Even though I was raised speaking my grandparents' languages, I have an accent in all of them. Not an American one, just an odd not-quite-placeable one. When I lived abroad in countries that spoke those languages, I was very determined to minimize my accent as much as I could. I didn't want to stand out, but I also didn't want people to have trouble understanding me.
I work in the software field. There are LOTS of Indian people where I work, including my direct supervisor. The accent is sometimes very difficult to understand. I also find myself distracted by the different sound and circular cadence of what they are saying versus the content. It happens unconsciously and I have to force myself to try and just listen to the words.
Many of them speak very quickly, you ask them to repeat themselves and they think that speaking even faster will help your comprehension
Have you ever had a frustrating experience on a call center with a person from India?
Try working like that from 9 to 5!
I don't get it. Many jobs list communication skills, both written AND verbal as paramount in the list of requirements. If I took a job overseas in a non-English speaking country, the onus would be upon ME to learn to communicate so that the native speakers could properly understand me. Why is it not the reverse?
You try to bring it up and you are seen at best as "not a team player" or at worst, a racist.
It's got nothing to do with race. You could have a white or black person who was raised since birth in India, then moved here, and it would be the same result.
I know what you mean, Indian accents are hard, because they speak very quickly. Certain Spanish accents as well (I think I saw some fact about Puerto Ricans speaking an absurd amount of words-per-minute when they speak Spanish. Of course, when that's their first language, and they speak English, that carries over sometimes. Not all the time though).
Personally I feel they should make more of an effort to tone down the accent. They know they're hard to understand, but they don't care.
I remember my grandparents (all four were immigrants) tried so hard to get rid of their accents. I've got only one grandparent left and she does have an accent, but not a strong one. I remember one grandparent used to avoid using certain words because he was embarrassed by not being able to pronounce them correctly. A couple of them saw speech therapists for help getting rid of their accents.
Even though I was raised speaking my grandparents' languages, I have an accent in all of them. Not an American one, just an odd not-quite-placeable one. When I lived abroad in countries that spoke those languages, I was very determined to minimize my accent as much as I could. I didn't want to stand out, but I also didn't want people to have trouble understanding me.
I wish our Indian guests were as considerate.
I agree 110%
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 worked in the mining field for a few years and there were many native Indian and Southeast Asian people I worked with regularly. Being from a rather homogeneous area of the country I'd never really experienced accents before, other than Hispanic ones on occasion.
At first I remember just having to apologize and continually ask them to repeat themselves. They were always friendly and apologized and would try to speak more slowly to me. Over time, working with the same people I became able to easily understand them. I recently spoke with one of them on the phone and we had a regular-pace 10 minute conversation without having to repeat ourselves. Accents are tough, but if you're around it enough you'll adapt to it and they to you.
Just be friendly. They don't mind repeating themselves and they will understand. Over time you'll both adapt.
One has to remember that in India there are at least 300 languages in use.
The real problem is that most Indians learn to speak English from OTHER Indians, who pass on their accent and cadence to their students. The Indians who are taught by native English speakers are miles ahead of those who learn at a local school in India. The Indians THINK that they are speaking "proper English " but in reality it is too flowery, and too old fashioned in terms of antiquated phrases and wording.
This why the wealthy Indian families send their children ( if they can afford it ) to Britain for their University education. The main effort is to break the habit of the `sing song accent and rhythm `that is so common. Here in Canada, the second generation of Indians born in Canada, are not as easily identified by their sound over the phone. The third generation are now making fun of their Parents way of speaking.
By way of illustration, listen to this Canadian comedian, of Indian ancestry, Russell Peters on stage.
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