The Problem with Speaking English

[Ithoriel]

Phoned a help desk in York recently. Guy with thick Yorkshire accent answers, mutual incomprehensibility ensues. That despite my having lived in Yorkshire for four years in the past. You know you have communication problems when you realise that the words you've just asked the other person to repeat four times translates as,"I'm sorry, I'm having trouble understanding your accent."

Never thought I'd find myself wishing I'd had to phone a centre in Mumbai or Pune!

[d_Guy]

By way of a public service announcement be aware that we in the States only attempt to speak English when you lot show up for a visit!


Please place commas in the above as you see fit.

[FierceKitty]

By way of a public service announcement be aware that we in the States only attempt to speak English when you lot show up for a visit!


Please place commas in the above as you see fit.

What excuse do the English have for their own neglect of the language? Thatcher can't be blamed forever....

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

What excuse do the English have for their own neglect of the language? Thatcher can't be blamed forever....

Danmd suferners talkin estuury

IanS 

[Sandinista]

The other half is from Liverpool.
When we first got together I asked if she had any Scottish or Irish in her.......

Are you Scots/Irish?

cheers
Ian

[Fenton]

What excuse do the English have for their own neglect of the language? Thatcher can't be blamed forever....

We don't neglect it. We just let it do its own thing

[Nirnman]

I am from Northern Ireland and while working for HMC&E as it was then had cause to ring one of our offices in Liverpool as the conversation ended the scouser on the other end remarked how strange it was that I had understood him, i eplied well liverpool is the capital of Ireland and his accent wasnt that strange to my ears.

[Roy]

Re: Yorkshire accents.

I have been known to lay it on thick in the past, so as to confuse 

Re: Indian Phone Centres.

Not that I've spoken to many, but those I have, I could well understand their English.

And I'm frequently picked up on my (written) English over on TMP by the two Asian (Thai, I think) editors.

[Ithoriel]

As part of my job, back in the bad old days when I was working, I had to phone Indian call centres on a regular basis. Some there spoke beautifully clear English but most did not.

I do accept that, from the point of view of the call centre workers, the person with the incomprehensible accent was me

[Techno]

I think half the problem with call centres overseas, is the quality of the 'line'. (Sometimes)

It's bad enough if you have a problem with the accent of the person you're trying to communicate with.....But if the line keeps breaking up, it's nigh on impossible to understand what they're saying.

Cheers - Phil

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Today had to say several things 5 times - post code, problem, person/organisation responsible. Ok my post code ends TT, what is a tad difficult to say BUT !!!!

IanS

[Techno]

Just say "Tango, Tango", Ian......

I have to spell my whole postal address phonetically if I order something from a firm I've never dealt with before.....Until I get to 'Pembrokeshire'. 

Cheers - Phil.

[Roy]

Re: Accents

Once worked on a building site and we had a Telecommunications Computer Data engineer (no, I don't know what him and his apprentice were actually doing, except it involved big cables for computers).

The bloke had a brilliant accent and was introduced to everyone as "This is Jan. He's from Wales."
To which he'd reply with weary indignation (in a, to an Englishman's ears, Welsh accent) "I'm not from bloody Wales. I'm Belgian!"
Only problem was, new people thought he was joking and that he was really Welsh.   

I haven't been to Belgium, so I don't know if there is a similarity of accent between Flemish-Belgian and Welsh.
I bet the bloke was glad to see the back of us though and go home every Friday night. 

[FierceKitty]

Re: Accents

Once worked on a building site and we had a Telecommunications Computer Data engineer (no, I don't know what him and his apprentice were actually doing, except it involved big cables for computers).

The bloke had a brilliant accent and was introduced to everyone as "This is Jan. He's from Wales."
To which he'd reply with weary indignation (in a, to an Englishman's ears, Welsh accent) "I'm not from bloody Wales. I'm Belgian!"
Only problem was, new people thought he was joking and that he was really Welsh.   

I haven't been to Belgium, so I don't know if there is a similarity of accent between Flemish-Belgian and Welsh.
I bet the bloke was glad to see the back of us though and go home every Friday night. 

I met an Italian monk once. He'd learned English (very well) in Dublin. Most disconcerting accent.

[paulr]

I had been dealing with a guy with a Scandinavian name from Ericsson in Sweden via email, he came out to NZ and the first meeting was a bit of a shock

He was of African ancestry (how are you meant to say that these days?) but the real shock was his broad Scottish accent