John, I know how you feel.... I apologies if I hurt sentiments of any community :). I agree with your opinion on understanding some accents from here...I face that myself at times so I am not very surprised that you do too..and also my experience in accents (where ever they are) is that accent has more to do with the cultural and social structure rather then just the language. I personally don’t recommend accent training I am more into accent neutralization.

I no where meant that alls well on the this end. We too have our fair share of accent problems. Well I agree agents at times are pretty fast paced and miss out on some key punctuations which I normally find you emphasize on while speaking....so this being the case we do have some irate customers.

All said, I prefer UK over US simply because people are more polite and patient.. though at times gives nightmares with my AOD's :)..about Indian:Scottish compatibility that’s worth a analysis :)

Hi Sunil,

Although I had always agreed on the accent neutralization bit since it made agents' accents much clearer and did take away the regional accents to some extent, however, when I moved to my present organization I found actually Americanizing the accent really does work as well.

Of course, in the accent training, it is very important to start off with neutralization, but I saw a combination of that with at least a bit of Americanization (of course it is a US project) really worked. One thin that had to be kept in mind is that the American dialects are not mixed and the accent incorporated is of one dialect only. Customers generally found it to be confusing with agents using Bronx verbiage in one sentence and employing a Texan drawl in the next.

As far as punctuations go, the average Indian on calls, from my experience on operations floor, does not realize the seriousness, nor implements, the effect of correct UK or US intonation. For example, a person who is unable to go at 10 beat pauses, and pauses like Indians normally do, would find the customer quickly realizing that this is a foreigner.

As far as US/UK go, I feel both have their pros and cons. I have seen UK customers using their politeness as a weapon to convince an agent of something which a smarter agent might have picked up as what it is if his/her conversational skills were good. I think it all permeates down to reading each type of customer's thought process and trying to deal with the same, case-to-case basis.

Your thoughts would be highly appreciated....

I have seen UK customers using their politeness as a weapon to convince an agent of something which a smarter agent might have picked up as what it is if his/her conversational skills were good.

Nitin,

It's some thing I do on a regular basis.

I do have quite a reputatioin for being Rude / Obnoxious / Blunt and
to the point.

I have collegues who get worried when I'm over polite.

I like to think this is "Me being me". My friends accept it and
know when the polite side crops up it's time to duck and cover.

The conversation normally starts.

Me: "Can I speak to your Supervisor please?"

Agent: "Is it anything I can help with?"

Me: "No this is nothing you can help with and you really don't want to be involved"

Works 9 times out of 10.

HTH

DaveA

>I have collegues who get worried when I'm over polite.

>I like to think this is "Me being me". My friends accept it and
>know when the polite side crops up it's time to duck and cover.

Me too! They know it's when I am really concentrating on not being too scary, evil or mean.

However it can spill over into private life. I recently unintentionally sabotaged a stag weekend because of this reputation. The lads all had matching t-shirts printed in Berlin (I don't know why - guess it's a lad thing; most women would avoid wearing matching outfits!) with something innocuous on in German, and took a picture and sent it by phone. As a German speaker, the recipient (my husband) asked me what it meant, and I translated. He texted his friend back and asked if he knew what it meant, and got a reply saying he had been told it meant , and asked why. So my husband texted back and said "Yeah, Zoe says it means something like that, but I've got to warn you she's smiling". And that's all he said.

Several panicked phone calls from a very paranoid bunch of revellers in Berlin later I eventually managed to reasure them that my husband was in fact winding them up and they could continue their celebration without fear of an international incident.

Z

Well as far as I have learnt an accent would mean a manner of speech that carries rhythm and tune. When you talk of a neutral accent it would ideally mean speech pattern that has none of this.

What we actually have to do is work at identifying the regional influences that exist in out speech pattern and try to work them out. Then if really depends what kind of accent training needs be imparted. I feel that together with understanding what the accent is all about the agent would have to understand the nuances of the language and would need to develop an understanding of semantics.

The agent needs to know exactly what message he/she is passing on, generally the issue is stress happening on the wrong word and this leaves the customer wondering what the agent is trying to say and he/she(customer) ends up saying "I don't understand you"

As you rightly says accents change. Let's understand there are about 27 recognised accents in the US and probably a 'thousand' in the UK. What is important is to maintain a standard rhythm in your speech pattern and not jump from one pattern to another.

Rapport building is definetely not about sports, weather or entertainment, it could be as simple as hearing a dog barking in the background and talking about that, or picking something from the conversation with your customer and talking about that.

To answer "why are we trying to remove accents from our people" let me ask Closed a simple question. If I were to say something to you that sounds like "The snakes are in the hole" meaning to say " The snacks are in the hall" would you understand? Not Likely!!!!

es I tink you would yunderstand now.

If I were to say something to you that sounds like "The snakes are in the hole" meaning to say " The snacks are in the hall" would you understand.

Yes, I and many other British people, especially those from the North would understand. The spelling and pronuncation as written is very similar to the Geordie accent.

You are forgetting that there is an onus on the listener to understand, exposure to accents helps this process enormously. In the UK we accept different accents both regionally and those from other coutries - remember throughout history Brits have become very used to hearing Europeans speak English with a variety of accents and inflections. Americans are not used to listening to English as spoken by someone with an accent outside the US. Thats the major difference and thats why the Brits are much more accepting and aware of accents than many Americans. We've had more exposure, both now and historically.
Also historically Brits are used to clarifying foreign sounding accents and realise the onus is on the listener as well as the speaker to ensure comprehension occurs - we often go to mainland Europe and arent uderstood by the Europeans.

Favourite Joke

Geordie is invited to a Royal Garden Party. The Queen greets Geordie and offers him Afternoon Tea; "Would you like a cake or a meringue?" Geordie replies "No Queen, you're not wrong, I'd love a cake."

Zoe
(from Newcastle)

You might have to say this out loud a few times to get it, feel free to ask for explanation - my husband who is from (whispers) South of the River stubbornly fails to understand this!

I thought it might prove provocative to open up this debate.

Isnt the adoption of 'neutral accents' just another form of cultural imperialism?

We dont ask those with regional accents in the UK adopt received pronunciation. We dont even bother to alter our accent if say we are sellign overseas - eg Americans selling to Europe or UK - the Texan drawl isnt eradicated, nor the New York twang. Why then should we expect other nations?

Speaking from a British perspective we often expect European to speak English having made no concessions to alter anything.

Is this inconsistency reasonable or is it simply dominance?

When we learn other languages we learn in a sanitised fashion (eg French lessons dont concentrate on a Paris or a Lille accent). Likewise other nations learning English also adopt a standard pattern. Generally, our accents when speaking a foreign language are abysmal hence the normal comedy around the attempts of Britains to speak the lingo when abroad.

It is only when you actually live or spend time in the country whose language you have learn't does the correct pronunciation and accents start - Peter Schmeichel's Manc' accent when he played for MU, Eidur Gudjohnsen's London accent.

To me using the use of neutral accents is not so much about hiding the fact the call is from abroad and more about introducing correct usage without having to send the agents abroad for a few months to complete their language education.

You mention that the onus is on the listener and to a point I agree, but when you are a corporation providing a service which the caller is paying for then I think it is right that the person on the end of the phone speaks the customer's language clearly - be it an Indian in Bombay speaking to us in England, or an English person in Liverpool speaking to someone abroad.

<<<<<>>>>

I agree with you Julian. Why do we only impose those conditions of accent neuralisation upon the Indian subcontinent?

Also 'clarity' is all in the ear of the listener. I've worked with many Geodies who have a lower tolerance of Asian accents than the Londoners I've worked with. What was 'unclear' to the geordie was in my opinion caused by a lack of familiarity with the Asian accent and nothing to do with 'clarity'.

I agree; there was an interesting study done a good few years ago regarding South African English, and how it is perceived as more comprehensible now than during the sanctions, due to the UK's now increased contact and exposure to the accent. Can't find the link though!

Hi folks

i need some help of english pronuncation.

Plz help me