MERGED: Modern Education, Literacy and English Proficiency

[n`gel]

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I have to agree with you cyclops, India is very competitive even in the IT industry. Ang pinoy lang maayo kaayo mo imitate. Kuyaw kaayo'g mga accents ba. For me you can still say you're proficient in english even if you have your own accent. You don't really have to sound like everybodyelse, you don't have to sound american, as long as pronunciation is right, the sentence is right, that's all that matters. We Filipinos, like what vern said, have our own sound when we speak english, unless dili ka sa Pilipinas natawo. The english language doesn't require a uniform accent to speak it, so... it don't really count as necessary. So misconception na nga moingon ta proficient kaayo sa english kay mura na amerkano paminawon. Goodness gracious, wherever did people get that?

[crinkle]

^ i dunno bout that, really but as for my experience, i really don't like reading through documentations by peeps from India... the grammar is often too messed up to comprehend... and most of the times, when my caller asks if i was located at India, and when i say NO, they're usually more satisfied...

well, that's for my experience anyway...

[n`gel]

Well, yeap crinkle duna diperensya. I called one time customer service sa verizon diri, mura India gikan ang tubag, klaro lagi kaayo ilang accent but it ain't really that bad. Masabtan man. Though I had to really raise my voice at one time kay dugay kaayo kasabot, kapoi kaayo sige balik².

Pero technical skills? They're highly competitive. Ubay² nuon ta untapped IT human resources sa atoa pero untapped man. Kusog offshore IT solutions sa India kaysa sa Pinas.

There's no question about Filipinos being good english talkers, pero talk ra sad lagi kutob. Gamay rang skilled in other more important fields.

[crinkle]

^ bitaw pod...

[Spec-V]

@n'gel - ang customer service sa Verizon tu-a na sa India ?!? :8O: Pastilan dyud ning outsourcing....Dili na ni maayo!

[n`gel]

Why say dili maayo spec-v? Daghan nakatrabaho sa atoa tungod sa outsourcing, although dili maayo para nato naa diri, pero sige lang, ubay² pa mang trabaho diri ba, may nalang na's atong mga kababayan.

[TrainerEd]

@ cyclops I have been in the contact center industry for 4 years going five and I can more or less tell you why India is number one but not for long.India is Number one because the contract rate they offer is the lowest in the industry and they were the pioneers of the contact center industry then, But not the trendsetters anymore. India has issues regarding VOIp being illegal and thus it has been a difficult juggling act since they suffer in quality of calls against labor. The Philippines is offering VOIP and with personnel that come closer to american culture than the indians. We think more like americans and are more easily understood then the indians. Case in point would be that majority of the big players in America now outsource to the Philippines first then India as a secondary choice. India has CE or CSAT issues. In laymans terms for those who are new to the contact center industry CE is Customer Satisfaction same as CSAT. And that's where the Philippines has an edge, they may have lower abandoned call rates ( these are calls that do not get ansewered) but they have big issues on CE and CSATs thats why more centers are being opened in the Philippines.
Also the labor rate of the Philippines on an average and the cost per seat to open a center in the Philippines is lower than in India in the long run. Why so? the client does not pull out as often as they have been in India. Because everytime you pull out you have to invest again in training a new center to your client specs.
Which brings us to language proficiency particularly for English. I train people in the center I work in from American Culture and Geopgraphy, Communication skills ( accent neutralization ) to Customer handling skills for newbies and people in Ops and more often than not I tell the people I train I am not teaching them to acquire an american accent but a neutral accent which is similar to the BROADCAST NETWORK STANDARD ( something like what you here in CNN). We train to help the americans understand them better rather than trying to sound american that you are trying to develop an accent from all regions of the US. We all have to understadn that the US has accents as well a person from the south can speak slower than the people from the east. A person from New york can ask you So who shleped your stuff and a person from the south or west coast may not understand, when the in the east coast schlep means "to move " which is a yiddish term for moving things. So accents even in the US is something they contend with.
Let's put it into a local example let's say the word Peach when pronouced with a short i it sounds like PITCH and the word pitch with a long e will sound like the word PEACH as PEECH. If you were american and you pronounced PEACH with a short e and the one you are talking to would pronouce it with a short I, Do you think they would understand each other?
Another example would be a rep would say "Sir we still have rooms overlooking the beach" but the customer heard it as " Sir we still have rooms overlooking the BITCH" on the latter the Beach was pronounced with a Short I rather that a long e. It may be amusing but this can result in CE and CSAT issues for a call center and can costs the center the account if this would be the case with almost all reps.

My favorite peeve is the word "refer", a lot of agents say it as REFER with a Short e sounds like Reh-FER, when in fact is is pronounced with a long e as how e is pronounced as a letter in the alphabet.

Developing a neutral accent with a knowledge of American culture are what contact centers are developing in their staff.
You have to understand that the outsourcing of customer service contact processes will never end. In fact China has already started getting into this business, As a matter of fact they handle some of the calls now for American Airlines and Delta Airlines. It kinda sounds funny when you hear a rep with a Chinese accent on the other line introducing herself as Jenny Jones.
Funny as it may seem but they are actually hiriung trainers from the United States and Philippines to train call center reps in China on how to speak English. So when you look at it Language Proficiency in English is pretty important. Look at it this way, companies pay average of $22 to $25 per hour to have their calls answered in the US. If they outsource they pay only half of that and that's why this is not actually an industry that is not a fad.
In fact the consumer market in the Manila has changed due to callcenters. Banks and Credit card companies in Manila now easily process call center employees' credit card applications and loan applications. Mc Donalds and Jollibee are now operating 24 hours and convenience stores are now mushrooming everywhere in Manila and soon in Cebu, CDO and Davao as well.
So as far as what has been mentioned about Call centers hiring dropouts. Well, FYI in the United States most people that work in call centers are high school graduates. Not a lot of people can afford to go to college in the United States it costs $32,000.00 a year minimum to study college there. That's why going to college is a bitg thing there. Ever wondered how come in movies like American Pie it was such a big thing to receive a letter stating that the Scholarship has been approved for college? and the character would always be ecstatic and jump for joy about making it when he does receive he good news.
Well, there is a big difference in the education structure as well their primary or elementary education consists of 7 years and high school is 5 years thats 2 more years that us. That's why contact centers here in the Philippines have started accepting College level applicants who may have at least 2 years of college or who may be really exemplary with communication in English or People handling skills.
As a matter of fact the call center where I work we offer scholarship programs for undergraduates and those who wish to pursue their masters degree. So education is important, But it does not mean if you are a college dropout you can't be working in a call center. I know for a fact a lot of reps that are good and are not college graduates but they are still studying in Peoplesupport and eTelecare as well here in Cebu.
So for those who are thinking of english proficiency and if it's important- I only have one thing to say in this day and age it does count a lot.
for more on how to sound neutral check out www.m-w.com and listen to how they pronouce words. merriam webster is the standard for american english while as Oxford is the standard for British english.

[maling]

sizzle fizzle

[vlad]

even if u try to avoid people who "cant speak weel", there are a lot of social errors uv grown to live with...

[vlad]

in fairness, cebuanos speak better english than manileños... trysiKEL, popsiKEL... hahaha