Archive for April, 2009

Consumerist article on Indian Call Centers

April 27, 2009 at 2:02 pm · Filed under Accent Modification, Business, Cross cultural communication, training methods ·Tagged , , , ,

There is a very interesting post on Consumerist.com today — the title: “Even Indians Hate Indian Call Centers“. 

The article is about the frustration of not finding resolution to the issues for which one calls customer support. But the comments from Consumerist readers weigh heavily on how frustrated American callers are in speaking with people who have difficult to understand accents.

Hey, call centers of the world — help is available! I wonder how many of the call centers make use of accent modification training for their employees. To date, all of my clients have been US-based, but I would relish the opportunity to work with an Indian call center. I’m in discussions with the Department of Commerce to see how to promote my services overseas, so perhaps someday soon I’ll be able to help out some of those CSRs named “Sally” and “Bob” that the Consumerist readers have such a tough time with….

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Mindfulness

April 17, 2009 at 7:47 pm · Filed under mindfulness, training methods ·Tagged , ,

I have been making mindfulness an explicit part of my accent training process for the past year or so. I’ve adapted a list of the five qualities of mindfulness from Ellen Langer’s book on Mindfulness and help my clients examine how they relate to changing their accents:

1.   Openness to novelty. (You will experience new muscle movements, new awareness and use of breath, and you will hear yourself in a new way).

 2.   Alertness to distinction. (Begin to recognize the difference in the sounds you make and the sounds native English speakers make. Listen for differences among native English speakers, too).

 3.   Sensitivity to different contexts. (How does environment affect your speech choices? Others’ choices?)

 4.   Implicit or explicit awareness of multiple perspectives. (What do other people think of the way you speak? Can they understand you? How do they perceive you?)

 5.   Orientation in the present. (Be conscious of what your body is doing, and be conscious of how you sound).

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Accent Modification — one of 11 best-kept-secret careers

April 6, 2009 at 2:21 pm · Filed under Accent Modification, Business ·Tagged , , ,

According to US News and World Reports, Accent Modification Trainer is one of the eleven “best-kept-secret careers” for 2009. They are in alphabetical order, so we come out on top. :)

Here’s what the article gives as a “snapshot” of the profession:

 A customer-service person in India speaks perfect English but wants his accent more clearly understood by Americans. A Chinese scientist at a government lab speaks poor English and in such a heavy accent that it’s hard to understand him. A corporation has executives with thick Brooklyn, African-American, Latino, or southern accents, and the company believes they’ll be more credible if they sound more like a TV news anchor. These are typically the clients of accent-reduction specialists, also known as accent neutralization or accent modification specialists. Demand for this specialty is strong. Most accent-reduction specialists come from the ranks of speech therapists or English-as-a-Second-Language teachers.

The reporter got what we do, but used the term accent “reduction” rather than accent “modification.” I think modification is the more accurate term, since we are changing, not reducing people’s accents, but “reduction” is easier to understand. I find that when I say “accent modification” I frequently have to further define what it is that we do. 

Well, great to know that we’re in a hot career! Let’s hope 2009 will be a good year for all of us.

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