Philippines Call Centers Overtake India And Some Other Interesting Facts

[FlyAway]

To me English is a very intense descriptive form of communication. Vowels have different sounds. Gender is more formal, we have "He, She, and It". I notice many other languages do not differentiate the two genders. My wife still mixes up "He and Her". A persons first language is learned growing up as we all know. Conditioning of our vocal skills is an exercise of the tongue movements. I would think. When stationed in Okinawa Japan, many of my Japanese friends had a hard time with "L". Look at the mechanics of your tongue movement in comparison to other letters. People from India I have noticed they tend to roll vowels. Combine that with not fully understanding the tone of the words they are saying and you get frustrated people at the other end of the phone. It is one thing to be able to read, write and comprehend English, another to speak it effectively. Language in the Philippines I have noticed the sounds similar to English tones. Plus there is a lot of Spanish influence there to. So with the right coaching, I think Filipino's can be trained much more quickly. Just an observation, I may be wrong. I could see a growing business in the teaching of conversational English there in Philippines. It is something you will never be able to pick up from reading books. You must practice practice practice. Anyone know if there is a "Toast Masters" type of club there in Philippines?

[Bruce]

At least it ain't Mandarin! That is the hardest language to learn. I used to have GF from Hong Kong and she spoke 5 different dialects of Chinese. In Mandarin, the word 'mao' as in the dead guy 's name, is also for 'cat' and 3 other meanings, all dependant on the way you say parts of the word. How many different ways to say MAO? Well she could say it 5 different ways each with it's own meaning. As I understand it, there are 3 types of speaking in Japan. If you want to say 'Come here.' You use different words when speaking to your boss as compared to speaking to your employees as compared to speaking to your friends or family. Depends on where you are in the pecking order. Getting back to English..... the damage has alread started with the new generation and their dependence on 'gadgets'. Schools are dropping cursive writing as a requirement and term papers are now being written (and hopefully rejected) using txt words instead of the full words. 10+ years ago teachers were complaining that kids can not tell time on a standard clock as they never saw a clock that was not digital. In comparing the English (superior) teaching methods to the American (multiple choice) methods, I have found that people from say India or other former colonies have a more 'proper' vocabulary than the average American. The Philippines seems to have followed this somewhat as they use words like 'avail' which is in my vocabulary, but I do not ever remember using it.

[MikeB]

At least it ain't Mandarin! That is the hardest language to learn. I used to have GF from Hong Kong and she spoke 5 different dialects of Chinese. In Mandarin, the word 'mao' as in the dead guy 's name, is also for 'cat' and 3 other meanings, all dependant on the way you say parts of the word. How many different ways to say MAO? Well she could say it 5 different ways each with it's own meaning.

Is the Mandarin word for cat (mao) pronounced meow?

[Jake]

Well said Bruce, when I first started in the Call Centre industry here I used to hear people say, you need to sound like an American. I would say.... and how does an American Sound?Don't get me wrong, I am not having a go at how there are many accents in the US that I could never understand, because the same can be said for the UK, or even Australia for that matter.My point being most of the agents that I know in the industry, speak a better level of "Neutral English" than most Americans, British, or Aussies for that matter.Outbound "cold calling" campaigns are in fact a small portion of the Call Centre and BPO industry in the Philippines, in fact LPO (Legal Process Outsourcing), and Transcription, are becoming much bigger and soon I suspect will over take many areas. But there is also non voice, for web chatting, and gaming, (all those guys who don't have a partner, and spend all their time on the web, playing games), additionally there are PHP programmers, and animation, which are also growing here in the Philippines. In fact if you have watched any of the top animation movies in the past 4 or 5 years, you can almost guarantee some of that work was done by Filipinos. Yes there are things to complain about here in the Philippines, but there are also things to stand up and be proud of. Papa Carl

Hey Papa Carl, A couple years ago, I had to call a toll free 800 number for Vonage to discuss my billing discrepancy.I was pleasantly surprised that a female voice from Cebu assisted me. Not only did she spoke Englishwith hardly any accent but her manner of making sure I was completely satisfied was very professional. Any language spoken via the telephone is hard enough as it is. It was the business like pleasantriesthat made the experience worth remembering. I suppose the agents there can probably speak otherinternational languages with the important factor of being more respectful and courteous. Personally, if I was a call center agent I would not last the first week. My patience dealing with iratecustomers would probably get me fired from day 1. Jake Edited November 28, 2011 by JAKE
spill and gramur chek

[Bruce]

At least it ain't Mandarin! That is the hardest language to learn. I used to have GF from Hong Kong and she spoke 5 different dialects of Chinese. In Mandarin, the word 'mao' as in the dead guy 's name, is also for 'cat' and 3 other meanings, all dependant on the way you say parts of the word. How many different ways to say MAO? Well she could say it 5 different ways each with it's own meaning.

Is the Mandarin word for cat (mao) pronounced meow?

No, to me, sounds just like the the dead guy's name. But there are tiny tiny small details that the Chinese ear is trained to pick up. Very hard to do as English is not based on such small details. We have big details such as the difference between 'read' and read' (I read that book.... I want to read that book) which is a big difference. In Chinese it may be simply holding the 'a' sound 0.003 seconds longer.... Beyond my abilities.

[FlyAway]

Getting back to English..... the damage has alread started with the new generation and their dependence on 'gadgets'. Schools are dropping cursive writing as a requirement and term papers are now being written (and hopefully rejected) using txt words instead of the full words. 10+ years ago teachers were complaining that kids can not tell time on a standard clock as they never saw a clock that was not digital.

Spell and Grammar check do not always work out they way people think they do! The teaching style of University of Phoenix is to have teams of students write reports. The team collaborates and puts together multi-page reports. You can definitely see a difference in writing styles between the age groups. Those of us born in the 50's 60's and early 70's were distinctively different than later generations. It drove us up the wall to turn in a piece of work not up to what we considered good English Grammar. Instructor said we had to go with the flow and adapt. Call center work is tough. Think of the various generations and cultures you are dealing with. I almost went to work for a call center here in the US. They had a 5 day training program before even letting you answer or make a call. Seems like they are not like that anymore.

[Bruce]

Getting back to English..... the damage has alread started with the new generation and their dependence on 'gadgets'. Schools are dropping cursive writing as a requirement and term papers are now being written (and hopefully rejected) using txt words instead of the full words. 10+ years ago teachers were complaining that kids can not tell time on a standard clock as they never saw a clock that was not digital.

Spell and Grammar check do not always work out they way people think they do! The teaching style of University of Phoenix is to have teams of students write reports. The team collaborates and puts together multi-page reports. You can definitely see a difference in writing styles between the age groups. Those of us born in the 50's 60's and early 70's were distinctively different than later generations. It drove us up the wall to turn in a piece of work not up to what we considered good English Grammar. Instructor said we had to go with the flow and adapt. Call center work is tough. Think of the various generations and cultures you are dealing with. I almost went to work for a call center here in the US. They had a 5 day training program before even letting you answer or make a call. Seems like they are not like that anymore.

Sorry to hear about the University of Phoenix. Sad to see them try to remove any individuality. I assume that it is because 'collectively' there is less chance of students failing even though it lowers the individual's performance. It also removes the individual's chance to learn how to do it themselves. But their goal is to make money and get the students through the program as fast a possible for the next group is forming now.

[JJReyes]

Standard American English is distinct as is British English, Australian English, Philippine English and Nigerian English, just to name a few. Within the United States, there are 10 recognized dialects including Ebonics, Louisiana Creole and Hawaiian Creole (Pidgin). Each has its own rules of grammar, pronounciation and word substitution. It is a "bathroom" or "toilet" in the United States; a "water closet" or "wc" in the United Kingdom; a "comfort room" or "cr" in the Philippines; and a "lou" for the Australian. I forgot which English speaking country calls the same item, a "commode." The owners of call centers in the Philippines and India offer employees training programs using, "Neutral Accent English," which follows standard American English for calls made to the United States. The British preference is South African English. Most of the calls made to the UK come from call centers in South Africa. The Philippines is winning the business because Indian employees tend to be more belligerent and hostile to customers than Pilipinos.