June 25, 2004

Accent Neutralization

Posted by ryan at 11:06 AM in news . | 2 Comments

With so many call center jobs going overseas to India, many Texans are getting upset when they call customer service and they can't understand the accents. The solution? Send the call center employees to accent neutralization classes where they can learn to sound less Indian and use more American-style expressions when they talk.

Comments

NPR did a big story on this recently. There is also a play called "Aladdin" about Indian call centers and accents.

Posted by: Emily at June 25, 2004 12:52 PM

Next time you get someone from India on your support call, ask them what their REAL name is.

Also, I remember a segment on NPR a long time ago where there were Americans (I think) doing outsourced phone support for England and watching/listening to the BBC to try and emulate the British accent.. or at least the British broadcaster's accent.

Maybe in the end there will be a technological solution, a vocoder that neutralizes accents and translates indigenous expressions into American English. I would set it on Jamaican 24/7 for fun. Irie!

Posted by: agent1073 at June 25, 2004 5:48 PM