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understanding the indian accent

B

BlahBlahYouToo

Lifer
we've all experienced it. the dreaded tech support call to india. ranjeet the phone CSR. the guy in the corner cube here on a H-1B visa.
they're just really hard to understand.

well, here's a thread that will hopefully make understanding their accent a little easier.

  • their Ws sound like Vs - 'which' is pronounced 'vitch'. 'well' is pronounced 'vell'.
  • accenting the wrong part of a word - 'component' is pronounced 'COM-ponent'.


feel free to add additional tips.
thanks and please do the needful.
 
watching the show outsourced helped a lot and a couple years ago our outsourcing partner sent a guy over here for six weeks to 'figure out what i do and document it' , so that was pretty helpful

you just gotta listen better
 
Fuck that..."We seem to be having a communication break-down. Please transfer me to someone who speaks English."
 
It's cool, my white employees always pretend like they don't know what I'm saying, even though I say it w/ the perfect Calif accent. Bitches.

J/K, I love my bitches.
 
I find different Indian accents to be easier/harder to understand. Most of the time I get by just fine but on occasion I'll be working with someone who is from an area where the accent is more challenging for me. Fortunately people are pretty good natured when I asked them to repeat because "I didn't quite catch that."

Pro tip:
- Quality of phone line makes a TON of difference. VOIP means I can't understand a word my engineers are saying, while via land line they are clear as day
- If I don't get frustrated, they generally don't get frustrated either. Difficulty in communication runs both ways, and I've found the power lies with me to make it hard or friendly.
 
Here's a tip, don't use words that Americans consider relatively common and expect them to understand. I had 24 Hour Fitness call me and tell me I owed them money (I didn't). I got upset, and said they were trying to extort money from me. I then said "you're acting like the Mafia." The guy I was talking to said, and I quote, "no sir, this is not the Mafia, this is 24 Hour Fitness." I was so dumbstruck that I couldn't even be upset. I apologized for the misunderstanding and hung up.
 
BlahBlahYouToo said:
we've all experienced it. the dreaded tech support call to india. ranjeet the phone CSR. the guy in the corner cube here on a H-1B visa.
they're just really hard to understand.

well, here's a thread that will hopefully make understanding their accent a little easier.

  • their Ws sound like Vs - 'which' is pronounced 'vitch'. 'well' is pronounced 'vell'.
  • accenting the wrong part of a word - 'component' is pronounced 'COM-ponent'.

feel free to add additional tips.
thanks and please do the needful.
Click to expand...

Actually, I noticed that my doctor (who is Indian) seems to pronounce V's like W's. :hmm:
 
OP, next time you don't understand someone on a phone call, shove the phone up your ass. I'm sure that will work for you.
 
1147380_o.gif


just picture this gif in your mind as you are listening. all will become clear after that
 
How old are you?
Indian man: I'm dirty.
elder brother: Im dirty too.
Father: I'm too dirty.

That's the way 🙂
 
It sounds like quickly mumbled words. I think many indians have trouble speaking sharp sounding english words. I wonder if they're better with a language like french.
 
H is pronounced "etch"

If there are 2 of the same number together (example 122345) they will say one, double two, three.

They don't seem to know the NATO phonetic alphabet and use words they know, like e for elephant, m for mumbai.

Watch out for the quiet Indians like Madhuri from Outsourced or the male Indians that have high pitched voices.
 
BlahBlahYouToo said:
we've all experienced it. the dreaded tech support call to india. ranjeet the phone CSR. the guy in the corner cube here on a H-1B visa.
they're just really hard to understand.

well, here's a thread that will hopefully make understanding their accent a little easier.

  • their Ws sound like Vs - 'which' is pronounced 'vitch'. 'well' is pronounced 'vell'.
  • accenting the wrong part of a word - 'component' is pronounced 'COM-ponent'.


feel free to add additional tips.
thanks and please do the needful.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you'd have a perfect accent if you were smart enough to learn another language. You should probably work on that overweight issue you have first though.
 
Well, that's how urban Indians educated in some of the better English medium schools and who usually live in relatively richer areas speak.

Usually, if you're listening to someone who hails from a town or a village, or some of the people from areas in cities where the standard of living is not very high, their English will be poorer grammatically and have a stronger accent (accent is a relative thing anyway).
 
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