11 July 2006

The Descent of the Accent

This article appeared in the Chennai version of The Hindu today. I thought it was pretty interesting, plus someone from my company was quoted. I wonder if this is why I can't get a job at any of other companies here...
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15 comments:

  1. Anonymous7/11/2006 4:12 AM

    But aren't you teaching accent neutralization? ... I know I always did... and lots of relevant cultural info, too. I think other BPOs don't hire so many N.A. trainers because there are plenty of local trainers with the expertise to train the same material... and if they need to develop or revamp a program, they can bring in an expert for the short-term to do C-Dev, TTTs and what-not. So, I bet if you were that expert you'd have a great job... and lots of frequent flyer miles :-)

    BTW... Were you Vinod's trainer?

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  2. artgnome7/11/2006 3:14 PM

    I have to say, not only did I lose my job to outsourcing, I spent most of my work time cleaning up the mistakes and apologizing for the errors and customer mishandling that went on in the foreign call centers. My own personal situations with them have not been good either. They don't seem to understand anything I am saying or they just plain don't care.

    I also can't help but think for every foreign voice over the phone, there is one less American with a job.

    just my opinion, sorry it's a negative one.

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  3. Anonymous7/11/2006 4:01 PM

    Miss Gardengnome,

    It is sad that you do not understand the economics of comparative advantage that India has over the US. India produces over 500,000 engineers/ post graduate student year over year. the average Indian speaks over 5 languanges proficiently. Also we are a growing economy, it wont be long before the $$ will devaluate to other Asian currencies. Americans often tend to ignore such economics, mainly due to the lack of vital education. You people take up arts, relegion and literature as your majors, what kind of menial job are u going to get with such a degree. Also you spend half a lifetime analyzing what you want to do, you never reap the benefits of a good education and end up working at a walmart and cribbing the other half of your life. It is sad that you never make an effort to understand another countries culture/"accent". English is the language of the British....why do americans then spell it differently. The answer is you guys want to be different !!! Similarly other countries too want to be different. Hope you got my point. If not, too bad you lack a broad outlook.

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  4. Anonymous7/11/2006 6:13 PM

    Pot calling the Kettle black.
    You've got tunnel vision.
    Take the blinders off and stop kidding yourself about your own outlook.

    Language (including spelling) naturally diverges with separation of cultures.
    Get over it. It's not about being different.

    Arts and Language studies are typically linked with culture studies.
    You are contradicting yourself by vaulting effectively useless 'profieciency' in languages and macroeconomics while bashing studies in the Arts.

    Studying Language is akin to studying Arts when your microcosm has no use for the language.
    This applies to most Americans due to the US position in the global community in the past century or so.
    All roads lead to Rome.

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  5. Anonymous7/11/2006 6:52 PM

    Its all about the benjamins. The wages in the US are high, the taxes in the US are high, the cost of business of doing business in the US is high, and US citizens are not willing to do many jobs. Thus the jobs go places where it is economical to have them.

    I have worked in a call center (in the US), and I currently spend a significant portion of my day doing tech support. I spend a lot of time dealing with other companies' tech support. I would rather get somebody in India. The US workers think the job is of low status, they think they deserve better, and they resent working there. The Indians have an appreciation for the job they are doing, and many of them have aspirations of working to a better job, not just thinking somebody should hand them a better job.

    India still has some educational and social impediments to full emersion in the western economy, but she will continue to improve in that respect, and jobs will continue to migrate there.

    India's standard of living and cost of living will rise, it will take them a long time to get fat and lazy like the Americans. In the mean time, its not the Indian's fault that US companies are moving jobs there. If you want to place blame, look at the executives making the decisions to move the jobs, and your own refusal to do the job for the rate that it will pay in India. That refusal is probably a result of the cost of living in the US, which is a result of the expected standard of living. The blame rests on America, not India.

    -The REAL Anonymous

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  6. Anonymous7/11/2006 10:24 PM

    ". . . there is one less American with a job."

    Why is it any better for an American to have a job than an Indian?

    -The REAL Anonymous

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  7. artgnome7/12/2006 8:25 AM

    "It is sad...Hope you got my point. If not, too bad you lack a broad outlook."

    Is that why you are all coming over here for that education? I have more east Indians living in my apartment complex than Americans. You also are doing a lot of assuming and stereotyping about Americans and showing me you don't know much about us either, only what you've gleaned from the media. btw...I'm working on my Master's Degree and runnning my own business and raising a child, not working at Walmart and complaining.

    "Arts and Language studies are typically linked with culture studies. You are contradicting yourself by vaulting effectively useless 'profieciency' in languages and macroeconomics while bashing studies in the Arts."

    Thank you for pointing this out. Many people have great and valuable jobs in the arts. You can't have one without the other.


    "Why is it any better for an American to have a job than an Indian?"

    It's not about either culture being better than the other. American corporations are turning their backs on their own people to put more money in their own pockets. Reality is that they go to other countries because they are CHEAPER and for no other reason. Corporations do not value their employees, no matter what country or culture they are from. They only care about the bottom fiscal line, not about quality. Work for them long enough and you will find out for yourself.

    I am not trying to attack anyone, I'm only expressing my own experience with the call center trade. I'm also the only one brave enough to put a name (and a face) to my opinion, apparently.

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  8. Anonymous7/12/2006 11:40 AM

    India has a population of over 1bn people, the number of Indian grads studying in the US is not even .01%, in statistical terms thats an insignificant portion. Art and culture is inter-linked, but to restrict oneself to ones own culture and then make irrational non fact based judgements on other cultures is something I have seen only among the Americans who are against the outsourcing culture. By the way miss gnome have you ever been to India or lived there, Indian education, culture as well as people are more aware of their environment and culture than Amercians are. Please also note that Indian labor, salary is not cheap; IT IS AFFORDABLE. There is a wide gap between the two. Also tell me how many Americans you know are able to pool vast magnitudes of software talent. Your large corporations are not turning their backs , they are only doing what every company does, increasing the value of their shareholders and raising profits. This is the economics of any industry. My suggestion is for you to go on Amazon and get yourself an Idiots book on economics/finance and then come back to argue.

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  9. Anonymous7/12/2006 3:18 PM

    Here are some fun facts about India, this bastion of education and enlightenment:
    http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html
    The illiterate population of India is nearly double that of the entire population of the United States.
    There are over 100 million unemployed people in the country.
    Maybe companies hire employees over there because their life expectancy is 10 years less than it is for Americans, that's how you save money on pensions!

    Just the facts!

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  10. Anonymous7/12/2006 8:08 PM

    "Also tell me how many Americans you know are able to pool vast magnitudes of software talent."

    There is a huge amount of software talent in the US. Software is outsourced, but not as frequently. Quality programmers are not nearly as cheap in India as are tech support workers. (Training advertised with pink Oracle 9 and orange J2EE flyers on walls does not produce programmers at the quality of the US and Indian universities. Bad programmers are cheap. Good programmers are still expensive.) The cost differential between US and Indian programmers is still significant, but it is largely eaten up by the cost of intercontinental communication and coordination, much more than that required for phone support.

    I'd take Indian phone support, but I'll put my money with programmers in the US for now, at least if I couldn't directly control who got hired in India.

    -----------------

    "I'm also the only one brave enough to put a name (and a face) to my opinion, apparently."

    I generally don't like the Terms and Conditions or Private Policies of sites like this, so I don't create accounts. And I don't want to spread my identity all over the internet. But you know me as the resident of the house on St. Paul who was around, but not part of the church.

    -The REAL Anonymous

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  11. artgnome7/13/2006 8:47 AM

    "My suggestion is for you to go on Amazon and get yourself an Idiots book on economics/finance and then come back to argue."

    It was never my intent to argue, that was your stance. I don't waste my time with posters that cannot debate in a civil manner. You are obviously taking my comments personally and I'm sorry you feel that way. I am not attacking your culture. I only voiced my opinion. I never directly pointed or made any of my original comment towards India. My former employer had outsourcing to Canada and the Philipines. You are taking all this way to personally and are insulting me on a point that I never made. These types of discussions and debates online would be so much more productive if people could be more respectful and less insulting. You have been attacking my opinion, my country, and me as a person since you started posting. I suggest you find a way to better represent your country by acting more civil and letting others have an opinion that differs from yours.

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  12. Anonymous7/16/2006 11:02 PM

    Being someone who lived most of my life, education in both countries I think I have an inside thoughts to both cultures.

    First of all I love both countries. Did Masters and lived in US for 14 years out of which atleast 10 were spent working in corporate America.

    Like someone has mentioned it's all about benjamins. Had if the jobs stayed in US maybe the company couldn't afford to make money and may have to fold. Currently it may have half of it's operations in US and the other half in India just becaus this is the only way they could stay competitive. If the company is forced to stay in US and then their product may cost more than what their competitor is selling, at which point the company would fold.

    So hence it makes all the sense in the world that why the company would send some jobs to other countries, or maybe it's just greed.

    But to look at the other side of the story the trade is not a one way street. Today where ever you see you just can't escape american products in India. It's funny that I pay a Tommy Hilfiger shirt the same amount of money in Indian Rupees equivalent to what it costs in US in dollars which was made in India or singapore.

    In the sense of argumnent from Miss GardenGnome India shouldn't take jobs from US because it is taking the jobs away from US. In that retrospect all the American brands (god everything from tooth paste to shoes that are american brands) should not come to India and the Indians shouldn't buy them because buying american brands is hurting indian brands (for example the Indian brand I used to know as kid for footware "Bata" is dying today becaus we have evrything from Nike to Reebok to Adidas setting up their mega outlets in India and is literally killing the Indian brands). You may ask why is that Nike is killing Bata. The reason is that most of the purcahse power in India is in the hands of Yuppies (software professionals or BPO guys in your speak) and kids are the only ones who spends that much and are influenced by global brands.

    To sum it up as an Indian do I take a job away from american because I work in an MNC setup in India and is supporting US based customers and in fair return buy a Tommy Hilfiger shirt and Nike shoes that are american brands who has sweatshops in Malaysia or not?

    In a way I am earning from an american company but spending monsy on an american barnds by buying american clothes and shoes (made in singapore with Indian cotton) and japanese TV and Korean Washing machine and riding on an indian bike which was made in collaboration with a japanese (Honda) company.

    :-) So, can you see the big picture now?

    -- Rags

    P.S: Hey liz, How have you been?

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  13. Anonymous7/16/2006 11:03 PM

    Previous post should've said educated in both countries.

    --Rags

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  14. Anonymous7/29/2006 12:21 AM

    Hey Rags,
    I'm doing well :-)
    I just saw your comment here - don't know if you'll still be checking this thread, so I'll write you an email.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous8/18/2006 6:15 AM

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    ReplyDelete

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