Talking plays an integral part in my line of work.
Dealing with customer service, the people I meet mostly consist of tourists and perhaps the odd local along the way. Aside from talking my lungs out, my other main duty would be to prepare tickets for my customers. Part of the process includes the recording of the customer's name as well as the country that he/she is from. I've spoken to many people of different nationalities that I daresay I'm able to emulate a few of them accents now. My favourites would be tourists from countries where English is the main language. Oh they'd be easy to understand, no problem there. I would worry more about tourists from other Asian countries (e.g. South Korea).
It is therefore easy to understand that I was perfectly comfortable and at ease when serving this family from Australia. All was fine until I asked the lady what her name was. She started spelling it out for me as I typed it into the system, while she continued to look on through the glass panel.
"... and it's an 'a'.."
And as I typed 'a', she shook her head and said "No. An 'a' comes next!" I calmly told her that it was an 'a'.
"No, that's an 'i'." So she says.
Thinking I made a mistake, I changed the 'a' to an 'i'. Still she was persistent that I've typed her name wrongly. Thinking that she mistook it for a another similar looking alphabet due to the reflection of the screen, I told her that it was an 'i'. Still, she disagreed.
And there you have it, my first time having some difficulty understanding an english speaking customer.
Trying to get her name spelled right probably took up an entire five minutes. Totally bewildered and fumbling at this point, she finally wrote our her name for me. Realisation hit me at once. When she said 'a', she actually meant 'e'. And when she said 'i', she actually meant 'a'. It all boils down to the accent.
From this, you could see that there was still a miscommunication despite us both being English speakers. We didn't have to use jargon or any slang to get misunderstood. In fact, neither of us felt that we were pronouncing anything wrongly as well. We just pronounce it according to how we hear it. It just so happens that Singaporeans and Australians pronounce those alphabets differently. I would have made a mistake if this exchange happened over the phone instead of a face-to-face meeting. Again, this highlights how the transactional model would be the best for effective communication as it takes place instantaneously on both sides. Thus, it eliminates more chances of miscommunication. It also shows us the vital role verbal communication plays in mutual understanding. Through this, I've learnt first hand the amount of influence that an accent has on a verbal exchange. What impact do you think an accent has on effective communication?
Some may find certain accents appealing, like how most females swoon at a British accent. But do you reckon students find it as appealing if lecturers were to teach with a thick, heavy accent?
4 years ago
9 comments:
G'day mate! its a good example you gave. I've been studying in australia for 2 years. guess what? when i first went over I had the toughest time in lectures. our lecturers are either from china, russia, australia, singapore and who knows where. There are so many different lecturers with so many kinds of accents that its really Very tough to comprehend what they are trying to teach in classes. It really is quite bad when we're supposed to learn from these lecturers and yet have to really strain our ears and work our minds to even begin to understand what they are saying. It is pretty inconvenient at first, but as time goes by we get used to it and it becomes no trouble at all. So I guess at first it seems like accents can give rise to ineffective communication, but once we get more exposed to it, we naturally transcend that barrier. Of course in times of emergencies this 'accent issue' can prove fatal...
interesting post u have there! yes i agree tht transactional model of comm is effective in this situation since both parties (you and the tourist) get to clarify any doubts immediately, as opposed to if it's on the phone... accent can be a real barrier to communication.. if one party tries hard to encode a message but the other party does not understand the msg at all, it would be as good as the message not being sent at all..
"But do you reckon students find it as appealing if lecturers were to teach with a thick, heavy accent?"
I practically burst out laughing at this line.
I think the hottest accent ever has to be the British accent. I remember how i LOVEEEEE listening to British men like Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman speak, even though most of the time, their accents are so thick, I couldn't understand what they are saying. However, like what my brother said, when it comes down to real communication, accents can be a bit of a hindrance. He went to study at Britain for half a year, and he said that he almost failed his subjects because he could not understand what his lecturers are saying!
The transactional model in communication is definitely the best communication model, in my opinion. It eliminates as much miscommunication as possible; in your case, the Australian lady was able to write out her name for you. If it is over the phone, I think both of you would get really frustrated, and worse things could happen.
Hey there. I'm studying in Singapore and I'm facing the exact same problem as those who went to study overseas.
My lecturer is from Hongkong. I have a teaching assistant from China. Half the time, I'm faced with the impulse to speak to them in Mandarin. I almost dropped the module as I could not comprehend their accent, hence not being able to follow what they're saying.
But it does get better. We became used to it. We might still miss out some of the things they're saying but we shrugged it off. The funny thing is, our lecturer knows that we can't understand him sometimes. And he will groaned at his own inability to pronounce the word properly.
-geck
Hey sherlyne =) Your experience was pretty hilarious! I have also had quite a number of personal experiences when it comes to people with accents.
Well, I was in Perth, Australia for a couple of weeks in June 2008 to visit my friends there. I seriously could not understand 80% of what these Australian friends of mine were saying. I remember that I just sat there and said nothing; I could not contribute to the discussion as I could not understand them.
I'm also an indian by race but by nationality i'm Singaporean thus I do not have a strong indian accent also. I would also not say that I have a Chinese accent but it is just that I mix with a lot of Chinese people and speak Chinese at times. However, when I talk on the phone to someone for the first time no one was able to figure out that a tamil speaking indian is on the line. When I talk to telemarketers or strangers on the phone, they always assume I'm a chinese and speak chinese to me throughout the conversation. But the good thing is that I can speak Chinese otherwise it would be really awkward! haha
Thus, I feel accents do play a great deal in communication especially in getting the meaning of what a person has to say.
hahah i don't like australian accents! i'm a sucker for the irish one though. It just makes them so much cuter! hahaha
Anyway, every time i go overseas, i enjoy talking to the locals! i have yet to meet one that feels that my singaporean english poses a problem to communication. Hence, i think that different accents and all that? it's just a matter of getting used to.
"But do you reckon students find it as appealing if lecturers were to teach with a thick, heavy accent?"
oh definitely not appealing at all. i've heard friends mention that they have difficulty paying attention when the lecturer has a very strong accent. how appealing can it get when you spend half the time figuring out what the lecturer is trying to say! really distracting, and you won't be able to focus on what the lecturer is trying to teach at all!
it is really interesting though, to guess where the tourist is from, judging from the accent!
it took me some time to understand what my lecturers were saying when I first came to melbourne to study. It's the accent and everything, and it's not like as if we were talking in two different foreign language. I had to either repeat myself slowly or ask them to repeat what they had said.
Haha thanks for all the comments! Some really made me burst out laughing. I guess we all have our favourite accents, and of course those that we don't fancy as much. I feel that accents play a huge role in being understood. Of course, once we hear them more and get used to it, the problem ceases. Just like how we're so exposed to American accents through tv shows, that we understand most of it perfectly.
Haha and to Trix, guessing the accent is fun. But mimicking it? Nothing says fun more than that.
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