On Saturday, November 8, 2003, at 08:30 PM, David MR wrote: > Another case of screw the customer. What they may make up in lower > labor > cost will be offset by customer dissatisfaction. I do internal tech > support > for a software company. We have quite a few Indians in the company. > With > hardly an exception, their English with their Indian accent is > difficult to > understand over the phone. I predict there will be complaints from the > customers when they call the res center and can't understand the agent. Actually, this is unlikely. The Indian call center providers hire and train good English speakers, and they go through an intensive process where they lose their accents, are given American nicknames, and are taught about American cultural references like TV shows and sports teams. The call center providers know the product has to be good. This is nothing like Indian (or any other non-U.S.) technical workers in the U.S., who are here for their technical expertise and may not have good language skills. For the call centers, the language skills are primary. You have undoubtedly spoken to people at several Indian (also Pakistani and Bangladeshi) call centers (or outbound telemarketers) and not known it! -- Michael C. Berch mcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx