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I cant believe Americans actually consider Filipino accent as " clear and neutral."

Most of them can't pronounce F (hence "pipty pils only", senior supervisors pronounce "chocolate" as "chokkkklait", "snack" as "snuck", and they dont understand sarcasm or idioms in speech. And not to mention what happens when you ask some of them in customer service to do anything ouside a script.

I know the Indian call center accent was considered funny/imcomprehensible to Americans and to me as well, but why would the Filipino accent be considered so much better ?


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14149615


It's this accent, coupled with the high number of fluent English speakers, that is making the Philippines the new destination of choice for international companies wanting to outsource their call centres - especially for the lucrative US market.

"In voice-based business, we really excel," says Bong Borja, the Philippine president of the Aegis People Support, a call centre company.

"To an American, the Philippine accent appears clear and neutral."

In fact, to American ears, Filipinos often sound clearer than agents in India - the erstwhile king of the call centre industry.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
[The Philippines] is very much attuned to the US culture”
End Quote
Bong Borja

Aegis People Support
"We have definitely shown an edge over India," Mr Borja says.

"I think even companies in India would admit to that, and that's the reason some of them are moving to the Philippines. The big name players are all here now."

Talking American

Recent research conducted by IBM shows there are now more call centre agents in the Philippines than there are in India.

The Contact Center Association of the Philippines estimates that 350,000 Filipinos work in call centres, compared to 330,000 Indians.

It's not just the clarity of speech that is in the Philippines' favour. According to Mr Borja, the Philippines "is very much attuned to the US culture. There's a very strong affinity with everything American."

I was once told by an Indian fellow that I could speak 'very good American for an English man!'

Herro, Sirrrrmaaam!



Knight

madaaaaaaam
sairrrrrrrr

BlackburnRovers wrote:I cant believe Americans actually consider Filipino accent as " clear and neutral."

Most of them can't pronounce F (hence "pipty pils only", senior supervisors pronounce "chocolate" as "chokkkklait", "snack" as "snuck", and they dont understand sarcasm or idioms in speech. And not to mention what happens when you ask some of them in customer service to do anything ouside a script.

I know the Indian call center accent was considered funny/imcomprehensible to Americans and to me as well, but why would the Filipino accent be considered so much better ?


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14149615


It's this accent, coupled with the high number of fluent English speakers, that is making the Philippines the new destination of choice for international companies wanting to outsource their call centres - especially for the lucrative US market.

"In voice-based business, we really excel," says Bong Borja, the Philippine president of the Aegis People Support, a call centre company.

"To an American, the Philippine accent appears clear and neutral."

In fact, to American ears, Filipinos often sound clearer than agents in India - the erstwhile king of the call centre industry.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
[The Philippines] is very much attuned to the US culture”
End Quote
Bong Borja

Aegis People Support
"We have definitely shown an edge over India," Mr Borja says.

"I think even companies in India would admit to that, and that's the reason some of them are moving to the Philippines. The big name players are all here now."

Talking American

Recent research conducted by IBM shows there are now more call centre agents in the Philippines than there are in India.

The Contact Center Association of the Philippines estimates that 350,000 Filipinos work in call centres, compared to 330,000 Indians.

It's not just the clarity of speech that is in the Philippines' favour. According to Mr Borja, the Philippines "is very much attuned to the US culture. There's a very strong affinity with everything American."

OK, so a British review, and I guess it's safe to assume that the man speaking in the video is Bong Borja, who has a very strong Philippino acccent!!!

"In voice-based business, we really excel," says Bong Borja, the Philippine president of the Aegis People Support, a call centre company.

The whole interview is based on a Philippino spokesperson. Ask an American and I'm sure they will differ with his opinion.

I will say tho, that the Philippino acccent is far more understandable than that of the Indian. Keep in mind that many people can mimic accents. Quite a few British actors do a very good various different American accents, but can't say the same when it comes to Americans doing a British/Irish/Scottish accent.

I remember reading where Indian call centers were "training" Indians to speak with the American accent. Clearly is was a huge failure because I still have to ask them to repeat themselves when my call to the States is outsourced. I can deal with the slight struggle with certain letters - such as using p for f - than garble. Philippinos are by far much better at speaking English than Indians - but they will always have the acccent.

-- Mon Jul 18, 2011 4:29 pm --

Dillon wrote:I was once told by an Indian fellow that I could speak 'very good American for an English man!'

Sometime back while in a cab the driver was saying something to me that I had to ask him to repeat at least three times. I asked him to repeat it again one word at time. He told me:

It. Is. Very. Hard. To. Understand. Americans. When. They. Talk.

I met a colleague for the first time in San Francisco a couple of Years ago, a native Californian, his name was Lee, the conversation at our first meeting went as follows; I’ve used an alternative name for me.

Me: How do you do? I’m Tony
Lee: I’m fine thanks, I’m Lee, what did you say your name was?
Me: Tony!
Lee: Err no I still didn’t get it!
Me: (thinking he may be a little deaf so I raised my voice a little) IT’S TONY,… TONY
Lee: Ha ha ha, there’s no need to SHOUT, Ha ha, I’M NOT FREAKIN’ DEAF
Me: Ha ha ha, (thinking he must be stupid!) so did you get it then? Tony,…Tony
Lee: Err, how do you spell it, is it a foreign name?
Me: (is he taking the pi$$?) T O N Y (and in my best New York accent) Thoowwnneeee
Lee: Ha ha ha, Ooooh you mean Thoowwnneeee why didn’t you say that in the first place?
Me:

Not all South Asian or Pinoys have accents. Its depends on where they were educated and the type of exposure they've had. But the ones which do have thick regional accents, I rather hear "Okhay are you doing here sir maam" than "WhaAat you doing here only yaar !"

Enjoy !

Bora Bora wrote: Philippinos are by far much better at speaking English than Indians - but they will always have the acccent.

I have met far more Indians with clear and neutral accents than Filipinos. What I notice is that with Indians when its bad, its really bad. However many Indians in senior positions have a clear accent
However, 95% of Filipinos I meet have that accent, regardless of their position.

I dont think we can say Filipinos are "far better" than Indians in speaking English. When we consider normal educated Indians who have been in oter countries, they are far likelier to speak better English than Filipinos

Ah, thats another story althoghter. Just because one has an accent be it Pinoy, Indian German, French or whatever doesn't mean one cannot speak English properly. In that case there are far more Filipinos who speak better English than Indians.

You'll hear less of " Switch on the window and let the climate come in " type of sentences from Pinoys.

desertdudeshj wrote:Ah, thats another story althoghter. Just because one has an accent be it Pinoy, Indian German, French or whatever doesn't mean one cannot speak English properly. In that case there are far more Filipinos who speak better English than Indians.

You'll hear less of " Switch on the window and let the climate come in " type of sentences from Pinoys.

I don't think the point of the topic is whether they can speak English but rather their accent. You're bound to be a bit biased munchkin. Isn't your wife Filipino?

[quote="desertdudeshj" In that case there are far more Filipinos who speak better English than Indians.

[/quote]

Correction :
there are far more "blue collar/sales staff " Filipinos who speak better English than similar Indians.
At the same time, there are far more "white collar type" Indians who speak better English than similarly placed Filipinos.

BlackburnRovers wrote:

Bora Bora wrote: Philippinos are by far much better at speaking English than Indians - but they will always have the acccent.

I have met far more Indians with clear and neutral accents than Filipinos. What I notice is that with Indians when its bad, its really bad. However many Indians in senior positions have a clear accent
However, 95% of Filipinos I meet have that accent, regardless of their position.

I dont think we can say Filipinos are "far better" than Indians in speaking English. When we consider normal educated Indians who have been in oter countries, they are far likelier to speak better English than Filipinos

The majority of Filipinos go from the Philippines to Dubai. They don't have the opportunity to travel far and beyond. I agree that Indians who have travelled a bit have a better command of their "English" accent. Outsourcing call centers: those are Indians who never left India!!! Many Indians in management positions do seem to have travelled further than Dubai and more exposure to people where English is their first language.

I'm assuming that any company starting up a call centre in the Philippines would likely hire the people with the neutral accents.

That always drove me nuts about companies using call centres elsewhere, could never understand half of them.

Gulf News joins in the Pinoy love in:

I dotn think they all the hotels are rushing to get Filipinos because of their wonderful accent. It may be that that they speak somewhat gramatically cheap accents, and ask for very low salaries...


When Pinoys talk, the world listens

Dubai: In a city of accents, where many struggle to understand each other, it may be best to find a Filipino to intermediate.


In Dubai, most front desk, hospitality, reception and telephone operator jobs are given to Filipinos, headhunters say. "Any position which requires the employee to have clarity of voice and an accent that is neutral to most ears, is being filled by Filipinos," Adrian, an HR manager for an international firm in Dubai, told XPRESS.

"If you look at the staff that man the Metros, the telephone operators for a majority of five-star hotels, receptionists at international corporations… they're all Filipinos," he adds. "Ten years ago, those positions were held by Indians. Today, the Indian accent has been put in second place to the Filipino accent."

As Nevaro says, "Filipinos can easily adjust to different accents. We can talk to just about anyone in the world, from the British to the Americans, Australians and Canadians, and we'll be understood. We may sound a little different from them, but at least they'll understand what we're saying. The accents of some of the other nationalities are so strong and harsh that the rest of the world may find it hard to comprehend what they're saying."

Multi-national accent

Lawrence Anderson, a secretary from Ilo-Ilo in the Philippines, says it was his background as a call centre agent for a Canadian service provider that helped him land a job where he could be coordinating with a team of people from all over the world. "Although there may be others who have similar qualifications to mine, I believe it is the clarity of my accent that landed me this job. That and the fact that Filipinos have a knack of being able to blend in just about anywhere. We don't wear our national dress to work, and we're very Westernised in the way we dress and speak. Naturally, it makes us the easiest people to deal with for people coming from all over the world."

I'm sure Indians are finding India more attractive considering that annually the US alone dumps an average of $1.5 billion into India through outsourcing.

Some comments on Gulf News on this topic....
It's definitely true, Filipinos speak English more fluent english than any other nationalities

whatever life takes us, Filipinos will always be proud to be FILIPINO! unlike some of the indians i met, that when i asked them where they from, they'll gonna reply back " im from london" but apparently you could see it from their skin that "indian blood" is running through their veins. but still they aren't proud of their race and where they came from.
accept the reality my friends... Filipinos are the best in all areas.

So now is the time for employers to focus their attention on Filipinos and raise their salaries. Ayos ba mga KABAYAN!

And as per the article, We can adapt to any accent, so if ever you would be hearing Us saying pipty pive instead fifty five it simply means you are of a lower level..

BlackburnRovers wrote:Some comments on Gulf News on this topic....
It's definitely true, Filipinos speak English more fluent english than any other nationalities

whatever life takes us, Filipinos will always be proud to be FILIPINO! unlike some of the indians i met, that when i asked them where they from, they'll gonna reply back " im from london" but apparently you could see it from their skin that "indian blood" is running through their veins. but still they aren't proud of their race and where they came from.
accept the reality my friends... Filipinos are the best in all areas.

So now is the time for employers to focus their attention on Filipinos and raise their salaries. Ayos ba mga KABAYAN!

And as per the article, We can adapt to any accent, so if ever you would be hearing Us saying pipty pive instead fifty five it simply means you are of a lower level..

Well I'm pleased to see Gulf News doesn't make their comments up and that they actually do come from Filipinos.

BlackburnRovers wrote:And as per the article, We can adapt to any accent, so if ever you would be hearing Us saying pipty pive instead fifty five it simply means you are of a lower level..

Very true BM....

And what Filipinos are claiming is that they intentionally misprounounce f as p if the other person is of "a lower level"

Now i know why Filipinos are non existent in any online forum related to Dubai, be it DF, any of the auto sites or anything else. They probably get banned for using ridiculous arguments and crying racism anytime someone doesnt say they are the best

Boy this really ticks you off, eh ? LOL

BlackburnRovers wrote:

BlackburnRovers wrote:And as per the article, We can adapt to any accent, so if ever you would be hearing Us saying pipty pive instead fifty five it simply means you are of a lower level..

Very true BM....

And what Filipinos are claiming is that they intentionally misprounounce f as p if the other person is of "a lower level"

Now i know why Filipinos are non existent in any online forum related to Dubai, be it DF, any of the auto sites or anything else. They probably get banned for using ridiculous arguments and crying racism anytime someone doesnt say they are the best

It's pretty arrogant, or a sense of feeling inferior and need to justify that they actually can't say fifty five, to say that someone is of a lower level when they don't know the difference between pipty pive and fifty five. I hear what I hear. Be it pipty pive, fifty five, Nowember, November. I met someone today and we were talking about accents. She told me a story where she was in the kitchen of a friend who is Indian, who was cooking, and the Indian lady said to her "I need a bowel. Can you please hand me a bowel"? My friend realized she wanted a bowl and corrected her. The Indian lady insisted that it was pronounced bowl because it was "bow with an el", bow-l. Got a chuckle out of that. Curried bowel anyone???

I love people where English is a second language and they correct people who, for their entire life spoke only English. Go figure.

I think that British people would have a problem with the subservient attitude of the placid people who call everyone "sairrrrrrr".

Being a dominant population (The British) would only serve to enhance the British empire control as it was in the good old days.

This reminded me of my days as an army wife. My husband was in a cavalry regiment where all the officers and their ladies were 'mega' posh.

One day I was talking to our Colonel's wife who told me she was off to John Lewis' to buy some new 'tiles'.
'New tiles?' says I, 'I didn't know John Lewis sold tiles'.
'Not tiles', says Mrs Colonel, 'tiles'
I looked blankly at her for a number of seconds until I realised she meant 'towels'.

There was this pretty Filipina who would come to me at the end of the day and say " I have penis....Bye!" and then walk away!

BlackburnRovers wrote:

BlackburnRovers wrote:And as per the article, We can adapt to any accent, so if ever you would be hearing Us saying pipty pive instead fifty five it simply means you are of a lower level..

Now i know why Filipinos are non existent in any online forum related to Dubai, be it DF, any of the auto sites or anything else. They probably get banned for using ridiculous arguments and crying racism anytime someone doesnt say they are the best

Oh yeah…I can still remember BM’s comment about Filipinas…..”they come slightly ahead of dogs”.

In the Philippines...even the poorest of the poor can speak and understand English...accent/grammar wise – not really that good but what’s more important is the message being sent across can be understood.

Pardon me for saying….but I hear and see a lot of native English speaker....spellcheckgirl as one classic example…who can’t spell well and grammar is bad (not worse).

As for my accent, being a Filipina...ARF! ARF!

Oh yeah…I can still remember BM’s comment about Filipinas…..”they come slightly ahead of dogs”.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you miss quoting me there?

If my memory serves me right I think I said something along the lines of that's what my Mr Emirati said/thought about getting involved with a Filipino. I can't be bothered to look back but feel free to search my posts if you wish.

shyleaf wrote:Oh yeah…I can still remember BM’s comment about Filipinas…..”they come slightly ahead of dogs”.

Don't recall BM saying that, but I think that thread goes back some time. How long have your been lurking???

As for my accent, being a Filipina...ARF! ARF!

Now that's funny!!!

shyleaf wrote:

BlackburnRovers wrote:

BlackburnRovers wrote:And as per the article, We can adapt to any accent, so if ever you would be hearing Us saying pipty pive instead fifty five it simply means you are of a lower level..

Now i know why Filipinos are non existent in any online forum related to Dubai, be it DF, any of the auto sites or anything else. They probably get banned for using ridiculous arguments and crying racism anytime someone doesnt say they are the best

Oh yeah…I can still remember BM’s comment about Filipinas…..”they come slightly ahead of dogs”.

In the Philippines...even the poorest of the poor can speak and understand English...accent/grammar wise – not really that good but what’s more important is the message being sent across can be understood.

Pardon me for saying….but I hear and see a lot of native English speaker....spellcheckgirl as one classic example…who can’t spell well and grammar is bad (not worse).

As for my accent, being a Filipina...ARF! ARF!

Hi Shyreaf, I note you are a freelance writer (obviously failed) looking for work in Dubai?

Your post on the other forum about your fail, I must admit made me laugh.

Hi Shyreaf, I note you are a freelance writer (obviously failed) looking for work in Dubai?
yeah, i failed BIG TIME! (sigh)

Your post on the other forum about your fail, I must admit made me laugh.

made you laugh? glad i could help. but i'm definitely powerless when it comes to your spelling and grammar (another big SIGH)

@BM -- did i really misquote you on your post on March 16, 2011 (Sleeping woman groped)

The first is that I don't know many Emiratis that would entertain a filipina. The locals are known for their racism, and I'm afraid Filipinas come in slightly ahead of dogs.

hmmmmm

@Bora -- been here since 2008. fan of your posts, sage & onion, concord, ian, arniegang, chocs, DK, DDS, mahmoud04, drew and recently EH, patience...etc.

back to topic. my VP was born and raised in the US but of Indian descent. even she admits that she could understand and appreciates my pipty pils and porty payb better than...

Vye por now fifol... need to go back to lurkin (where i'm good at)

@BM -- did i really misquote you on your post on March 16, 2011 (Sleeping woman groped)
The first is that I don't know many Emiratis that would entertain a filipina. The locals are known for their racism, and I'm afraid Filipinas come in slightly ahead of dogs. hmmmmm

Well I did say I couldn't remember exactly what I'd written but when I reread it, I'm still of the mind that I was saying what my Emirati friend thinks. He wouldn't entertain a Filipino, nor a Pakistani, nor a Bangladeshi.
Does that make you feel a bit better?

-- Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:33 pm --

Just for clarity I'll repost my post about that silly Filipina girl crying rape! Or whatever else she was trying to pull I wonder whatever happened to her? Shipped back home probably!

What a strange tale ben!
There are a number of points that don't ring true here.
The first is that I don't know many Emiratis that would entertain a Filipina. The locals are known for their racism, and I'm afraid Filipinas come in slightly ahead of dogs.
The second is that 'he often visited her flat in Bur Dubai where they sat and talked'. They would be a 'yeah, right!'.
The third is that they went to a nightclub and he was so drunk she offered him to stay over and sleep on a seperate bed. That would be a 'yeah, right!'

I'm surprised she hasn't been charged with prostitution, or is that a seperate case?

Now if kanelli was still visiting DF she would be standing up for this very silly girl's rights to be able to bring a local back to your gaff without him expecting him to offload his load.