If you can't speak the language, at least bring someone who can

[Erin]

Just curious, did you ever deal with any Relay calls, where Deaf customers would call a Relay operator and type what they want to say, then the Relay operator would tell you, then you'd reply to the operator and they'd type out your reply to the Deaf person? I'm just curious if your job prevented that as well.

yep, we'd have to give the relay callers another phone number. The client we were taking the applications for had a space on the application screen that we would put an X in if the caller was a relay call, and it came up with a script that we had to say and give a number for them to call. Ohh..those deaf people would get ticked about...since a relay call is (usually) supposed to be treated as if they were talking to us directly and not thru the relay person.

But the credit card company we were doing the applications for wanted relay calls to call them directly. So, we had to do that.

Place I worked for also took calls for people ordering all that crap that's advertised on tv.

I always hated relay calls. I'd usually get one 5 minutes before I was supposed to be off, and it would stretch out into a 45 minute or longer call for something that was supposed to take 5 minutes normally.

At least relay callers spoke English!

[AriRashkae]

i wish other countries had the kind of books japan did.

there was one that was a bit of a lifesaver.
and come to think of it, the book would be good for japanese in america as well...

the book consisted of chapters on subjects like "money" or "food" etc. and each page had items or simple concepts in cartoon form. then, they had the English word(s) for it, the pronunciation, and then the word in kanji (or katakana, hiragana etc).

really came in handy

Care to share? If there aren't books like that for other languages, I may just have to notch my crazy a bit tighter and add that to my list of things to do. If only for my own benefit, and maybe my family's.

[MrsEclipse]

The only ones that really bugged me, were the people who would call up, and ask in whatever language if there was an interpreter, and when I told them no (in English) and that we had to speak directly to the person applying, all of a sudden the caller could speak perfect English. (not trying to fratch here) I just never understood why they wanted an interpreter if they could speak perfect English. Oh well...

Possibly because they feel more comfortable conducting business in a language other than English, so if they had the option they would take it.

I have auditory processing disabilities. That means that I can read French and Japanese beautifully and understand it, but I can't understand two words spoken out loud. I have a lot of trouble with understanding accents, too, so the further away from Baltimore you grew up, the less likely I am to understand you.

It also means I've been listening to the same four songs over and over again, saying, "Mattenayo Pichi-hime? Ume koe yama toe? What are you singing about, Mami Yamase? And don't get me started on you, Fumie Kashiyama."

[Pagan]

But for the life of me, I would have sworn she asked if I spoke "Bunny." I had to tell her, "No, I don't speak Bunny."

I do have to wonder what that would sound like?

My problem is that while I am unable to understand any language other than English and basic French (my French would be described by French people as "broken"), my main problem is undestanding accents. It's alright if the person is right in front of me, as I can watch their mouth, but on the phone, I am useless and end up passing the phone over.

I wouldn't feel too bad. Hell, I can't understand a lot of people from New York and that's in my own country! Honestly, I'm standing there thinking "que?" half the time.

And there's a lot of them in Rio Rancho for some reason. The most popular theory being that a lot of them are in witness protection....seriously.

[ditchdj]

I remember a long time ago when I had a temp job sorting through boxes of car dealership surveys that asked for customer feedback from people that bought cars at dealerships. They came from both the US and Canada. The ones that were sent to Quebec addresses were automatically all written only in French. Well on one of those surveys the person that it was sent to scribbled an angry message all over the survey in big capital letters saying, "NOT ALL PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN QUEBEC SPEAK FRENCH. I REALLY DO NOT APPRECIATE THIS!!!!!!!"

I laughed my ass off when I saw it.

[Erin]

I have problems understanding some heavy accents sometimes. Spanish accents arent too bad, but people from India with really heavy accents are really hard for me to understand.

I had to call Amazon.com the other night, and apparently after hours they outsource to India. I couldnt understand a thing they said. Tried calling twice, and both times everything was incomprehensible.

I'm pretty sure my problem comes from my having MS. Some people with MS can have cognitive problems...I dont think I have much problems with cognition, but maybe my problem lately with understanding heavy accents might be from the MS.

[Android Kaeli]

I normally don't have any problems with the customers that don't know how to speak English really well. Most, if not almost all of, the customers I get that do not speak English very well generally say, "Look, I speak limited English. You seem to be one of the very few persons in this store that seem to have a better grasp at what I'm trying to say despite not knowing <insert customers native language>, can you help me?"

Had a lady come in today that needed help with knitting needles, her native language is French but what English she knew was actually pretty darned good. From what she could communicate to me was that she wanted to know if the needle she had, would be good for potholders but what she really was looking for was something that was made with metal ( she had a plastic needle and we were out of the metal ones ). I told her the plastic needle would be just fine and that I didn't know when we would get the other ones in. She understood this and went on her way, at least able to get something despite not actually getting the exact item she wanted.

[draftermatt]

I've haven't had my hearing tested for years, but I'm pretty sure I'm losing it. Because of that I've lost almost all ability to discern accents.

I have trouble even with British accents! Southern I can pick up for the most part (unless it gets too thick), New York I have no problem with. I find myself turning my head to try and listen with the other ear a lot of times.

[Magpie]

I do have to wonder what [bunny] would sound like?

Either very quiet or terrifying (rabbits are mute, although they do scream when they figure they're about to die, although a friend of mine insists that hers used to growl).

Well on one of those surveys the person that it was sent to scribbled an angry message all over the survey in big capital letters saying, "NOT ALL PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN QUEBEC SPEAK FRENCH. I REALLY DO NOT APPRECIATE THIS!!!!!!!"

But why can't they just fill out the survey in English? Or was it one of the complicated ones that asked questions more complicated than "please rate your satisfaction with the following areas, using the scale provided"?

I wanted to fill out the French warranty card for my sewing machine, because you had to cut half the back cover off the manual (no info was lost, but the cover now flaps) to get the card. Unfortunately there was no language preference checkbox on the form, and I didn't want to get stored as a French-language customer, because I speak very little French.

[ditchdj]

But why can't they just fill out the survey in English?

Because the customers in Quebec all get sent surveys in French, nothing in English. I just think it was kind of lame how that person wrote all over it like that in English because it seems to me that GM was only trying to be courteous and not offend their French-speaking customers.

[Magpie]

No, I meant just writing in English responses to anything that requires a long answer. I can understand that they were annoyed at all the language laws, but wouldn't filling out a French suvey in English be just as much of a protest?

[Rapscallion]

Most of Canada has two official languages - French and English. From what I remember, Quebec (and one or two other areas) has French as the only official language. I'd imagine that's the reason for the survey all in French.

Rapscallion

[Magpie]

Thank you for the reminder that I should provide background!

For the rest of the world:

Canada has two official languages. 9 out of 10 provinces have only one. Quebec is one of these - the only official language is French. However, it takes this to more of an extreme than the Anglophone provinces do. There are a multitude of laws protecting the French language - the only ones I can think of off the top of my head say that all signs need to be in French or be bilingual, and in the latter case the French must be more prominant.

My comments were based on assuming that this person was tired of language restrictions, and felt that anglophones were treated as second class citizens.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Most of Canada has two official languages - French and English. From what I remember, Quebec (and one or two other areas) has French as the only official language. I'd imagine that's the reason for the survey all in French.

Rapscallion

Oy.

The French/English language laws as they relate to Quebec could be a whole other topic on their own, but speaking as a Canadian who used to live within visual distance of Quebec, I've dealt with this a lot.

For the record, Canada does have two official languages, English and French. All government documents are required to contain (or at least be available in) both languages, most government employees are required to speak them and product labeling and such must be in both languages nationwide.

Quebec has a language law in place that states all signage on buildings and storefronts and such must be in French first. You can put English on second if you want, but French is required. There was a notable story awhile back about a business in a largely English speaking area of Quebec who was fighting with the provincial government because he had English first on his sign.

There are many Canadians who don't much like the fact that French is mandated across the country for so many things and yet the people in Quebec are so hardcore about French only (or French dominated) signs.

Interestingly, you won't find a lot of french speakers in Canada west of Toronto, Ontario. Eastern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick are the primary French speaking areas.

[Rapscallion]

Thanks for the correction - I'm an occasional painful tourist.

Rapscallion