Skip to main content

Accents and all that

Sitting in a room filled with as many English accents as people. I could not help but wonder about how some people are obsessed with getting rid of Mother Tongue Influence in India.

Call me an ignoramus, but I think this focus on so called mother tongue influence is all wrong.

Nobody, no f8ing body wants to hear your goddamn accent you perfected somewhere. They are here to hear your skill, what you bring to the table, what is your role in solving the problem they have.

Whether you speak with a mother tongue influence or not has no bearing whatsover in the process. Whether you solve a problem has a major bearing in the process.

Imagine a situation where the person speaks perfect English but ruins your work. Hope that helps.

Almost anybody focussed on this mother tongue influence bullshit is getting it wrong. What is need is more skills not more language.

(There are exceptions, like call centres who want to pretend that they are located in Louisiana while being located in Ludhiana or if you are giving a voice over to a foreign audience and suchlike, but otherwise, well...)

The language is about putting lipstick on a pig. The question really is, is that a pig you want or something else?

End of rant. Earlier rant, here.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The power of jotting down ideas

 Long long ago, I always used to carry a small letterpad with me. To jot down ideas that might occur. Over the years, it has changed from a notepad to evernote to google keep, but the power of jotting down ideas is immense.  Small ideas go into keep.  Anything to be quickly typed goes into whatsapp as a self message.  Bigger or better formed ideas go into Google docs A few are still written, but I manage to copy them into a digital format sooner rather than later.  But the power of jotting down is immense. My google keep is an encyclopedia of ideas - most of which may never get implemented. 

Why does elearning exist?

 Elearning is one of those niches that does not deserve to exist. Yes, it was a novelty 20 years ago, but not now. It cannot exist. But somehow it does. Disclaimer: I used to head a content team once upon a time. And I used to ask those whom I hired - tell me the last thing you learnt from an e-learning. The answer is - pretty much nothing (and this is a good decade ago).  Why?  If you want to learn a recipe, you go to Youtube, or Reels or something like that. If you are terribly old fashioned - as in, you read - then you go to a website and read the recipe and make it.  Most other things you learn by doing or learning on the job or asking an expert.  If you have to learn something in depth, then there are other ways.  So, where does e-learning fit in all this? E-learning is one of those products that the customer hates, but has no choice, because someone has decided it is the best way. For instance, you have to learn a new CRM or some other product - you w...

And the unconference happened

 Most conferences have an agenda. No, not the stated agenda, but an agenda of marketing, airtime to sponsors, ensuring the past and future customers are invited, of ensuring that the "stars" of the industry are invited and attention showered of them. All in all it is a your scratch my back, I scratch your back syndrome. Some of these become cliques and claques and therefore the real point behind a conference is lost. And then there is the unconference - organised and run by the alumni of the ISABS ODCP program. And as the name suggests, this is truly an un-conference organised by the alumni, for the alumni. No funders - except the alumni themselves. No sponsors. Just the team.  I havent seen a more tastefully organised conference (yes, its an unconference).  To begin with - the location - not a typical star hotel, but an outdoorsy place. The food - simple. The welcome - personal. It was like a homecoming. The setting was warm and welcoming. It was a smaller conference. Ju...