Random Topic of the Day - Accent Etiquette

[Coffee Warlord]

It comes up every now and again with anyone - you encounter someone speaking English (or whatever language, but my post, my language) with such a pronounced accent you simply cannot comprehend what they're saying.

Myself, I have the worst trouble with Indian accents. Most Latin America / European / Asian accents I can make out just fine, but I have an atrocious time understanding someone speaking English with an Indian accent.

Anyway, say this comes up in a business situation. You're on the phone talking to a customer, and can't understand a god damn word, you work in a huge company and some higher up from another department has a terrible accent, whatever. You get the point.

Is it acceptable to simply say, "I'm sorry, but I simply cannot understand you." *Is* there a way to say something like that in a professional environment without coming off like a jackass?

[flere-imsaho]

If you can, blame it on the phone connection. That sometimes gets them speaking more slowly and deliberately.

[Coffee Warlord]

And to clarify, this is less of an "I need advice" situation, and more of just a quasi philosophical discussion. It's just an interesting topic we got to talking about today at work.

[Breeze]

I have had this exact same problem with some vendors doing work for my company. I got so tired of trying to understand what they were saying, that I grabbed two co-workers to try and help be decipher the message.

[Blackadar]

I encountered this not too long ago at a client. We're on a big conference call and I literally could not understand at least half the words that the presenter was saying. His Indian accent made English come out as gibberish.

I finally hunt up and asked the client to summarize the conference call in an email due to the "connection issues" that I was experiencing.

[Logan]

I deal with this sometimes especially when talking to Europeans. I've found the best thing to do is to follow up the discussion with an email attempting to confirm certain points, asking them to speak up if anything is incorrect.

Blaming it on the connection is a good trick too.

[Qwikshot]

The worst experience I had was talking with someone with a British accent. I literally asked him "Could you repeat that?" and least four times before looking plaintively for help from his wife who in the proper posh British accent said "What do you do for a living?"

It was downhill after that.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

The worst experience I had was talking with someone with a British accent. I literally asked him "Could you repeat that?" and least four times before looking plaintively for help from his wife who in the proper posh British accent said "What do you do for a living?"

It was downhill after that.

I can tell you what I'm not. I'm not a fucking translator, lady.

[flere-imsaho]

I think the philosophical conundrum here is whether or not you offer feedback to the person that they are incomprehensible. On one hand I really don't want to come across as offensive, or criticize them on my own inability to understand them. On the other hand, I can't understand what they're saying.

[SackAttack]

The only accents I struggle with are Indian English, typically. Having to get service from a call center is a living nightmare for me, because I already have hearing impairment on top of the inability to understand English spoken with an Indian accent.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

I think the philosophical conundrum here is whether or not you offer feedback to the person that they are incomprehensible. On one hand I really don't want to come across as offensive, or criticize them on my own inability to understand them. On the other hand, I can't understand what they're saying.

Yeah, but it's a pretty delicate conversation. First, you smile and put your hand on their shoulder. Then you take them aside and sit them down in a private area. Then you start the conversation with:

[Karlifornia]

I hear tons of accents on a daily basis. Toss me a little coin and I'll be your middleman

[JonInMiddleGA]

I've had this come up very specifically, except in my case I do fine with Indian English (you know what I mean) but can't seem to make out English with a Pakistani influence to save my life. I have no idea what causes such a specific problem but it's definitely an issue ... especially since my wife's primary doctor for several years happened to be from Pakistan. He was my doctor briefly as well, until I finally got tired of having to take my wife with me to translate. Medical consultations consisting of mostly blank smiles & pregnant pauses are REALLY not optimal.

As for what you actually asked, honestly, I don't know if there IS a perfectly acceptable way to get out of that jam. Since your scenario has the higher ranking person being the one with the indecipherable accent, I'd say most situations would deem that "your problem" not his.

[OldGiants]

If I want to be courteous, I blame my 'Southern accent' for why I can't understand the other person.

If--as often happens at work--I get a call from an out-sourced-job collection guy from India, I ask to speak to the person's supervisor, or "Some other worker with an American accent, not British like you."

If I really want to be rude, I reply, "Ich habe nur ein bisschen Deutsch, aber auf Deutsch fur Ihnen wir das sprechen konnen. Weiterfuhren."

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by OldGiants

If I want to be courteous, I blame my 'Southern accent' for why I can't understand the other person.

It's been documented that southerners have the most difficult time with an Indian accent and vice versa. They tend to do much better with an African accent, which comes into play when choosing the right offshore call centers for certain areas of the country.

[Izulde]

I just play the hearing impaired card, which I often have to do anyway, even with native English speakers.

[jeff061]

I just ask them to repeat themselves as I would anyone else. I assume they are in the situation enough to know what's going on, regardless of the chosen etiquette.

[chesapeake]

I've had some success with explaining that I have a terrible ear for accents that aren't my own and that they may have to talk to me like I'm five. I try to make it clear that the fault is mine. Then I try to be visibly attentive so they understand that I really am trying. Sometimes they're pissed off anyway.