a

E-Session 2
English for Call Centers
In this session we bring to you the American sound of numerous words that you are likely to use as a call center executive. Each sound is explained for its special attributes and related with the traditional Indian sound for that word.

& Comdex Call Center Training Kit

Session
O b j e c t i v e s

In this session, you will learn about: The American sound of common words The traditional Indian sounds for those words

The American-Style English

Your stock of words is much better than you realize; we have already elaborated on this subject in ESession 1. Here we just remind you of the fact that knowing words or the basic ability to speak would not be enough to deal with American callers on a routine basis. As a call center Agent you should speak in neutral accent, an accent that is different from the hardcore American accent. We train you in neutral accent in the interactive Accent Training sessions provided on this CD, but the callers would use their own accent and pronunciation that you must understand. Since the callers would be overwhelmingly the Americans, you must understand what they say. The American accent and pronunciation gives certain typical sounds that we will describe below. In the description of pronunciation, by authentic we mean copybook or as the order of alphabets would usually suggest. Do not try to get used to the American accent too soon, that might distort your natural comprehension ability and the purpose will be defeated at the very beginning. Dont expect your language-habit to change to American overnight. In your effort to get used to the American accent, the two buzzwords should be slowly and gradually. So, initially, force yourself to only speaking in English, not necessarily in accurate American or neutral accent. So is with listeningthe overall interaction is what we mean. Speak in English with whomever you speak and wherever you speakin office, at home, at the friends place, at the club, at the gym, at the market, whosoever in the street, even in the bus if you are using public transport. Just avoid speaking in languages other than English. It is true that initially you will have to face up undue curiosity and ridicule, people may even call you a snob, but youll have to withstand all these (and pray that your friends understand your purpose and cooperate with you). You should tell your friends and family members that what you are doing is for developing your professional skills and has nothing to do with personal vanity or prejudice. Remember, the American accent is not any distorted accent, its just another accent, different from yours. You will speak in the neutral accent but your callers would speak American. Youll have to slowly adopt it by way of using it as and when you feel safe and confident about it. Wait and watch, listen to some Americans speak, before you try to speak that way (the accompanying audio-visual part on CD will help you do that). Never take the shortcut of forcibly, mechanically copying pronunciation of individual words. You should rather invest your energy in adopting a pronunciation, in integrating the sound with the movement of your tong as you speak full sentences or as required in usual speaking. This process the

E-Session 2: English for Call Centers '

Americans would call to pick up, the British would call to learn. Take your pick. Happy speaking and listening! Word agent American Sound The opening a sound is slightly longish and gives a faint shade of i just before it crosses over to the g sound (almost like aigent). The rest is fine with the usual Indian pronunciation. The all may sound like awll (with a faint nasal tone when approaching ll). Sometimes the two parts may seem to fuse together to give the sound awright. However, oll is incorrect. see also right; write There are four differences. One, the m gives a very slight mm sound, truly slight. Two, the e gives a sound that tends more towards a than pure e, and is longish. Three, r is rolled over quite much. Four, the c sound gives a faint touch of kh (which is anyway avoidable if your tong doesnt allow). Of the four vowels, A is short, e is long, i is short, and a is half-long. If you think someone is pronouncing the word as Ammaarikha, dont copy it. Especially the middle a and the ending kh sounds are moderate and much too difficult to exactly spell out. The first e is pure and authentic; the second e has a slight departure from authentic e sound and tends towards an i sound. It falls between a pure e and a pure i. So, dont speak it benifit or baynayfit, both are incorrect. The only difference between Indian and American sounds could be in the ending ll which is of course doent give that much lingering a sound, but still it makes the difference. Try to stress on the ll part a bit more. The ou combined with gh gives a softly throaty ou sound but not prominently o-oo; its only a departure from the end of authentic o sound towards the u sound; the u sound is never prominent. Different from bye (which is almost like baae). Different also from by which sounds like bai. The buy sound is between these two extremes, between baae and bai. The c gives a slight k sound. The ending l sound is close to usual Indian pronunciation; the ending double-l actually smothers the lingering liquid sound of the ending l in, say, Hotel. The American pronunciation differs from Indian in the latter half of the word, that is, ter, in which the e gives a short sound compressed between t and r. It is different from the Indian centar. In fact, the sound of e is short in all words where it is supposed to give an a sound. Some Indians think that e is to be literally pronounced as e; like they tend to give a literal e sound in brother, her, earlier. This is incorrect.

all right

America

benefit

bill

bought

buy call

center

 Comdex Call Center Training Kit

Word change

American Sound The ch sound is stronger than the Indian sound but milder than an outright chh. The a sounds like ai. The sound of ge is barely distinguishable from j. But it is never chenj, its chainge. The ch sound is close to chh, i.e. a mild variety of chh. The strong chh sound is common in the Indian languages and hence it comes really easy on Indian tong but the ch in choose is not quite that strong chh, its just a ch with a puff of breath. The oo sound is longish and authentic. The s sound is close to the z sound. Dont speak it chuz. see telecommunication The c has a mild touch of k; the o is compressed between c and m and does not sound like an isolated o, rather like a hybrid of o and a. The opening c gives a profound slant towards kh. But dont try to copy it outright. Follow how the Americans speak it and improve on it gradually. The middle t is stronger than the ending t. The c gives a mild kh sound; the o is spoken not as a pure o but as almost a and the ending y gives a subdued, slightly long i sound. Indians usually pronounce it as kawpi which should be changed to authentic copy gradually. The c is mildly like k or in variations may tend towards kh as well. But the highlight of this word is the sound of rr, which must be absolutely clear rr. Many Indians pronounce it as curect which is incorrect. The c sounds like kh but blindly copying it onto your tong may produce a curious sound (as often heard in talk shows on radio or TV). The o sound comes with a shade of a and is longer than an isolated o sound. The st sound has no difference from ours. So go slow on it and gradually come closer to speaking it the American way. The u is far too short in American than what we speak; the e also is short. The r can give a throaty sound as though coming from the root of the tong. We speak almost caastomaar; try to improve on it. The Indian sound is quite okay for this word but the ending er might, for some Indians, cause trouble. The e is short and the r is soft and slightly rolled over. Its pretty like delivr. Dont speak it daylivar or daylibhar. Dont work too hard on the vee sound, it must not sound like deliwa. The er part is marginally longer, very marginally. That may be the effect of the ending y.

choose

communication computer contact

copy

correct

cost

customer

deliver

delivery

did you know? dijhyano? Street language.

E-Session 2: English for Call Centers

Word enough

American Sound This word has two special features. One, the e sound should not be exactly e or exactly ee, it should be a hybrid of e and ee. May be written out as aenough. Two, the ending gh should not give a pure f or pure ph sound, the exhalation is to be less than that for f and the lip-work is to be less than that for ph. The same as for laugh. But guard against distorting the ending part, many Indians distort the word laugh almost to lao. The q is the highlight of the sound of this word; it gives almost a prominent kh. But dont try to suddenly force this kh on you. We speak it ikuipment and keep it that way initially, and gradually be confident speaking a stronger k sound. The second important side of this word is the length of ui. We speak it almost ooee but in American its a quick, lazy u followed by a more prominent i. The second e is silent (unaspirated) and the sound is evning. The Indian pronunciation is quite okay. The difference comes in the ample partmost Americans pronounce a prominent aa and the pl gives the liquid sound of l. A nasal tone comes when the sound passes from a to m (but this nasal tone can in some cases be pretty prominent). gonna gotta The ending r is semi-audible, very much so. Rest is fine with the Indian pronunciation. But certain American local variations may sound like owa or owah. Hello is a most interesting word for the sound of e often differs between a male or a female speaker! Often a female speaker gives a somewhat clear e sound. At least the slant of the sound would invariably be towards e and not towards a coarse a sound. But when it comes from a male speaker, the e sound gets smothered down to almost a short, coarse a sound. However, this is a word of which the sound is always away from the spelling. The way Indians pronounce it is not that bad, it works. But note the ll sound when you listen to an American. You would also notice that there are two tones for saying hello over telephone, one is the regular tone that we too use, the other is a somewhat soulful tone mainly used, again, by females! The sound is close to hai, but the ending i is not strongly i, its a sort of relaxed, semiaudible i, making the word sound like haey. The w is pronounced softly. Indians usually pronounce it haau which is incorrect. The sound of the word should end with o, not u. Its almost like hao. No major difference.

equipment

evening example

going to got to hour hello

hi how India

Comdex Call Center Training Kit

Word information

American Sound The only notable sound (or lack of it) is the r which is very stylishly near-silent, giving the sound like infaughmation or infaumation. But dont overdo the silence, because the r does exist and it gives a faint touch of r at that position (otherwise it could be simply infomation which its not) The er part is short and quick, as it is for any word with er within. Its not Intarnet, its Intrnet. aint The opening k is no doubt strong. The ee gives the orthodox sound for itadequately mild and long. Dont pronounce it kip. The ee sound of the key part could be the only possible place that could have a difference in pronunciation. It is not strongly ki, but, however, not many Indians would pronounce it to that extreme. Overall, the Indian pronunciation of this word should work. The ai sound is authentic in that it lingers adequately. The Indian pronunciation may at times sound like mel or male, both of which are incorrect. The sounds of m and l on the Indian tong are as good as the American sound. No difference for email. The r sound is semi-audible, as is the case with a long list of American sounds for r preceded by a vowel. But it is never maket, the r remains, but its sound would be semi-audible. Do not pronounce it minit or minut as people from two different parts of India pronounce it. Both are incorrect. Its between minate and minete. The only notable part is the t sound, which is not strong at all but also not as mild as the Indian pronunciation is. Its slightly like th, only halfway. Remember, t on the American tong is never of the held-back kind that the Indian pronunciation gives. Same as monitor, only the r takes a trite more of rolling because ing follows. The s sound is coarse and far from the fine sound of c. The u is subdued, in fact the o sound is prominent in pronunciation, only to be followed by a brief u sound. Its neither moni nor maani. The sound of o is away from the literal o but nor is it an absolute aa. The ey sound is much softer than i. The point of interest in this word is the r, whose sound is just as subdued as that is in target. Its a soft, held-back r. The extremes are mohning or moning. Never morrning. see also target

Internet isnt keep keyboard

mail, email

market

minute monitor

monitoring mouse money morning

E-Session 2: English for Call Centers

Word network

American Sound The net part is alright in the Indian pronunciation. But the work part, especially the ork in it, creates the difference between Indian and American sounds. In fact, when the sound passes over from o to k with r falling between them, the r gives an acutely deepthroated sound with a fair amount of tong-rolling on it. An accurate description of the sound of r here is: It seems to be coming from deep inside the throat and prevented from getting out of mouth by a curled-up tong-tip. So acute is the commonly heard American sound of this r that it must take quite some time and a lot of effort for an Indian to learn speaking it 100% like them. Try it anyway. Most of the times the American pronunciation is almost like ours. But when emphasizing, an American tends to turn it into naaaow. Get it right. They pronounce it okay, exactly. The ending part is usually stretched out, sounding like okayyy.

now OK

paste (as verb) The p in American gives an eminently non-Indian sound (like ph). The a sound has a slant towards the ai sound. The ending e is silent as everyone knows. The Indian pronunciation is radically different for the p but exactly the same for the rest. pay payment paid The opening p sound is somewhat strong, with a fair amount of breath coming out, and this is one word that wouldnt be easy for any Indian to pronounce authentically. Curiously, some Indians try to copy it too fast and produce the sound phay or phaid, which is incorrect. Try to follow the pronunciation when you speak with the Americans and improve on it gradually. The opening p sounds like a soft ph, the breath is not held back yet its not as strong an exhalation as given for the p of possible. The eo combination gives a sound between ea and ee. see also possible The p tends towards ph but not that strongly, rather it gives a sweet p sound. The l gives a nicely liquid sound. The s sound is half like z. The p sound is remarkably strong, a prominent ph coming with a lot of breath. The o sound is much relaxed, slightly long, much different from literal o sound. The s sound is authentic s. The i is short. Dont try to imitate the p sound instantly, that could produce a curious sound on an Indian tong. Picking up the longish o sound would be comparatively easier. The rest is okay. However, guard against the bul or pul sound given by some Indians: possibul for possible, peepul for people. Its bl, not bul; its pl, not pul. The p sound is slightly stronger than what the Indians give. Pronunciation of the rest by Indians is okay.

people

please possible possibly

practice

" Comdex Call Center Training Kit

Word price print printout

American Sound The p is halfway close to ph. The i gives a sound between oyi and ayi, and the c sounds somewhat heavy. see also product The p is moderately ph-like, comes out with a little puff of breath. The Indian pronunciation is not perfectly like Americans but its okay. For printout, do not speak the two words separately, no stop between t and o. It indeed has two syllables (print and out) but no perceptible stop midway is desirable. Rather than speaking it like print out, the ending part should sound like tout. The p is halfway close to ph, but the rolling over r is less as compared to price because in price the r is followed by a slightly lingering ai sound whereas here r is followed by an authentic, short o sound. The rest sounds literal. see also price The p sound is not exactly the p we Indians speak, but do not work too hard on this p; the Indian sound of p is all right for this word. The ch is also not that hard a sound in American. Overall, an average Indian English-speaker wouldnt need to work that much on this word. Only that, the s in ase gives a mild kind of z sound and not any j sound, please. The beginning is close to kh. Dont speak it koschen, the American pronunciation is almost like khoeszn. The Indians tend to over-pronounce the opening r, many of them give the sound rr or even worse. The Americans never speak that way. The r sound here is much thinner than that in write. But the ight part is different from ite in that ite is an open-breath, no-throat sound whereas ight carries a slight yet perceptible held-back, throaty sound, a slight pressing at the root of tong. see also all right; write Different from both sell and sail. The sound sell is short and sail is truly long with a slight plateau at ai. The real sound of sale is an intermediate between these two strong extremessale is a moderate sound without any special distinction at any part of the trail. see sale No different from the Indian pronunciation. However, some Indians try to speak it like saind which is incorrect. Note that some Americans like to use send for all tenses, in place of the past/past participle sent. Do not hesitate to use only send for those particular customers in case you find them using it for all tenses. But normally sent in its place. (An almost similar case is learned and learnt, but here using only learned is a much more popular practice.)

product

purchase

question right

sale

sell send

E-Session 2: English for Call Centers

Word service

American Sound The r is soft, do not give a crackling r sound. The e is short, as is usual for e inside any word. The ser part is pronounced with, what they call, a stiff upper lip. Do not speak sarvice. Note the difference between the two ee sounds: in sleep its long whereas in slip its quick. These two words do not present any major difference between the Indian and American sounds. The American is perfectly software with f being perfect f and a moderate r ending ware. Do not goof up on f, and do not speak a growling r. The ea sound is authentic. The sound of p is moderate and not any strong ph sound. You can bank on your Indian pronounciation of p or the full word as well. But be careful about the vowels; do not give a spik or speek sound. The c is the point of interest, which sounds different from the typical thin c sound, and is akin to the thick s sound on the American tong. There is not much difference from the Indian pronunciation. The p sound is again halfway close to ph, but less so than the p sound in price or product. The ee sound is authentic longish ee. No difference in the ch sound from what the Indians give. The t comes with a generous puff of breath. The a sound is close to ai (and never like pure e; thats because the k is flanked on two sides by a and e, the reason why the k sound doesnt abruptly disappear, rather it lingers for a very short time). The t is moderately strong. (In fact on the American tong certain sounds like k, p, t etc. are always strong to varying degrees. Remember, these three are sounds, not alphabets, for a c can also give a k sound.) As we all know, the l is silent, but it does play a role in bringing out the middle part (between t and k) from deep inside the mouth along with exhaled breath. Sounds like tauk or tok or tak involve holding back breath and are incorrect. The opening t carries a slight puff breath. As for the r, some Indians overwork on it and almost pronounce taaget which is incorrect. The r is never silent but gives a sound that seems to buried beneath the middle part of tong. Even some local variations in the USA may sound like tahget or tahgit. The t sound comes with a good amount of exhaled breath (true of any beginning t followed by vowel). But its never like the sound that tha (the alphabet that follows ta in Sanskrit). Some Indians try hard to make the t authentic and end up speaking thax. The common Indian natural pronunciation of tax is okay initially; you can improve on it gradually through time.

sleep, slip

software speak

special

speech

take

talk

target

tax

$ Comdex Call Center Training Kit

Word technique

American Sound Here the t most often comes with a moderate thud. We speak it teknik but in American the i gives a slightly long, smooth ei sound. The ending que is different from a cracking k, its soft, very soft k. The usual thud in the American t sound is less strong. The ch is never like kh, remember its perfectly like k. The ending gy is not gi or gee; rather its like gey. Remember, this gey is not differentiable from jey, they sound alike. So you need not worry about differentiating between g and j here.

technology

telecommunication The American for tele is exactly tele. Dont confuse it with the way we speak which is teli in which even we speak the t with a held-back breath. But the Americans never speak the t with a held-back breath, rather they speak it in the normal way. The sound of u in communication is prominently an authentic eu, not oo as some of us tend to pronounce it. telephone thanks thank you see also telecommunication The th sound is somewhat heavy, better to say coarse, almost like the third alphabet of the ta category of the Sanskrit alphabets. But its never exactly that. We are only talking about the phonetic slant of a hybrid sound. The Indian sound of thanks or thank is okay and wouldnt cause any major problem in understanding it. Still try to follow the heavy th the Americans use as you speak with them or listen to the audiovisual lesson of Session 2730. Only that you should be a little more careful with the you part of it; we often tend to give the sound eeu which is incorrect. The ideal sound is an intermediate between yo and yu. A heavy t, almost soft dh (dhe). Remember, no English speaker, American or not, would pronounce it thee as some Indians do. Pronounce it between the and tha but never thaa. Make the t slightly heavy like the Americans. The t will be strong but less so compared to words in which the beginning t is followed by a vowel. More important is that a faint nasal tone comes between tra and n, which makes the sound of n softer. Use your natural accent initially and gradually develop the American one; this one wouldnt be difficult to develop. The opening t is indeed stronger than the Indian sound of t, but the sound is such that its neither an outright strong t nor a mild one as an ending t in any word always is; its of a kind thats soothing on the ear. The a sound is like aa. The v sound is copybook, but the e sound is very short, never prominent; it sounds almost like travle. All parts sound same as travel, only the end is different because of spelling. Sounds almost like travler. (Note single l for American spelling.)

the

transact transaction

travel

traveler

E-Session 2: English for Call Centers

Word traveling vendor

American Sound All parts sound same as travel, only the end is different because of spelling. Sounds almost like travling. (Note single l for American spelling.) The v gives an authentic v sound. The o has a departure from the literal o sound, and is longish. The r doesnt need much work. Remember, lots of expatriates work in the USA and some of them tend to pronounce o strongly as a literal, prominent o. Youd find this with the Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, and people from the Far East and Eastern Europe. The v sounds authentic. The full word gives a sound like voyce. There is no major difference from the Indian sound, only that some Indians tend to work a bit hard on pronouncing v, giving a sound almost like whee. Avoid doing this. see also Session 24 see network It differs from right in that here the ra sound starts with a faint touch of the preceding w. Remember, the w does not give any individual, prominently differentiable sound; its sound is fused with the start of ra. Also, the ite sound is light and open, without any work between middle of tong and palate, which is the case with the sound of right.

voice

work write