Comments on: Outsourcing Naming Conventions

By: John Cowan

John Cowan — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:35:24 +0000

I once asked the driver of a truck who was moving my possessions what his name was. “My name!” He laughed. “No American can pronounce my name.”

It so happens I don’t have problems pronouncing Russian names, but I didn’t argue.

Christopher C.: Japanese /r/ is a tap, just like Spanish /r/. And the problem isn’t physical, it’s a matter of habit.

By: Mokka mit Schlag » Do Not Call Me

Mokka mit Schlag » Do Not Call Me — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:52:48 +0000

[...] calls in the last fifteen minutes, one from Mark Marshall at Ambit Energy (though I’m certain he lied about his name) and one from Daniel of the Police Conference of New York (one of those scummy organizations that [...]

By: Christopher Colucci

Christopher Colucci — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 00:30:43 +0000

Frank, you are in idiot. So you taught yourself music and can pronounce names. Enjoy wallowing in your self-proclaimed prestige but take a moment to consider a possibility outside the realm of your little world. Many people physically can`t produce certain sounds with their mouths. The Japanese `r`, for example, is not the same as an `r` in any language you can are so deft at pronouncing names in. It may sound similar, but most westerners can not do it. Similarly, many westerners have trouble with other pronunciations. In closing, education has little to do with a person`s physical pronunciation capabilities.

By: Augusto

Augusto — Sun, 14 May 2006 19:23:39 +0000

The names are changed many times so that people don’t know they’re calling India, it’s as simple as that.

Don’t change the names, it insults the callers intelligence. Nicknames as suggested before are a good idea, deception is not.

At the end of the day however, sorry to shock “call center” people, but we don’t need to remember your names, just get our problem fixed.

By: John George

John George — Tue, 09 May 2006 04:09:51 +0000

Among my schoolmates in India were Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Aldous Huxley, Stalin and Lenin. “John Kelly” is rare but certainly within the realm of possibility.

By: Anjan Bacchu

Anjan Bacchu — Fri, 05 May 2006 17:32:31 +0000

Hi Doug/Adrian,

operator : “Hi, Good Morning My Name is venkatasubramanya”.

customer : “wha what is your name ?!!”

The customer call is NOT about understanding new names. Yes, Indians do have a shorter version for names — although not everybody is confortable to shorten it. Although a lot of them are willingly doing it to help others. Not all customers are disposed to learn new names.

Then, again my wife was looking for a really short name when our daughter was born so that just about everybody would have it easy.

My dad would not like others to call him dash but maybe a 20+/30+ year old guy wouldn’t mind — then again, most call center operators are in really young.

It wouldn’t hurt to tell the customers, as fred mentioned “My name is Siddhalingesha, but if it’s easier for you, you can refer to me as Siddha”. I’m sure some of them already do.

Oh, well with a lot more outsourcing going on, I’m sure such feedback will get incorporated!! I wish there was a way to tell the indian companies about such civilized complaints.

BR,
~A

By: Adrian

Adrian — Fri, 05 May 2006 02:24:29 +0000

>How easy is it for you to pronounce these names

Sure, it’s not that easy - but that’s just because English speakers aren’t used to them. And the only way to learn is to use them!

By: Doug Simpkinson

Doug Simpkinson — Thu, 04 May 2006 16:28:15 +0000

Nicknames.

I used to be a support call center employee, and we handled lots of calls from Indians. I remember one in particular - his name was Venkatesan, but he called himself “Venky”. Is there a cultural aversion to abbreviating names like we often do in the US? For example, my grandfather was named “Frederick”, but everyone called him “Fred”.

So, in the above list of names, the operators could say their names are “Jaya”, “Dash”, “Siddha”, “Venkat”, “Chikka”, and “Potta” (Puta means something non-flattering in Spanish.)

By: Frank Wilhoit

Frank Wilhoit — Thu, 04 May 2006 15:37:46 +0000

1) I know how to pronounce Indian (French, German, Spanish, Russian, etc. etc. etc.) names and can’t see why any educated person ought not be able to pronounce them as well.

2) A person’s name is part of their identity and it is therefore profoundly immoral to distort it, purposefully or through carelessness.

By: George Bailey

George Bailey — Thu, 04 May 2006 15:10:02 +0000

Use numbers. The person can say “My name is Siddhalingesha, but if it’s easier for you, you can refer to me as operator #123.”