This is america...

[bean]

One of my friends is of Indian heritage but born and raised here in Canada, he can speak perfect english, but also does a great stereotypical Indian accent.

A GM from another store is also of Indian heritage, but very much American.

He'll toss in random accents to see how people react, and he once told another driver I know "I'm finally fulfilling my destiny - I got a job at 7-11! Thank you come again!"

Also, the owner of a hotel we deliver to is an Indian family - I have no problems with them at all (except this particular family is cheap when it comes to tipping... $1 on a $50 order is NOT a tip!). But I've seen some of their customers... ugh.

[Rapscallion]

Guy at our place is a Sikh, and although he's as English as I am (probably more as I was born in Germany - parent in the armed forces at the time), he does a great stereotypical Indian accent.

Claim is that shortly after he passed his heavy goods vehicle licence, he made the mistake of pulling over onto the hard shoulder of the motorway and hopping the barrier to go into a service station (oasis?). The police came along, as you might expect, and he got away with it by doing a perfect "Me no speak English!" routine.

Rapscallion

[Pagan]

Hell, I have a hard time understanding people born and raised in NYC!

What's really funny, I'm anglo but was born and raised in southern New Mexico. So I have a tendency to talk like a chola, especially when I'm tired. I don't know how many people have looked at me like I have two heads and then ask if I'm from the South Valley (of Albuquerque). I tell 'em, "If I was from any more South Valley, I'd have been in Mexico!"

The punchline? That guest lives in Henderson, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas. You figure it out.

Well, I was gonna say I hope that they never decide to come to New Mexico, but they probably think they need a passport for that!

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Not to defend the indefensible, but I guess a lot of people are maybe tired of calling a call center for help, only to be routed to someplace in India somewhere, and stuck with a tech that doesnt' really understand english very well.

It happened to me the other day.

I certainly don't mind an accent...heck I LIKE accents...but a person on a help line ought to be able to understand English well enough to know what you are talking about.

On the subject, South Carolina is lousy with people who can't speak english well enough to be communicate. No, I'm not talking about immigrants. I'm talking about locals with appalling language skills. Ironically, I have a Finnish brother in law who speaks perfect English. Has a heavy accent, but his speech is flawless. Nothing pisses him off more than encountering an Amercian who can't communicate properly in English.

[protege]

I've had several epithets directed my way simply because I have a German-sounding last name. Most were, "dumb Nazi" and things like that.

Problem is, my name is a *Norwegian* one. If you're going to "insult" me like that, at least try to get it straight At least when I correct the idiots, it throws them for a loop...since there don't seem to be many negative Norwegian stereotypes

[Mikkel]

there don't seem to be many negative Norwegian stereotypes

You just go to Denmark, Sweden or Finland, you'll learn .
Not that I believe all I hear about Norwegians

[protege]

You just go to Denmark, Sweden or Finland, you'll learn .
Not that I believe all I hear about Norwegians

I'm sure there are over there...but you don't hear the comments in the US

[CrazedClerk]

slighty off topic, but I have a European last name which sounds similar to a common Spanish surname. Therefore as you might expect people often assume my last name is in fact Spanish. I can forgive them making this mistake over the phone but they often do it IN PERSON, whish is irritating because I do not look the least bit Mexican/Latino, I do not have the slightest bit of a tan (nor do I have naturally bronze skin) and I do not have black hair (it's red). Still I get mistaken for a mexican all the time.

[Spiffy McMoron]

Accents are one thing, but when someone is talking like theb habb a moufll oh mawbles it just makes me go "Can you speak clearly? I cannot understand you."

I have a co-worker like that-he tends to talk to the floor, AND has a very thick Newfoundlander accent. *sigh* To top it off, he'll use different names for the parts he needs, and when we get in what we think he wants, we find out that it is NOT what he needs. Then he gets mad, and he accent gets thicker-leading to

[KuzcoLlama]

I do not look the least bit Mexican/Latino, I do not have the slightest bit of a tan (nor do I have naturally bronze skin) and I do not have black hair (it's red). Still I get mistaken for a mexican all the time.

There are quite a few fair skinned Latinos, especially Argentinians. Some are even blonde. Heck, my own dear father with his now grey hair and so-white skin it burns if he's out in the sun too long is in fact full blooded Mexican.

The funniest is when he and my uncle stand next to each other. The uncle has been mistake for chinese. We call them "stealth Mexicans."

[DesignFox]

I'm in the camp of "I could care less where you are from or what your skin color/religion/anything is" but I have to be able to understand you! I will admit that I despise going to places or calling up a call center and getting someone who doesn't understand or cannot clearly speak english. I find it very frustrating....
In that case, I may ask for someone who speaks clearer English- I certainly won't bitch and whine that I "need to speak to an American"!

[AFpheonix]

Not to defend the indefensible, but I guess a lot of people are maybe tired of calling a call center for help, only to be routed to someplace in India somewhere, and stuck with a tech that doesnt' really understand english very well.

On the other hand, how much of it is influenced by the sheer amount of publicity over outsourcing of tech helpdesk jobs? Everywhere there's jokes and stories and whatnot. I wonder if a fair few of these sheeple have really ever had to deal with helpdesks with limited english speakers. Just a thought.

[Seanette]

I'm in the camp of "I could care less where you are from or what your skin color/religion/anything is" but I have to be able to understand you! I will admit that I despise going to places or calling up a call center and getting someone who doesn't understand or cannot clearly speak english. I find it very frustrating....
In that case, I may ask for someone who speaks clearer English- I certainly won't bitch and whine that I "need to speak to an American"!

I've had the "joy" of dealing with an outsourced call center (at least, I *think* that's what TracFone's problem was, based on heaviness of accent. That or they had a really low *maximum* IQ for their "techs"). I've also walked out of Taco Bell (in Santa Barbara, California) on discovering that the counter person did not speak adequate English for me to be able to place a normal, uncomplicated (no special requests) order. Oddly, ethnic food places run by apparent immigrants (based on accent) do better on employing people who can function in English than this Taco Bell did.

[BTW, if you "could care less", that implies that you care at least somewhat. If you're trying to indicate complete indifference, it would be "couldn't care less". Pet peeve of mine. Must go walk the thing. ]

[protege]

On a slightly different note...my father has been going to China over the past 2 summers to help teach English to the local schoolchildren. From what he's said, they're pretty enthusiastic about it--whenever he'd run into people, they were anxious to try out their English skills with him, and some of them taught him some Chinese phrases. Different attitude over there, I guess.

[Barefootgirl]

I'm sure there are over there...but you don't hear the comments in the US

You do hear them, but they're said in Swedish/Finnish, so you don't understand them !

whenever he'd run into people, they were anxious to try out their English skills with him, and some of them taught him some Chinese phrases. Different attitude over there, I guess.

What a cool thing to do! How did he get into that? I think the reason most Chinese people want to learn English is they know that good English is the key to getting a job with a high-paying foreign company.