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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" align="center">=====================================================<br>
<b>L O W L A N D S - L - 25 June 2010 - Volume 03<br>
</b><a href="mailto:lowlands.list@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span style="" lang="FR">lowlands.list@gmail.com</span></a> - <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/" target="_blank"><span style="" lang="FR">http://lowlands-l.net/</span></a><br>
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From: <span class="gd"><span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Paul Anisman</span></span><span class="gi"> </span><span class="go"><<a href="mailto:panisman@gmail.com">panisman@gmail.com</a>></span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">Subject: <span class="gi">LL-L
"Language proficiency" 2010.06.25 (02) [AF-EN]</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">This
brings to mind a couple of stories--<br>
<br>
My son works for the State Dept.(Foreign Service Officer) and, during<br>
his first two tours of duty, he was required to spend one year of each<br>
two-year assignment working "the "window"....interviewing
individuals<br>
who were seeking a non-immigrant visa to the U.S. He says that,<br>
during the time he was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, a<br>
co-worker of his, also working "the window", would often start the<br>
interview in Russian, and at some point, completely unaware of what he<br>
was doing, would switch to English....this, of course, while dealing<br>
with a person whose comprehension suddenly plummeted to zero.<br>
<br>
The next story involves an 8 AM call I got a few years ago, from a<br>
representative of one of our credit card companies. She explained<br>
whatever it was they wanted you to buy. Problem was, her Spanish<br>
accent in English was so heavy that I had no idea what she was talking<br>
about. After a minute or so of listening to this, I politely<br>
interrupted her, and in Spanish, explained that I couldn't understand<br>
a thing she was saying, and that if she could explain everything in<br>
Spanish, things would be a lot easier, and I'd be able to understand.<br>
She responded (in English) that "we're not allowed to speak Spanish".<br>
When I again explained that I couldn't understand her, she asked: "Do<br>
you have trouble with English?" Well, since I was born and raised in<br>
Brooklyn, I thought to myself:
"Hmmm....some Americans might think<br>
so". In any case - she proceeded to try again in English....a bit<br>
more slowly this time, and I was at least able to get the gist of what<br>
she was trying to sell.<br>
<br>
Makes you wonder about a big American credit card company choosing,<br>
for a sales call, a person whose English has such a serious<br>
intelligibility issue.<br>
<br>
--Paul<br>
Maryland, USA</p>
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