LL-L "Language proficiency" 2010.06.25 (03) [EN]

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*L O W L A N D S - L - 25 June 2010 - Volume 03
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From: Paul Anisman <panisman at gmail.com>

Subject: LL-L "Language proficiency" 2010.06.25 (02) [AF-EN]



This brings to mind a couple of stories--

My son works for the State Dept.(Foreign Service Officer) and, during
his first two tours of duty, he was required to spend one year of each
two-year assignment working "the "window"....interviewing individuals
who were seeking a non-immigrant visa to the U.S.   He says that,
during the time he was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, a
co-worker of his, also working "the window", would often start the
interview in Russian, and at some point, completely unaware of what he
was doing, would switch to English....this, of course, while dealing
with a person whose comprehension suddenly plummeted to zero.

The next story involves an 8 AM call I got a few years ago, from a
representative of one of our credit card companies.  She explained
whatever it was they wanted you to buy.  Problem was, her Spanish
accent in English was so heavy that I had no idea what she was talking
about.  After a minute or so of listening to this, I politely
interrupted her, and in Spanish, explained that I couldn't understand
a thing she was saying, and that if she could explain everything in
Spanish, things would be a lot easier, and I'd be able to understand.
She responded (in English) that "we're not allowed to speak Spanish".
When I again explained that I couldn't understand her, she asked: "Do
you have trouble with English?"  Well, since I was born and raised in
Brooklyn, I thought to myself: "Hmmm....some Americans might think
so".  In any case - she proceeded to try again in English....a bit
more slowly this time, and I was at least able to get the gist of what
she was trying to sell.

Makes you wonder about a big American credit card company choosing,
for a sales call, a person whose English has such a serious
intelligibility issue.

--Paul
Maryland, USA

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