International Ducks in a Pond
Recently at work for the past couple of days, I've been taking Spanish phone calls.
Originally when I started working at my company, I was going to be taking both English and Spanish phone calls. However that was not to be. I happened to fail the Spanish test over the phone due to nerves and have been left in the dust ever since. I was the only one that didn't pass. There are other Spanish reps, (and I'm not saying this just because I think or know it to be true - I've had other Spanish reps tell me that I should have made the cut) that cannot even speak or form two sentences in the Spanish language.
Last week though, everyone in my department received an email stating that due to the lack of representatives answering calls on the Spanish lines, EVERYONE was now going to be answering the phone, even if you didn't speak a lick of either language.
So....I finally have gotten to do the work for which I was hired - six long months after starting and just as I'm about to go on maternity leave and perhaps not return.
I have one thing to say about the differences in taking the Spanish calls compared to English calls. Well, perhaps several things to say.
1) Most people that call in on the Spanish line will almost always listen to what you have to say, therefor giving you a chance to do the proper amount of rebuttals and then "properly" end the phone call as the company wants you to.
2) Most "hispanohablantes" will understand you even if you happen to screw up your verbage. Like the time I tried to say "experiencing" (experimentado) and instead said "experimenting" (experimentando) only because I didn't think it was correct to say "experimentado" for "experienced".
3) Most, if not all, Spanish speakers that come through on my line tell me that I'm a nice person and thank me for assisting them at the end of the phone call. Now those are what I call excellent manners!
4) All the Spanish speakers understand every single word from the script that you read to them. Compared to the English lines, whenever you say (in English) "This is a debt suspension program that can freeze your account from finance charges, late fees, overlimit fees, etc..." The English speaker just sits there like a duck in water as if you just spoke Greek to them. Perhaps it's due to the fact that most Latin based languages have fifty million tenses and you know by the ending of those verbs that you are speaking "if" a condition should occur or "has" occurred.
5) On the English lines, you'll say to the customer "I'm going to go ahead and cancel this coverage on your account. For our records, is there something about the protection that first interested you in taking it?" or "Is there a benefit that now no longer meets your needs?"
The customer, being the English speaker (and I say this not based on nationality, but purely on language comprehension ability) will just pause for a moment and tell you "I don't want it" causing you to think to yourself, "That's not what I asked you, you dooley. I asked you to 'describe' for me what no longer interests you. I KNOW you want to cancel. Just give me a definitive reason why."
The Spanish lines will tell you and even describe events for you where they've tried to use the protection and couldn't. They will then tell you specific dates, times and persons relevant to the issue, like their distant relative came from Mexico to sell tamales to the peddler down the street and some random man came out of the shadows with a 2X4 and broke your femur. It's like watching a movie, except that in this case, the movie is like one of those "Books on Tape". It's actually kind of nice.
6) When a customer (regardless of language) says to you "I did not authorize this protection", it is my job to tell them, "We can never put this on your account unless we have your permission."
Here's the catch - guess which one is adamant about getting their proof about authorizing it?
Surprisingly, it's the English speaker.
They will complain until they have tried to part the Red Sea like Moses until they can get their proof or their money back. They will try to move boulders like Samson until they can speak to a manager.
"I NEVER ORDERED THIS @#$%!!!!! TAKE IT OFF MY ACCOUNT!!!!" The English Speaker will scream in your ear. Otherwise there's a long diatribe that they are a good customer and don't need credit protection because, as we can obviously see, they are a good paying customer. We can't really see it. We just read their notes to see what kind of customer they are i.e. rude, nice, hard of hearing, old farts, slow going, etc.
The Spanish speaker (at least so far with the ones that I've dealt with) will politely tell you that they never put the protection on their account and if you would kindly send them proof because they simply don't remember putting it on their account. You'll tell them that it will take some time to find and the customer will say, "Okay. You have a nice day ma'am. You're a very nice lady." (Está bien. Que tengas un buen dia, señorita. Eres muy amable.)
It's actually quite interesting to listen to the difference between both speakers.
However, I of course cannot escape the fact that I have had some calls in Spanish that are definitely heated.
Sometimes, if I accidentally answer the phone in English and it's a Spanish speaker, the customer will ask you, in English - "Do you speak espanish?" to which I reply "Si, yo hablo español" and you proceed to assist the customer.
The other day, I had a customer who came through line and after I said my greeting (in English) there was silence and then rudely "ESPAÑOL!!!!"
That lady was teed off! She kept cursing at me in Spanish, but they way she was screaming reminded me a lot of how my father curses in Spanish. I thought it was funny and silently laughed at her the entire time, save once when she went to look for her previous "cancel confirmation number" when let out a chuckle on the phone. I think she had me on speakphone because she yelled "Señorita?!" so she had to have heard me.
Which brings me to another point.
When the customer decides to go ahead and cancel everything, you say to them "I have a cancel confirmation number for your records. That is V as in Victor. Three-Eight-Three-Four-Three (V38343). That number is going to be proof that we spoke today to cancel out your coverage. Keep that number in case you ever see a charge on your account in the future from this protection and you have to call back to get the charges removed."
The English customer will then ask you, right after you have told them what the cancel confirmation number is for, what that 6 digit code is for. You then begin to roll your eyes and repeat what you've said.
In Spanish, it goes like this (which is almost an exact translation of what I have written above in English, for those of you not gifted to read in Spanish) - "Tengo un numero de confimación de cancelación para sus registros. Ese numero es V como Vanessa - tres - ocho - tres - cuatro - tres. Y ese numero es prueba que nosotros hemos hablado para cancelar su protección hoy dia. Sí usted vea el cobro en su cuenta en el futuro, llamanos para averiguar que esta pasando con su cuenta."
The Spanish customer will totally understand you whereas the English customer will just still be sitting at the start line of the duck race.
I believe that many English speakers perhaps need to have some extra language skills or refinement of their own skills since a lot of mono-linguists cannot even speak their own language.
Perhaps it might be useful to start up those elementary programs with some foreign language. Then everyone can be on the same page, or in this case, the pond.
Originally when I started working at my company, I was going to be taking both English and Spanish phone calls. However that was not to be. I happened to fail the Spanish test over the phone due to nerves and have been left in the dust ever since. I was the only one that didn't pass. There are other Spanish reps, (and I'm not saying this just because I think or know it to be true - I've had other Spanish reps tell me that I should have made the cut) that cannot even speak or form two sentences in the Spanish language.
Last week though, everyone in my department received an email stating that due to the lack of representatives answering calls on the Spanish lines, EVERYONE was now going to be answering the phone, even if you didn't speak a lick of either language.
So....I finally have gotten to do the work for which I was hired - six long months after starting and just as I'm about to go on maternity leave and perhaps not return.
I have one thing to say about the differences in taking the Spanish calls compared to English calls. Well, perhaps several things to say.
1) Most people that call in on the Spanish line will almost always listen to what you have to say, therefor giving you a chance to do the proper amount of rebuttals and then "properly" end the phone call as the company wants you to.
2) Most "hispanohablantes" will understand you even if you happen to screw up your verbage. Like the time I tried to say "experiencing" (experimentado) and instead said "experimenting" (experimentando) only because I didn't think it was correct to say "experimentado" for "experienced".
3) Most, if not all, Spanish speakers that come through on my line tell me that I'm a nice person and thank me for assisting them at the end of the phone call. Now those are what I call excellent manners!
4) All the Spanish speakers understand every single word from the script that you read to them. Compared to the English lines, whenever you say (in English) "This is a debt suspension program that can freeze your account from finance charges, late fees, overlimit fees, etc..." The English speaker just sits there like a duck in water as if you just spoke Greek to them. Perhaps it's due to the fact that most Latin based languages have fifty million tenses and you know by the ending of those verbs that you are speaking "if" a condition should occur or "has" occurred.
5) On the English lines, you'll say to the customer "I'm going to go ahead and cancel this coverage on your account. For our records, is there something about the protection that first interested you in taking it?" or "Is there a benefit that now no longer meets your needs?"
The customer, being the English speaker (and I say this not based on nationality, but purely on language comprehension ability) will just pause for a moment and tell you "I don't want it" causing you to think to yourself, "That's not what I asked you, you dooley. I asked you to 'describe' for me what no longer interests you. I KNOW you want to cancel. Just give me a definitive reason why."
The Spanish lines will tell you and even describe events for you where they've tried to use the protection and couldn't. They will then tell you specific dates, times and persons relevant to the issue, like their distant relative came from Mexico to sell tamales to the peddler down the street and some random man came out of the shadows with a 2X4 and broke your femur. It's like watching a movie, except that in this case, the movie is like one of those "Books on Tape". It's actually kind of nice.
6) When a customer (regardless of language) says to you "I did not authorize this protection", it is my job to tell them, "We can never put this on your account unless we have your permission."
Here's the catch - guess which one is adamant about getting their proof about authorizing it?
Surprisingly, it's the English speaker.
They will complain until they have tried to part the Red Sea like Moses until they can get their proof or their money back. They will try to move boulders like Samson until they can speak to a manager.
"I NEVER ORDERED THIS @#$%!!!!! TAKE IT OFF MY ACCOUNT!!!!" The English Speaker will scream in your ear. Otherwise there's a long diatribe that they are a good customer and don't need credit protection because, as we can obviously see, they are a good paying customer. We can't really see it. We just read their notes to see what kind of customer they are i.e. rude, nice, hard of hearing, old farts, slow going, etc.
The Spanish speaker (at least so far with the ones that I've dealt with) will politely tell you that they never put the protection on their account and if you would kindly send them proof because they simply don't remember putting it on their account. You'll tell them that it will take some time to find and the customer will say, "Okay. You have a nice day ma'am. You're a very nice lady." (Está bien. Que tengas un buen dia, señorita. Eres muy amable.)
It's actually quite interesting to listen to the difference between both speakers.
However, I of course cannot escape the fact that I have had some calls in Spanish that are definitely heated.
Sometimes, if I accidentally answer the phone in English and it's a Spanish speaker, the customer will ask you, in English - "Do you speak espanish?" to which I reply "Si, yo hablo español" and you proceed to assist the customer.
The other day, I had a customer who came through line and after I said my greeting (in English) there was silence and then rudely "ESPAÑOL!!!!"
That lady was teed off! She kept cursing at me in Spanish, but they way she was screaming reminded me a lot of how my father curses in Spanish. I thought it was funny and silently laughed at her the entire time, save once when she went to look for her previous "cancel confirmation number" when let out a chuckle on the phone. I think she had me on speakphone because she yelled "Señorita?!" so she had to have heard me.
Which brings me to another point.
When the customer decides to go ahead and cancel everything, you say to them "I have a cancel confirmation number for your records. That is V as in Victor. Three-Eight-Three-Four-Three (V38343). That number is going to be proof that we spoke today to cancel out your coverage. Keep that number in case you ever see a charge on your account in the future from this protection and you have to call back to get the charges removed."
The English customer will then ask you, right after you have told them what the cancel confirmation number is for, what that 6 digit code is for. You then begin to roll your eyes and repeat what you've said.
In Spanish, it goes like this (which is almost an exact translation of what I have written above in English, for those of you not gifted to read in Spanish) - "Tengo un numero de confimación de cancelación para sus registros. Ese numero es V como Vanessa - tres - ocho - tres - cuatro - tres. Y ese numero es prueba que nosotros hemos hablado para cancelar su protección hoy dia. Sí usted vea el cobro en su cuenta en el futuro, llamanos para averiguar que esta pasando con su cuenta."
The Spanish customer will totally understand you whereas the English customer will just still be sitting at the start line of the duck race.
I believe that many English speakers perhaps need to have some extra language skills or refinement of their own skills since a lot of mono-linguists cannot even speak their own language.
Perhaps it might be useful to start up those elementary programs with some foreign language. Then everyone can be on the same page, or in this case, the pond.
No comments:
Post a Comment