Indian Accent
The recent years have seen the image of India rise, from a country of adept snake charmers capable of magically traveling through air unseen, to a country of technical experts capable of working on problems far across the globe. This progress, though slower than it should be, is there and one cannot help but notice and marvel. As was expected, we caused panic with lazy bums everywhere apprehensive of losing their job to a relatively harder working Indian. The lethargy vanished suddenly but instead of the new found zeal being directed towards their jobs, it led to the formation of zany organizations aimed at making India look bad and giving it bad publicity. I recently heard about an American who sells bumper stickers and T-shirts denouncing outsourcing to India! I’d say he’s one of those few lazy bums who had a bit of a brain and rode this wave of general sentiment making some money at the side! Then suddenly the Indian English became so incomprehensible that the need for companies offering translation from the Indian form of the language to the international form was felt! Everyone came up with his/her own account of inadequate English on part of Indians. If someone cares I’d like to present the most innovative account award to the person who came up with the one in which upon telling a customer support representative that she’s “lost her husband” the reply was that she’d “have to look for him harder”! I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with the Indian accent provided we can keep control of our speed. Talking to numerous people from many countries I never felt that I’m not able to get myself through to the other person. I don’t think I need an American or British of for that matter a Japanese accent, living here in Japan, for the other person to understand. What people fail to understand is that English is no more the language of only the British, Americans, Canadians, et al! It’s an international language. We Indians use it to talk to the Chinese and the Brazilians the same way we’d use it with the Americans. It’s a medium of communication and not the end. Anyone claiming to know English should know it enough to understand any accent. I often think how the Americans are able to understand the Japanese, who, incidentally, pronounce Load and Road, Writer and Righter and for that matter City and Shitty in the same way! It’s because they want to understand what they’re saying and not what we are saying. The Indian media needs to play a leading role in building a good image for India and bring out the facts and realities to the people. To make them realize how everyone stands to gain with globalization, how doing everything technology has enabled us to do today should be done to take get maximum benefit. Economy of scale is no new term. It has always been profitable for all to produce things on larger scale. Outsourcing is just an extension of economy of scale, it being production at a large scale where it can be produced large scale at lower costs. India’s huge human resources make it possible for us to do the same thing for many people more efficiently at lower costs. It’s just like the Chinese products that have taken the world by storm. Even here in Japan, big reputed companies have opted to shift production to China. It’s highly probable that when you buy the product of a Japanese company it would come with a “Made in China” label even when buying it in Japan. Why can’t a service similarly come with a “Made in India” label? The next time we give a service to someone outside India, why can’t we proclaim that the work was done in India rather than hiding the fact for fear of negative reaction? Why not build a brand India which everyone can trust, something so big and efficient that “Made in India” becomes a certification of quality? If Indians comprise of one-sixth of the worlds population, why can’t every sixth service provided be by an Indian? Stepping a little outside outsourcing appears emigration. Emigrants often get the lowest opinions, with people from other countries calling them “job stealers” and from their own country calling them “deserters”. Thankfully India is beginning to take emigration more as an export rather than a brain drain. Remittances to India stand as testimony to the fact that even after leaving the country emigrants leave their hearts in the country. Year 2001 alone saw an inflow of 9.16 billion US dollars into India in the form of remittances, with the only countries receiving higher remittances, Mexico (9.92 Billion USD) and France (9.22 USD), not being much farther ahead. Time is ripe for India to build its image as a global provider. We need to step outside the bounds of politics and international boundaries to develop our mother-land into a real super power. I don’t lie when I say that I found my Indian education more difficult than here in Japan. We have, both, people wanting to study, and places they can go to. All we need now is a direction. Unemployment in engineers and doctors shows that at this point of time we do not have need more engineering and medical schools. We need more technicians, better trained clerks and an international viewpoint. We need to open our minds understand what India wants and at the same time what the world wants. We should see scope of improvement in every complain people make about us and quiet every critic with sheer quality making them want to get the Indian accent themselves!
The recent years have seen the image of India rise, from a country of adept snake charmers capable of magically traveling through air unseen, to a country of technical experts capable of working on problems far across the globe. This progress, though slower than it should be, is there and one cannot help but notice and marvel. As was expected, we caused panic with lazy bums everywhere apprehensive of losing their job to a relatively harder working Indian. The lethargy vanished suddenly but instead of the new found zeal being directed towards their jobs, it led to the formation of zany organizations aimed at making India look bad and giving it bad publicity. I recently heard about an American who sells bumper stickers and T-shirts denouncing outsourcing to India! I’d say he’s one of those few lazy bums who had a bit of a brain and rode this wave of general sentiment making some money at the side! Then suddenly the Indian English became so incomprehensible that the need for companies offering translation from the Indian form of the language to the international form was felt! Everyone came up with his/her own account of inadequate English on part of Indians. If someone cares I’d like to present the most innovative account award to the person who came up with the one in which upon telling a customer support representative that she’s “lost her husband” the reply was that she’d “have to look for him harder”! I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with the Indian accent provided we can keep control of our speed. Talking to numerous people from many countries I never felt that I’m not able to get myself through to the other person. I don’t think I need an American or British of for that matter a Japanese accent, living here in Japan, for the other person to understand. What people fail to understand is that English is no more the language of only the British, Americans, Canadians, et al! It’s an international language. We Indians use it to talk to the Chinese and the Brazilians the same way we’d use it with the Americans. It’s a medium of communication and not the end. Anyone claiming to know English should know it enough to understand any accent. I often think how the Americans are able to understand the Japanese, who, incidentally, pronounce Load and Road, Writer and Righter and for that matter City and Shitty in the same way! It’s because they want to understand what they’re saying and not what we are saying. The Indian media needs to play a leading role in building a good image for India and bring out the facts and realities to the people. To make them realize how everyone stands to gain with globalization, how doing everything technology has enabled us to do today should be done to take get maximum benefit. Economy of scale is no new term. It has always been profitable for all to produce things on larger scale. Outsourcing is just an extension of economy of scale, it being production at a large scale where it can be produced large scale at lower costs. India’s huge human resources make it possible for us to do the same thing for many people more efficiently at lower costs. It’s just like the Chinese products that have taken the world by storm. Even here in Japan, big reputed companies have opted to shift production to China. It’s highly probable that when you buy the product of a Japanese company it would come with a “Made in China” label even when buying it in Japan. Why can’t a service similarly come with a “Made in India” label? The next time we give a service to someone outside India, why can’t we proclaim that the work was done in India rather than hiding the fact for fear of negative reaction? Why not build a brand India which everyone can trust, something so big and efficient that “Made in India” becomes a certification of quality? If Indians comprise of one-sixth of the worlds population, why can’t every sixth service provided be by an Indian? Stepping a little outside outsourcing appears emigration. Emigrants often get the lowest opinions, with people from other countries calling them “job stealers” and from their own country calling them “deserters”. Thankfully India is beginning to take emigration more as an export rather than a brain drain. Remittances to India stand as testimony to the fact that even after leaving the country emigrants leave their hearts in the country. Year 2001 alone saw an inflow of 9.16 billion US dollars into India in the form of remittances, with the only countries receiving higher remittances, Mexico (9.92 Billion USD) and France (9.22 USD), not being much farther ahead. Time is ripe for India to build its image as a global provider. We need to step outside the bounds of politics and international boundaries to develop our mother-land into a real super power. I don’t lie when I say that I found my Indian education more difficult than here in Japan. We have, both, people wanting to study, and places they can go to. All we need now is a direction. Unemployment in engineers and doctors shows that at this point of time we do not have need more engineering and medical schools. We need more technicians, better trained clerks and an international viewpoint. We need to open our minds understand what India wants and at the same time what the world wants. We should see scope of improvement in every complain people make about us and quiet every critic with sheer quality making them want to get the Indian accent themselves!
posted by Unknown at 4:35 PM
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