IMHO anyone who would even think to use the phrase “intrusion of other cultures” must be xenophobic. :dubious:
I disagree with the “any” part of that, many “mainstream” US-based companies advertise in Spanish-language media and/or using the Spanish language. If a company is targeting the US-Spanish speaking population, or is even using the Spanish language to sign them up for bank accounts, cell phone plans, etc, then I think its quite reasonable to expect access to a Spanish speaking CSR . ( And no, I have no reason to think that OP’s company in particular is targeting this market, I’m only speaking about companies that do. ) Likewise, if I went on vacation to foreign resort that put English-language advertisements in English-language magazines, then yes, I would probably expect to be able to find someone who spoke English to help me out when I got there.
But again, being rude to the CSR isn’t okay, I can get behind that one.
I had a friend from Paris who was quite emphatic that Canadians do not speak French.
I’m seeing both sides of this argument. You see, I’m an American living in Ireland. I work in a computer shop that also has an internet cafe.
On one hand, the majority of the people I have to deal with on a daily basis are not native Irish or even native English-speakers. I genuinely try my best to understand Suzka from the Czech Republic or Marek from Slovakia or Anna from Poland, but they know, as a clueless Ami, that I most likely do not understand their native tongue, and as such, the vast majority of them do not express any outrage at my ignorance of their native tongue. I think they realize that, as immigrants to Ireland, they are expected to have a minimal level of proficiency in English in order to function in Irish society. So we get by with crude gesturing and basic vocabulary and everything’s fine.
On the other hand, as an American living in County Cork, in which I have observed that your average Padraig has a much more pronounced dialect than a typical Dubliner, I am often totally confused and bewildered as to what some of my customers are trying to tell me. So in those cases, I am the clueless immigrant, the one who has to repeatedly ask (on some occasions) “What was that?” or “I’m sorry?”. And to their credit, I’ve not met met a single Irishman who has gotten offended at my confusion. But even if one of them had gotten irritated with my stupidity, they would have been entirely justified. It’s their country and I’m the foreigner.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I understand Otto’s frustration and think it’s justified. I have a EU passport and can legally live in any country in the EU. I would love to live in the region of Germany around Freiburg, where I have family, but I choose not to relocate there. Why? Because I don’t speak fluent German and that’s not going to change any time soon. They’re Germans - they should be speaking German. It’s my problem that I can’t speak German. Not Germany’s.
So these are people who are trying to get something that your company owes them. You don’t think that might be what of few of them are screaming about?
AFAICT, though, the conversation that Otto quoted doesn’t quite fit that description:
It’s reasonable to go through the start of an exchange like this expecting that the caller’s second or third (or at least fourth) response may be either something like “Then somebody you place speak Spanish?” or else something like “Okay, but I speak not good English, you please no talk quick, yes?”
The fact that a caller asks a CSR to speak Spanish doesn’t automatically mean that the caller can’t get by in English if necessary. By saying that he doesn’t speak Spanish and then repeating his offer of help, Otto is giving the caller the option of continuing the call in English as best as s/he can manage to speak it, or else of requesting another, Spanish-speaking, CSR.
I admit this process would be simplified if Otto’s company kept one or more Spanish-speaking CSRs on the payroll and taught all the non-Spanish-speaking CSRs how to say the Spanish equivalent of “Please hold, a Spanish-speaking representative will be with you shortly”. Then as soon as Otto got the “NO SPEAK SPANISH!?” response, he could go into his “Esperar uno momento por favor…”* routine, transfer the call, and go on about his business without being screamed at in Spanish.
This wouldn’t help with the occasional enraged caller speaking Polish or Chinese, of course, but it should eliminate a large part of the problem.
*Not actual Spanish as spoken by Spanish speakers. Do not use this phrase in place of actual Spanish.
In a recent conversation at work, I pointed out that by looking at the map, one can clearly see that citizens of Mexico are by definition:Americans !!!
I can get behind the “telephone reps who aren’t fluent in English piss me off” rant. A few weeks ago my purse was stolen and I had to cancel my Mastercard. This was just a few hours after the incident so I was still shaken and upset, and I just wanted to get it over with and get off the phone.
Rep: Hello?
Me: Hi, I’m calling to report a stolen debit card?
Rep: Ah, [something unintelligble] account number?
Me: [assuming he’s asking for my account number and recites it to him]
Rep: Okay, one minute. Okay. Hm, Miss Coffee. I see that [mumblemumblemumble].
Me: Sorry?
Rep: You do not have [@%^&].
Me: Sorry, I don't have what?
Rep: Oh-veh-dro-al-puh-roh-tek-shun.
Me: [a pause] Overdrawal protection?
Rep: Yes. Would you like me sign you up?
Me: :rolleyes: No thanks. I'm calling to cancel my debit card - it was stolen a few hours ago.
Rep: Yes. I can do that for you.
Me: Thank. You.
Rep: Are you sure you don't want ohvehdroalpuhrohtekshun?
Me: [controls scream with effort] I applied for that months ago. You guys turned me down because I have a low credit rating.
Rep: Okay. I can do that for you now.
Me: [*&@%^!!!] No. Thank. You. Just. Cancel. My. Card. Thanks.
They made you take the TOEFL? I thought it was okay if you came from a country where English was an official language. I mean, they made me take the TOEFL for my student visa, but my citizenship is Korean, so I guess I understand (although I am still resentful about the fact that I had to pay a small fortune just to prove I can speak a language that is my native tongue).
One of my colleagues had to take the TOEFL when he applied for a Ph.D. in a few American universities. That’s despite the fact that his English is as good as mine (maybe better, actually) and despite the fact that we were studying at the University of Ottawa, which is an officially bilingual university, true, but where you can’t really expect to be able do a Master’s degree in math if you don’t have some kind of fluency in English.
But the funny part about this is when he called the TOEFL’s customer service line to try to get his test results. You see, like many other American businesses, the company that administrates the TOEFL has outsourced its call centres overseas. I only heard my colleague’s half of the conversation. But it was hilariously clear that the guy on the other side of the line’s command of English was, say, lacking. So my colleague had to take the TOEFL, despite the fact that his English was way better than the TOEFL’s own customer representative! :smack:
There are a lot of Hispanic people in my neighborhood, and if I had my pick of neighbors I’d pick them. Saw a pretty little girl at the KwickiMart who smiled up at me and I said “Hola, bonita.” She said “Habla espanol?” “Como no?” I answered “Estoy Americano.” Her smile could have stunned an ox.
What do you call someone who speaks several languages? Multi-lingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bi-lingual. What do you call someone who only speaks one language? American.
Alternative title:
I speak ONLY English. Know why? Because I am an American!
Well, honestly, there’s a huge advantage to having everyone in America literate and able to speak a single language – means we can all communicate with each other readily. Cultural relativism is nice and all, but hardly worth dropping the advantage of a single common language for a few PC points.
Nothing personal, but that’s just bullshit. In the OP the bushmen are calling him - not the other way around.
And John Mace that was the best laugh of the month!
There’s an unpleasantly sizable expat community in Tokyo for whom the answer is a resounding “No”. They’re typically here for a year or two, working for trading companies and banks. They live in insular little gaijin enclaves in Roppongi, Hiroo and Azabu, where there are plenty of businesses willing to cater to them by speaking fluent English and charging triple for everything. They come here just as a stepping stone in their career, add nothing to the community beyond a tax base, act like they’re walking around a theme park where the locals are just props to entertain them, and when they leave, nobody misses them.
OK, but I don’t get why you’re mad. The customer didn’t get his gift card activated. They’re the ones that should be mad. You just listened to some loud noise that you couldn’t understand. . . like listening to rap music or something. 
Perhaps ten percent of the population are unilingual Francophone (according to this source, which is a PDF, it was 2,912,385 as of the 2001 census). Ten percent is hardly a “very large number,” and the 2.9M figure is just slightly larger than the population within city limits of Chicago. Cite.
My clients from Spain took a holiday in Mexico, and claimed that the people there spoke a dialect so alien to them that they had to ask them to speak in English to be able to understand them.
Oddly, my Portuguese client says a similar thing about when he goes to Brazil.
Since I speak none of the above, I cannot comment from personal experience as to why this would be. I admit I find it difficult to believe.
Which is why you called them gaijin, right? RACIST! 
Seriously, though…
if the American government emulated the Japanese government’s stance toward foreigners, especially ones that don’t look like them, our illegal immigrants would be LONGING for the good ol’ days where the worst of their troubles was somebody bitching on a message board.
All the trouble over “hottentot,” and nobody blinks an eye at “gaijin.” :dubious:
In my defense, I’d had a long day…
“Hello, thank you for calling [company], this is Ninja, how may I help you?”
“Yeah! I just got off’n the phone with yer tech s’pooort guys!”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“They cain’t speak no Anglish!”
"Er, I apologize. I am in the Billing department, is there some way I can – "
“I cain’t talk t’someone from China or In’ja or Pakky-stan or nothin!” (They’re Filipino, actually, as far as I know. But I have to admit they are not at the tippity top of the clever scale. That’s why we’re outsourcing to Canada.)
"Well, I – "
“Is there som’ne who speaks AINGLISH I c’n talk ta?”
"I can send you back to – "
“I don’t even know why you HIRE those people!”
“I DON’T.”
“…oh, well I know YOU don’t…”
Sigh. And on one hand I can see it, because I have known Indian and Bangladeshi tech and customer support departments that read from their scripts and get very very anxious when anyone goes off the script. But 99% of the time I talk to someone very very polite who helps me as best as they can, and usually they can indeed help me.
Our company is tiny, and we just lost the last person who speaka Spanish. I can inform our customers that el chihuahua es en el bano del Presidente. I can say “su… uh… account… es… er, no tienemos su dinero?” And that’s usually worse than their English. We do cater to people from all over the place, though, and while I do cringe when I hear a very very thick accent it just means I have to listen harder.
What I love about the thickly accented callers is that – especially the Indian and Middle-Eastern folks – spell EVERYTHING. What I hate is that some of them will very obviously use their thick accent to make people assume they know no English. So:
“I want credit!”
“I will submit the request to our billing department. We will contact you later today with an answer.”
“I want full credit!”
"I’m afraid I am not able to make a final decision, but I can recommend – "
“So you give me all money back? Good!”
Nngh.