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Talking The Talk...
Ronald Shepherd, Instructional Designer, The Business Workshop

Isn’t it strange that even though the same language is spoken in India and America, both American and British English, which for the uninitiated is the English commonly spoken in India, are so distinctly different. To the point that an Indian has a problem understanding what an American is saying, or vice versa. I know the most common reaction to that would be to blame it on a certain twang or a drawl or call it what you may. What sets the two languages apart though, is more than just different accents.

For an Indian traveling or immigrating to the United States, life doesn’t become any easier by the existence of this gap between the two languages. Living, and more importantly working in America would be much easier for an Indian who quite literally can ‘Talk the talk’. As a result Linguistic Training has come to the fore as an important tool in facilitating better interaction between Americans and Indians. It is being extensively used in the Indian Call Center Industry today.

American English is often characterized by the use of a number of words that are not used in British English. Americans use words other than those generally used to describe an object or to express an emotion. Although some words used by Americans have gained Universal acceptance, an outsider does have to face certain problems settling into an environment where a ‘wallet’ is called a ‘billfold’ or where the ‘scrap yard’ is called a ‘boneyard’.

Like any other language, American English too consists of a host of phrases and slang that are used by Americans in their everyday interactions be it while conducting business or otherwise. Ignorance of these words and phrases would make it very difficult for an Indian to have a normal conversation with an American. It certainly helps knowing that when Jack says - “Jill is bent out of shape over not getting the promotion”, all he means is that Jill is upset... before it gets your imagination running wild.

Knowing American words, phrases and slang isn’t enough to help an Indian feel at home in America, at least linguistically. It isn’t easy to fit into a social setting without being able to speak like everybody else in that setting does. What sets Americans apart from Indians is their pronunciation of vowel and consonant sounds.

Unlike Indians, Americans pronounce their vowels very distinctly. Where a vowel is pronounced by an Indian as /aa/, it is pronounced as /ae/ by an American, making a word pronounced by an Indian as ‘D(aa)nce’ sound like ‘D(ae)nce’. Consonants too are pronounced characteristically in American English. The more common differences being ‘And’ gets shortened to /n/, or ‘of’ is replaced by ‘ov’.

Being able to speak English, the American way, goes a long way in helping a person communicate effectively, be it with with colleagues or customers. The knowledge of Linguistics and it’s application is gaining acceptance as a tool to help Indians fit into the American scheme of things, especially at the workplace.

As complicated as all this may sound, the good news is that trying to speak like an American, doesn’t really call for one to go back to the drawing board and start from scratch. It is amazing how a few basic changes to pronunciation of vowel and consonant sounds, can go as far as helping you sound like an American.

If that sounded too easy, there’s always more to learn. You could always go on and try the Texan twang or the Southern Drawl...

Graphic done by Himani