We’re having a communication problem these days. Is it just us, or are other folks having a hard time understanding some of the foreign accents on the other end of the phone line?  A generation ago, it would have been unusual to detect a caller (or the person answering your call) with an accent we couldn’t identify. We enjoyed listening to those with accents unlike our own, because in most instances, their command of English was very good. Few of us spoke a second language. We have lots of different dialects right here in the Continental United States, even right here in Maine, whereDown Easters — way down — are easily distinguishable from those of us here on the Midcoast. Southerners have long been amused at our New England way of talking, as we are with theirs. We’ve never forgotten a call to our office thirty or forty years ago from a Deep South subscriber who wanted to put a small news item in the newspaper. It took us awhile to get our differing accents on the same wavelength. 

Which brings us to today’s dilemma: We find it increasingly difficult to interpret what is being said by the person on the other end of the line, be it a telemarketer or representative of one of the country’s larger businesses. With the telemarketers, we often don’t care anyway, but even so, it would be to their advantage if we could understand them.While the English language is being spoken by fewer and fewer Americans these days, we still find it frustrating when we have to repeatedly tell the person on the other end of the line that they’ll have to start over again because of their broken English. We don’t mean to be rude, but don’t know what else to do when we don’t understand them. In our own experience, many of the accents on the other end of the line of late appear to be of Mideast or Asian origin, and it sounds like they have had little previous  English language preparation  before taking on the job at hand.

While we’re sure some readers will take offense at our criticism, we hope they understand that we’re genuinely concerned that trying to conduct serious business when you appear to be on a different wave length is difficult, to say the least.Some of these calls to major companies, national insurance firms and others can’t always be avoided. We encourage those who are hiring these workers, capable and well-trained though they may be, to remember that being well-versed in the English language should also be a top priority.