They Can Speak English in India

Today's Ann Arbor News has the front page of the business section showing an Indian female answering "qurestions" in India from American welfare recipients. And the news has some articles on the growing trend of outsourcing. In regards to legal work, the most interesting revelation is that "work is going to India because English is spoken there". Imagine that!

In the past 10 years I've heard the dumbest questions about India - all from educated people. Should I call them ignorant? When it comes to economics, if one can look past American hegemony, they might understand that outsourcing isn't necessarily a bad thing. True some Americans may lose jobs, but the welfare of the planet is a closed system. The boon for countries like India is very significant. Where an educated population that works for lower wages will not only benefit the over 350 million people below the poverty line, but it will force the (sometimes arcane) policies of the United States to adapt. Maybe we can get less ignorance, err ... I mean better education here. And perhaps less inflated salaries, better distribution of wealth and less bureaucracy. ... I know, I know, but I can dream, can't I?

Posted in: India, Technology,

3 Comments:

• Mike on March 30, 2004 ~ 01:01 AM

  how indian peeps, who have accents, gonna teach other indians ta speak standard english, when dey demselves have a buck-ass strong accent to begin with? i kno dey tryin' ta “keep it w/i da family & all,” but c’mon, this is gettin' ridiculous! have a white guy (or some1 who doesnt have a strong accent) teach ‘em english!

• Mauriat Miranda on March 30, 2004 ~ 11:11 AM

  Well I do see your point. However this only applies to outsourced work that requires verbal interaction such as tech support, help lines, etc. The article was referring to legal work, document editting, research etc. Technically people who learn english as a second language are less influenced by common grammatical errors of everyday english speakers.
  
  Anyways, the accents. I don’t think that someone without an accent as a teacher would be that much more helpful. You need much more influence than a single teacher to curb some of those thick accents. In reality, there should be some sort of speaking proficiency process executed before putting some people on the phone. But then, raising the bar might cut into the profits.

• Mike on April 4, 2004 ~ 07:07 AM

  forgot da realize dat hirin' a wigga is mos' likely ta cost dem mo' $ dan ta hire a local.