Good evening. This is Kathy at Communicom. Who am I speaking to?” In fact, Kathy’s real name may be Kavitha, and she’s probably a customer service attendant in Bangalore, a large city in the southern part of India.
Bangalore has become India’s center for IT, and nowadays it is one of the world’s principal call centers. Multinational corporations frequently hire companies in India to handle services to their customers over the phone: everything from technical support on computer help lines to credit card transactions, banking, and telemarketing. Customers all over the world frequently talk to phone assistants in Bangalore.
Call centers are a booming business
in this part of India, and they generate
a great many jobs. The possibility of earning $700 a month attracts hundreds of candidates. They are mostly young people, competitive and highly qualified, some with MBAs and master’s degrees.
However, in order to qualify for a position with one of these service companies, many of these young people need to perfect their English. In India, people have long been anglophones because of the country’s past as a British colony. But the challenge is how to make their English easily understood to non-Indians. So before new call center employees learn about the products they’re going
to sell, they usually begin with language training. They learn to slow down their speech because the English spoken
in India is often very fast. And they concentrate on accents and sounds. For example, Indians say “It’s not awailable,” instead of “available.” or “I’m going do the mall,” instead of “to the mall.” Also employees have to adopt an Anglo name in their new job.
Call centers are helping to change the traditional caste system and the position of women in India. They employ both males and females from different segments of society.
Call centers are being set up all over the world. Your request may be redirected to Mexico or the Philippines, depending on the time of day you make your call. However, one thing you can be sure of: the attendant will be speaking English.