The Philippines'copycat strategy has been so successful that American customers are now far more likely to be talking to a Filipino helpline adviser than an Indian. With revenues of nearly $11 billion,Philippine outsourcing now employs 650,000 people,almost twice as many as India. What's more operators believe their customers are likely to be more satisfied with the service they receive from well-educated young Filipinos who grew up listening to American pop music and reading American comics. A US colony until independence in 1946,the Philippines has maintained strong cultural links with its former masters:in a country where the national language ,Tagalog is not most people's mother tongue ,English is a second ,rather than a foreign language.