Local is lekker

More than five million global contact centre jobs are expected to leave their country of origin over the next five years, with a recent McKinsey report stating that South Africa could capture 100 000 of these contact centre seats. A drop in the ocean perhaps, but a good start nonetheless.

`Neutralising` accents

With everyone`s eye on this magical figure, some of us have lost sight of the fact that in the predominantly English-speaking contact centre environment, many SA agents are not communicating in their mother tongue. Many speak English as their second or third language, and the language is therefore spoken with a variety of accents.

Changing this or making locally flavoured English more understandable is not a simple consideration. How do people trying to build a national identity reconcile the idea of `neutralising` indigenous South African accents, when in parallel there are movements such as `Proudly South African` and `the African Renaissance`? Not to mention various initiatives to encourage mother tongue learning.

A balanced viewpoint reveals that locally flavoured English has much to say for it. English spoken with a strong African accent can be as understandable and appealing as English spoken with a strong French accent, for example. One only has to listen to the SABC`s Lerato Mbele or Nikiwe Bikitsha to realise that African speakers of English are often streaks ahead of their counterparts anywhere. Conversely, one only has to watch "Footballers Wives" to realise that English as spoken by the British can be a struggle to comprehend.

And on another level, South African contact centre agents deliver better than world-class service with a sunny disposition.

Not only are South Africans hard-working, we`re better educated than the competition and we identify strongly with British and American culture.

Call for voice coaching

It`s clear, though, that what is needed in the South African contact centre industry is voice coaching of agents that seeks to enhance, clarify and improve. These should be our cues. `Neutralise` is an unfortunate term that treads on people`s dignity and brings to mind a colonial mindset.

On the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Freedom Charter, the term becomes even more inappropriate.

While it is common sense that successful value-adding dialogue in a contact centre environment can only take place when the parties can effectively comprehend each other, and while it is true that unintelligible accents break down the communication process, the same is not necessarily true of strong accents that have been modulated to bring out the best in the agent.

India is now well established as one of the preferred locations for the setting up of offshore contact centres and has had to concentrate on the need for intensive accent training of agents. However, when one calls a contact centre located in India, it is often obvious that one is speaking to an Indian person, proving that there is a middle ground when it comes to accent training of contact centre staff.

The goal of the trainer should always be to help the individual achieve the desired manner of pronunciation without jeopardising the integrity of the individual`s first accent and their ethnicity, culture and background. As events in South Africa such as the 1976 student uprising have demonstrated, to not show the proper respect when dealing with the issue of language is to tread on dangerous ground.