Urban Photo Series 1
You know that there's something wrong in the corporate world when one of the primary qualifications for work is "Speaking Fluent English" and you are in priority if you speak fluent English with "an American accent."
As much as how people sound impressive on the phone with the Americanised twang, I am disturbed how we Filipinos accept this as the be-all and the by-all in this line of work. We are in the Philippines my dear friends, and we as Filipinos have our own distinct way of speaking: we speak with clarity, and generally we can communicate a lot better than most other Asians in Asia--we ought to be proud of this; but why do we have to forever "please" white foreigners? Why do we still have to Americanise the way we speak?
I do believe it is important to have proper grammar and enunciation, but to have an American accent is a completely pathetic form of present-day colonial mentality. Yes, Filipinos born, raised, educated or residing in America are of a different scenario--it is very much understandable for these individuals to have this most coveted accent. But to train our Filipinos born, bred, raised, educated and residing in the Philippines--those who speak Pilipino/Hiligaynon/Bisaya/Kapampangan/Ilokano etc. as a first language, or who speak clear and comprehensible English just without an accent--to suddenly speak with an Americanised twang is laughable to a certain degree.
They say that the Americanisation of an accent is the only way to maintain the competitive lead/competence in the field, knowing that the competition (i.e. countries like India and China are also tapped by the Americans for outsourced call centers) is growing stronger by the day. For me, this is but a sad excuse. Competence is not the issue here, because all human resource, business and economic computations as well as simple logic will give analyses of decline in the outsourcing service demand in the Philippines sooner or later [in about five to fifteen years]. We are a very small country with a very small population as compared with two of the world's most populated nations--our talent pool for competition is very limited compared to theirs; are we so arrogant to think that we could actually compete with them labor wise?
If competence were the issue here, can't a Filipino be competent enough, with his/her own Filipinised tongue? Can't a Filipino be competent enough speaking English as a normal Filipino would--that is straight, without-an-American-accent English? There have been countless times wherein a Filipino has proven himself worthy despite the language barrier, or the lack of the American accent. If another point of argument is the the Filipino's questionable ability of grammatical and phonetic structure, then the American accent is all the more not the solution. What we need is a better educational system--an educational system with a more solid foundation in the English subjects of Language and Reading and not merely a camouflage of speaking with an Americanised twang.
If this requirement of "Speaking English with an American accent" were imposed in European countries, there would be some sort of public outrage. If this requirement were imposed in any of the job centers in America, companies would be charged of discrimination and certainly, human-rights groups will complain. Because like it or not, dear readers, this requirement is a guileful form of discrimination. I don't know about you, but personally, it is quite alarming and saddening how we Filipinos cater to this colonial manipulation without question.
+_+
It's been a while since I actually ranted. And I must say that, that felt liberating. *whew*