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Monday, October 8, 2012

Slowww down when you talk, please!

I made a hotel reservation though the phone for this long weekend. I called Hyatt, Hyatt at Olive 8, W hotel, and Westin in downtown Seattle, and everyone who take the call speak ridiculous fast. They answered the questions that I didn't even finish asking! I guess the reason they all speak so fast is they answer the phone all the time, and they do it routinely and without a second thinking. They assume that they know what I want to know and what I want to do. But it's not! English is not my first language, i can't understand when talk. When I phoned W hotel, the lady who took my call speak 2 minute, and I just say a few words. The funnest thing is that the first thing I can fully understand is she asked me my Visa number to confirm my reservation?! 

To avoid miscommunication, we need at least to know who we talk to. For this case, I don't even want to say is a miscommunication, because there is no communication at all! 

P.s. In general, I felt American speak faster than Canadian, is that true??

2 comments:

  1. There are regional differences in speech tempo in the U.S., as well as variation among individuals.

    From this article:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2790192/

    "She finds a slower speech rate for Southerners and a faster rate for those from the North, broadly speaking, while 'Army Brats' (who had lived in three or more areas) spoke the fastest."

    And apparently Canadian Maritimers have a faster tempo than other Canadians. So I think if you compared an American Southerner to a Maritimer, the Maritimer would win the race. ;)

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  2. ^ Agreed! Taking into account the cultural context, different areas of the world have varied speech tempos and also tones. I can justify this through similar experiences, when communicating with foreigners on previous trips and vacations.

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