MTI Blues!!

" 'Special' is pronounced as 'Speshal'...got it!".."Yes Sir,..its 'spesal' "."No,no.....its speshal!"..."ya,spesal!"..."No,Speshhaal!!"...and the nightmare resumes.For those who are yet to comprehend the situation,this was a trainer engaging in almost-a-brawl with one of his trainees in an institue which coaches(or rather claims to coach) call center aspirants.Its one of the many institutes which have sprung up in every nook and corner of this country after the BPO boom.

The aspirants primarily include young teenagers,just out of school,having an urge to splurge,but don't have the moolah,hence wanna earn it,but lack in communication in english,hence wanna learn it.Also there are graduates,postgraduates and professionals who consider call centers as their ultimate haven.Then there are people who don't know why call centers exist,but are sure that employment in them exists.And finally there are people who haven't spoken in english for yonks,but are gullible enough to believe the attractive counsellor at the institute that they can make it to an international call canter.

And if you happen to be a trainer in such an institute,congrats!.You are patience personified.How?..Ask me.When one of your trainees who claims to be B.A in english ,but still pronounces the word 'ultimate' as 'ooltimate',it is an ultimate test of patience.Infact the drawl is like a missile targeted at the trainer,which would prick his conscience and compel him to regret his decision of joining the institute.

As a trainer,I am accustomed to encountering myriad experiments on the english language everyday.Infact there is a term to define such innovative experimentation in any language.Its called MTI-Mother Tongue Influence,euphemism for poor and pathetic pronunciation of certain words in any language.And if MTI was a subject,I am sure to have a Phd in it,atleast for MTI in english.So how do you know when one has MTI.Simple.If a person is talking to you and during the course of the conversation,you seem to develop a burning urge to get hold of his jaws and grab his wagging tongue and twist it and curl it in a way so that it only produces sounds which sound good!...huff...then the person surely has an MTI.

MTI may appear in any language.But lets focus on MTI in english for the moment.Ask any voice and accent trainer in a call center about this and the immediate grimace would tell you the rest.Examples of MTI in english-'vision pronounced as 'vizan'..'special' pronounced as 'spesal'..'crazy' pronounced as 'crajee' and many more.Sometimes in my class.I tend to yell,"You all yokels will continue to torment me by these cannon-balls of MTI and will end up destroying my own communication skills!"...and the class bursts into laughter.I join them too,but the subtle fear of their dreams of getting into an international call center not turning into reality continues to haunt me.

So why is MTI an issue at all?.Why it is dreaded by trainers and HR executives of call centers?.With the advent of BPO in India and the IT boom,english,especially communication in english has assumed an unprecedented importance.Not only IT and ITES,but every other firm intends to hire candidates with fluent english.Sooner or later,fluent english communication would become indispensable for indians and indians,with most of them in the 20-30 age bracket ,have realised the need to improve upon their english speaking skills.But it is a widely accepted fact among the BPO and IT fraternity that first-MTI is embarrassing and second-removing MTI is almost impossible.People who have been speaking like that for 15 or 20 long years simply cannot alter their tongue movement to speak correctly.And thats why they continue to struggle in getting their desired job.

A year ago,when I was enjoying my stint at Wipro BPO,I was certainly oblivious of the nightmares of HR executives.I realised this recently when I met a young and chirpy HR executive of a prominent BPO firm who landed at Kanpur with her team for recruitment purpose.She was upbeat in the morning but looked gloomy in the evening.When I inquired,she said,"could select only 3 out of 120....most of them had terrible MTI!".

Stories of talent crunch and unemployable indian youth are now cliches in the BPO corridors.And with big brands like Convergys and Amex going to Tier-II cities like Kanpur for recruitment,the talent crunch is evident.But what is to be done when they don't find people??.Lets come back to MTI for a moment.Who are the ones who have MTI?.Usually those who have attended government schools affiliated to the state boards,which form a majority of schools in India.And why do they have MTI?.Walk into the english class of any of these schools and ask anything to the teacher,in fluent english.His spell-bound expression and consequent difficulty in answering would explain everything.Yes ,you got it right...its our same old education system.Undeserving teachers,state's apathy and lax management,perfect ingredients to prepare a curry of unemployable indian youth

I am not going to comment on what the state can do.The state knows better what they can do,or rather they should do.I am not sure about Phillipines or China overtaking us in the ITES sector.Also I don't want to imagine the situation when an american or briton comes across the word 'spesal' instead of 'special' over the phone.I am an optimist at heart and firmly believe that only an indian will survive the dooms day since he has all the unorthodox ways to tackle virtually any problem.And as I was contemplating on India's as well as my future,my younger brother gatecrashed into my room and yelled,"Hey Bro!...heres your special coffee!".I suddenly started staring at him and asked,"Wat'd you just say?...come again!".