I don't know about anyone else, but I get perfectly weary of dealing with telephone menus. Every time I call anywhere needing customer service, I am inevitably directed through a long series of telephone menus asking me to push certain buttons to go to this particular part of the menu, etc. when all I really want to do is to talk to a real person and get an answer to my problem. And then there is the introductory voice directing me "press 1 for English, para español, oprima numero dos" or some such thing. I have nothing against immigrants or anything like that, as all of us are descendents of immigrants, but I fail to understand why everything must be Spanish-English bilingual these days. I know that our country has had a huge influx in recent years of Hispanic immigrants from all over Latin America, but would it not make more sense for them to aspire to learn English once they got here? When I drive up to the ATM now, I am forced to choose English, French or Spanish as the language in which I will be receiving information on my transactions. Now, I am not trying to sound like the Ugly American, but when I went to Europe some years ago, I did my best to learn German, as the countries where I was visiting spoke that language. I don't know why more Hispanics seem so reluctant to learn English when that is the language of this country. How can you get a job or do anything like grocery shop, go to a doctor or any of the other myriad day to day things we do each day when you do not speak the native tongue? Anymore, if you want to get a job anywhere, you'd better be Spanish-English bilingual. I think that people should learn a foreign language or two, as it never hurts to be able to speak other languages beside your own. I've studied French, Spanish, Irish Gaelic and German. I can't claim fluency in any of them, but I can make out words when I hear them spoken. If I immersed myself in those languages, I know I could learn them quickly. Anyway, this started out as a rant against telephone menus and quickly morphed into an essay on languages because of the fact that you are asked to choose your language whenever you use telephone menus - and ATMs, and a lot of other automated services. I really hate having to press extra language choice buttons as it is on top of the annoyance of having to press buttons in the first place, especially on telephone menus that go on and on and seldom allow you to speak to a real person unless you are perfectly willing to sit on hold listening to utterly boring music while being told every few minutes that "your call is valuable to us..." blah, blah, blah. Yeah? Well, if it is that valuable, then why are you leaving me here on hold for an eternity forcing me to listen to wretched music that I'd just as soon not be forced to have to listen to? Why can't I talk to a real live person to help me solve the problem that made me call in the first place? And for heaven's sake, do not force me to talk to "George" in Mumbai or New Delhi whose accent is so thick that I cannot really understand it! Maybe I'm just turning curmudgeonly in my older age, but there are just certain things anymore that have begun to really grate on my nerves, and telephone menus and talking to someone in Asia half way across the world whose accent makes it impossible for me to carry on a cohesive conversation is just one of them. And having to press buttons asking me if I want English or Spanish is another one. One more button to push is one more button too many, if you ask me. We have enough buttons to push on a daily basis that asking me which language I want is just one more thing to get in the way of getting done what I need to do. Maybe increased automation of everything has not served us as well as we thought it would at the outset. I do miss good old fashioned human to human interaction, and I'm sure that I am not alone in so feeling.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Para español, oprima numero dos!
I don't know about anyone else, but I get perfectly weary of dealing with telephone menus. Every time I call anywhere needing customer service, I am inevitably directed through a long series of telephone menus asking me to push certain buttons to go to this particular part of the menu, etc. when all I really want to do is to talk to a real person and get an answer to my problem. And then there is the introductory voice directing me "press 1 for English, para español, oprima numero dos" or some such thing. I have nothing against immigrants or anything like that, as all of us are descendents of immigrants, but I fail to understand why everything must be Spanish-English bilingual these days. I know that our country has had a huge influx in recent years of Hispanic immigrants from all over Latin America, but would it not make more sense for them to aspire to learn English once they got here? When I drive up to the ATM now, I am forced to choose English, French or Spanish as the language in which I will be receiving information on my transactions. Now, I am not trying to sound like the Ugly American, but when I went to Europe some years ago, I did my best to learn German, as the countries where I was visiting spoke that language. I don't know why more Hispanics seem so reluctant to learn English when that is the language of this country. How can you get a job or do anything like grocery shop, go to a doctor or any of the other myriad day to day things we do each day when you do not speak the native tongue? Anymore, if you want to get a job anywhere, you'd better be Spanish-English bilingual. I think that people should learn a foreign language or two, as it never hurts to be able to speak other languages beside your own. I've studied French, Spanish, Irish Gaelic and German. I can't claim fluency in any of them, but I can make out words when I hear them spoken. If I immersed myself in those languages, I know I could learn them quickly. Anyway, this started out as a rant against telephone menus and quickly morphed into an essay on languages because of the fact that you are asked to choose your language whenever you use telephone menus - and ATMs, and a lot of other automated services. I really hate having to press extra language choice buttons as it is on top of the annoyance of having to press buttons in the first place, especially on telephone menus that go on and on and seldom allow you to speak to a real person unless you are perfectly willing to sit on hold listening to utterly boring music while being told every few minutes that "your call is valuable to us..." blah, blah, blah. Yeah? Well, if it is that valuable, then why are you leaving me here on hold for an eternity forcing me to listen to wretched music that I'd just as soon not be forced to have to listen to? Why can't I talk to a real live person to help me solve the problem that made me call in the first place? And for heaven's sake, do not force me to talk to "George" in Mumbai or New Delhi whose accent is so thick that I cannot really understand it! Maybe I'm just turning curmudgeonly in my older age, but there are just certain things anymore that have begun to really grate on my nerves, and telephone menus and talking to someone in Asia half way across the world whose accent makes it impossible for me to carry on a cohesive conversation is just one of them. And having to press buttons asking me if I want English or Spanish is another one. One more button to push is one more button too many, if you ask me. We have enough buttons to push on a daily basis that asking me which language I want is just one more thing to get in the way of getting done what I need to do. Maybe increased automation of everything has not served us as well as we thought it would at the outset. I do miss good old fashioned human to human interaction, and I'm sure that I am not alone in so feeling.
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