Understanding people who speak in dialects

Rose Immortal

Rose Immortal

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This is kind of embarrassing, but I have always had a LOT of trouble understanding people who speak in African-American dialects. Doesn't matter how well I hear--something seems to go wrong in my head between picking up the sound and interpreting it. I especially have a lot of trouble when I'm on the phone, and I never want to admit that I'm missing every 3rd or 4th word. It's really annoying because I think that when I go get a job, it would come off as unprofessional to be asking for everything repeated.

I had a feeling that maybe some of you guys who are HOH might have some suggestions on getting better with this?
 
Rose Immortal said:
This is kind of embarrassing, but I have always had a LOT of trouble understanding people who speak in African-American dialects. Doesn't matter how well I hear--something seems to go wrong in my head between picking up the sound and interpreting it. I especially have a lot of trouble when I'm on the phone, and I never want to admit that I'm missing every 3rd or 4th word. It's really annoying because I think that when I go get a job, it would come off as unprofessional to be asking for everything repeated.

I had a feeling that maybe some of you guys who are HOH might have some suggestions on getting better with this?
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African American dialects? Do you mean ebonics?
 
I suppose sometimes it's "ebonics", yes.

Other times, the grammar may be more standard, but the accent is problematic for me.
 
Don't be embarassed. I have problems understanding ebonics, too. You think you have a hard time trying to lip read ebonics? Try to relay a call like that.
 
cental34 said:
Don't be embarassed. I have problems understanding ebonics, too. You think you have a hard time trying to lip read ebonics? Try to relay a call like that.
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My hearing is actually beyond-normal, but it doesn't seem to do me any good. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. But the idea of offending or badly serving a co-worker or customer when I get out into the workforce because I didn't understand them kinda bothers me...

So have you been a relay operator?
 
Rose Immortal said:
I suppose sometimes it's "ebonics", yes.

Other times, the grammar may be more standard, but the accent is problematic for me.
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Hi,

I am HoH and wear two hearing aids. Your problem is not so much ebonics as it is just their way of speaking, their dialect. It is VERY difficult to understand. I'm a supervisor in a southern plant and have to decipher the speech of those who speak with the heavy southern drawl, the cajun/english mixture, the southern black dialect...and it's definitely easier to do it face to face than over the phone. I always have to pass the phone on to someone else to interpret for me.

But even lip-reading is difficult as the southern black talk tends to leave off certain consonants, or do not terminate a vowel sound with a clear consonant. For example, one of my employees asked me for a pair of "glubs." I was lip-reading this, made her repeat herself upteen times, until someone else told me she was saying "gloves,"...something he got across by pantomining putting gloves on. But HE was saying "Gluhs," again no "v". I was pissed and told her to say the "V" as a "V" and not a "B," and for him to enunciate the word correctly. Neither one even knew what they were doing. The southern way, and this is NOT just a black thing, is to get the point or request across by speaking briefly, relying on the vowels to carry the meaning. Grammar often gets crucified down here, too. :dizzy:
 
You describe the trouble I have MUCH better than I did!

Because of the lack of enunciation, I end up losing so many words that sometimes I can't put the message together! The catch is, how is a person who is not HOH explain that they can't understand without coming off as some kind of big racist jerk?
 
You can always try passing the phone to someone else...:)

There is really nothing racist about it...a black dialect, especially southern, is very distinct. But white people tend to do that too. It's all over, and mostly in those with an education level below standard. I've noticed that some people, especially black people (I, along with several of my black co-workers, HATE the term African-American. You born in America? You're AMERICAN!), tend to speak too fast and that's why they don't bother with the consonants. It's a lazy speech thing that people in a region tend to unconsciously duplicate, if they're not careful. I have to ask people to simply slow down a little, and sometimes that works.

I'm not sure what the protocol is for a relay operator, but perhaps you can simply begin by saying "You need to be sure and speak every word clearly so that I can understand and get everything correct, OK?" Sometimes this helps with the speed, too, as people slow down to be more articulate. (they tend to speak softer, too, but I digress...) If they start talking too fast, just ask them to slow down a bit. They only might take offense if you say "You're talking too fast." Say something like "Woah, can you say that again, a little slower? I'm from..." and pick a region of the country that sounds like it's in the opposite direction of the caller. Calling yourself a Yankee will surely elicit some amusement...but I'm sure they'll comply.

If not, there's not much else you can do. Heh...I'd like to see someone relay from a true cajun who, while managing to get their intent across, absolutely mangles the sentence structure and pronounces some words with a inflective flair! Dey not too diff'rent, dem, fom somma dem people, dere, who came from dey country ovah dair! LOL! In other words, they're not too different from immigrants who learn english as a second language. I was born in New Orleans, so I've heard it all!
 
LOL, thanks, that's really a great idea! I lived in New Jersey for 4 years and I can summon the accent back in a hurry. ;)

I'm sure I'm not perfect in my own speech, either...I have my lazy moments, for sure!

Oh, and BTW, I'm not a relay operator--cental34 is.
 
You fom Joisee? :) You oughta hear me talk...I slip around from dat New Orleans Brooklynese and cajun (it's fun when you get a handle on the vocal inflections), and deep fried southern accent. Not to mention because of my hearing my speech is not quite as perfect as a hearing person's...unless I pay close attention to myself then I speak slowly and concisely, appearing to pick my words with care (and hopefully, wisdom :mrgreen:) Some people ask me where I'm from, and when I say I was born in NO that seems to satisfy them. NO has a LOT of unintelligible dialects in that city, yeah.

Just remember to keep the humor aimed at yourself. I've noticed a lot of people get defensive if they feel the humor is at their expense.
 
I don't think the variations in the way people speak reflects their intelligence level or how lazy they are. It's just different and I don't see anything wrong with a dialect.
 
I agree with you. I didn't say intelligence level, I said education level.

And a lazy speech habit does not denote a lazy person. All I mean by that is it's just the "easy way out" of saying things certain ways, sometimes.
 
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