to impersonate people from Britain, America, Australia etc over the phone.

[tufguy]

The people from call centers try to impersonate people from Britain, America, Australia etc over the phone.

Please check my sentence.

 

[Amelot]

That first "from" is not unusual in informal English to mean "connected with", but in this case it clashes with the next "from", which is literal. "At" is better in any event.

The abbreviation "etc." always has a period after it, and as a matter of style, it is traditionally set off with commas. But you should avoid it altogether in any ordinary prose, as with any Latin abbreviation. Besides, it strikes the reader as lazy and imprecise. I find it acceptable here, however, because the alternatives seem overly fussy. If you still want it, the sentence should read:

The people at call centers try to impersonate people from Britain, America, Australia, etc., over the phone.

-----------------------------
Not a teacher

 

[teechar]

Hello Amelot, and welcome to the forum.

Please ensure that you have "not a teacher" in your posts when replying to questions on the forum.

 

[teechar]

I would use "sound/speak like" instead of "impersonate" in the above.

 

[Rover_KE]

In British English, etc needs no full stop (period) unless it ends a sentence.

Treat it as if you'd written and so on.

 

[Amelot]

Hello Amelot, and welcome to the forum.

Please ensure that you have "not a teacher" in your posts when replying to questions on the forum.

Right. Thanks for adding it. I forgot. I hope I have a signature soon.

 

[Amelot]

In British English, etc needs no full stop (period) unless it ends a sentence.

Treat it as if you'd written and so on.

Interesting. Do you have documentation for the absent stop? My Oxford Guide to Style (2002) says on page 70 "Print it in lower-case roman with a full point ...." Every one on that page is printed "etc.", too.

I am not a teacher.

 

[emsr2d2]

I believe it's a question of style and choice. I don't use a full stop after "etc" any more than I use one after things like "Mr", "Mrs", "Dr". If a publication's or company's style guide requires that full stops be used in abbreviations, contractions and acronyms, it will say so.

 

[SoothingDave]

I don't see why you should avoid common Latin abbreviations in ordinary prose. Certainly anyone who can read knows what "etc." means.

People may confuse their i.e.'s and e.g.'s, and may not know exactly when an et al. is appropriate. But, everyone should know "etc."

 

[Amelot]

I don't see why you should avoid common Latin abbreviations in ordinary prose. Certainly anyone who can read knows what "etc." means.

People may confuse their i.e.'s and e.g.'s, and may not know exactly when an et al. is appropriate. But, everyone should know "etc."

I recommended that because they are ugly, and there is plain English for them. QED

Not a teacher.

 

[Rover_KE]

The people from call centers try to impersonate people from Britain, America, Australia etc over the phone.

That hasn't been my experience. They usually sound Indian, or in the case of Sky TV — Scottish.:roll:

 

[GoesStation]

That hasn't been my experience. They usually sound Indian, or in the case of Sky TV — Scottish.:roll:

Some Indian call centers try to train their staffs to sound like they come from the country they're servicing. It's not unusual in the States to hear an agent announce "This is Tiffany/Eric/Any non-Indian name. How may I help you, sir?" in a pronounced Indian accent. If a call center agent says "Hello, this is Bharati," I often suspect I've reached a US office.

 

[SoothingDave]

I've even read that some go so far as to prepare to chat about current events, as if they were in America.

 

[GoesStation]

I've even read that some go so far as to prepare to chat about current events, as if they were in America.

Yes, and sometimes with comical results. It's kind of endearing to imagine that management and staff at these centers really think their agents can sound American. It speaks of the optimistic spirit that can overcome any obstacle.... or not.

 

[tufguy]

Yes, and sometimes with comical results. It's kind of endearing to imagine that management and staff at these centers really think their agents can sound American. It speaks of the optimistic spirit that can overcome any obstacle.... or not.

Do you make fun of these kinds of people?

 

[tufguy]

That hasn't been my experience. They usually sound Indian, or in the case of Sky TV — Scottish.:roll:

No matter how hard you try you cannot sound like a native until you have lived in an English speaking country. I think British accent is more difficult to copy than American accent.

 

[GoesStation]

Do you make fun of these kinds of people?

I'm sorry to admit that it does happen. Hopefully not in a spiteful way.

Reaching a call center operator whose English you can't understand can make an already difficult situation much worse. Sometimes the agent seems to speak English pretty fluently but with such a strong accent that the customer can't understand very much.

 

[GoesStation]

No matter how hard you try, you cannot sound like a native until you have lived in an English speaking country. I think a British accent is more difficult to copy than an American accent.

Good work on those sentences, Tufguy. You wrote about something of interest to everyone here and your sentences had only minor errors. Remember to look for repeated nouns; here, you could replace the second "accent" with the pronoun one.

 

[tufguy]

I'm sorry to admit that it does happen. Hopefully not in a spiteful way.

Reaching a call center operator whose English you can't understand can make an already difficult situation much worse. Sometimes the agent seems to speak English pretty fluently but with such a strong accent that the customer can't understand very much.

I like it. These kinds of people should be made fun of. You know there are a lot of people here who consider themselves whites . These kinds of people should be made fun of, stupid people. I have seen girls who colour their hair. I laugh a lot at these kinds of people. Whereas white girls are awesome;-). Nobody beats white girls. White girls rock.

 

[Tarheel]

Tufguy, you usually have errors in your posts. But if you wrote like that all the time you wouldn't need any help. (There a couple of places where I would have used exclamation marks, but that's a minor thing.) However, you should know that the opinions you expressed will offend a lot of people.