[General] What’s your phone number?

[Silverobama]

Hi.

My cousin works in a telecommunication company. She’s a service person. What she does every day is to fix problems for the phone users. For example, no enough money in the account, update the phone to 4G, etc.

She asks me what might be the best way to ask one customer’s phone number? I said:

What’s your phone number?

Is my sentence natural?

 

[teechar]

No. If your cousin works in support, she would definitely need a more polite sentence than that.

Try:
Can/could you tell me your phone number please?

 

[Tdol]

There might be a standard question in the company along the lines of Could you tell me the phone number of the account, as many people have more than one number.

 

[Rover_KE]

Why has your cousin not been trained in the company's protocols for communicating with customers?

 

[Silverobama]

Why has your cousin not been trained in the company's protocols for communicating with customers?

She was trained before working in the company. But it's all in Chinese. Nowadays, more and more foreigners are in my city.

 

[Tdol]

She should ask for some foreign language protocols then.

 

[emsr2d2]

Most call centres have pretty strict scripts that their staff are supposed to stick to, in multiple languages.

 

[Silverobama]

Dear, Tdol and Ems.

You two are always right. Most of the time, I totally agree with you and obey to you. But, not this time.

I remember when I was learning English from Parla who was a very nice old lady from NYC, I often talked about situations like this with her. Yes, she passed away a few years ago.

In my cousin's company, she did get training from her supervisor about how to speak English or, use English, when she's working. However, those written things which she needs to memorize and use and say are Chinglish.

I do want to show you some funny pictures of the signs here. One I can remember is: carefully slip. Which mean the floor here is wet, be careful.:-D

 

[Tarheel]

We don't expect obedience. As for disagreeing with Ems, I've done so myself on rare occasions.

"Carefully slip" is what is known as unintentional humor.

 

[emsr2d2]

Silver, it is no surprise to those of us who use call centres to find that the sentences and phrases they are told to memorise are written in Chinglish (or other varieties, depending on the location of the call centre). It is painfully obvious to us when we ring that the scripts aren't written by native speakers of either BrE, AmE or AusE. My point was that I assumed that your cousin is expected to stick to the script even if she is aware that it's not natural English for the caller.

 

[Tdol]

Yeah- you do hear some weird sentences from call centres, but I imagine they are the same for every caller. Mind you, I do like Carefully slip, which I hadn't heard before. I will try to bear it in mind on slippery surfaces.

 

[Silverobama]

Yeah- you do hear some weird sentences from call centres, but I imagine they are the same for every caller. Mind you, I do like Carefully slip, which I hadn't heard before. I will try to bear it in mind on slippery surfaces.

To me, "carefully slip" means "one slips in a careful way", and this is just the Chinese meaning on the signs here. I notice "carefully slip" might sound okay to some native speakers, but when it is put under a sign telling people to be careful because the wet floor, it sounds just weird and funny.

I've seen more than once the sign in Chinese (ping yin) Xiao Xin Di Hua along with its translation "carefully slip" and I've seen native speakers shake their heads when reading it. "Xiao xin" means "be careful", "di" means "floor" and "hua" means "slippery". The whole sentence tends to tell the floor is wet and one should be careful.

 

[Glizdka]

Not a teacher
------
Unless you understand it as "Please, feel free to slip if you wish, but do it carefully so as not to hurt yourself."

It sounds a bit Monty-Pythonesque

 

[tedmc]

The signs in English in China are badly worded because of the generally poor command of English. This is reflected in the translated signs in English in public places, even in the airports which are the first point of encounter for most foreigners.

The English version of the sign could be: Beware of slippery floor/Mind the slippery floor.

 

[Rover_KE]

The most concise warning sign reads WET FLOOR.

We all know it can be slippy/slippery.

 

[Tarheel]

To me, "carefully slip" means "one slips in a careful way", and this is just the Chinese meaning on the signs here. I notice "carefully slip" might sound okay to some native speakers, but when it is put under a sign telling people to be careful because the wet floor, it sounds just weird and funny.

I've seen more than once the sign in Chinese (ping yin) Xiao Xin Di Hua along with its translation "carefully slip" and I've seen native speakers shake their heads when reading it. "Xiao xin" means "be careful", "di" means "floor" and "hua" means "slippery". The whole sentence tends to say the floor is wet and one should be careful.

Two things. One, we don't usually tell floors anything. Two, it is enough to say the floor is wet. (Most signs say: WET FLOOR.)