What Suits the Foreign Ear

On my second hearty month....

Reading a line that says 'Do Not Rush' in my Journey devotional, I come to a realization that hurrying about my to-do's just makes it worse for me. I need to breathe once in a while and just take chances, trusting God in my joyful waiting. So here's a blank page to remind me of that. I still keep myself busy with other hobbies aside from my career-hunting. I just happen to enjoy writing poems that eventually turn into songs in some moments in the bathroom, mostly happy songs and lullabies especially these past months when career seemed stagnant hehehe

My priority from among a list of my new year's resolutions would be to find and maintain a worthy job,. Secondly, I aim to hone my oral communication skills.

This involves practicing to speak clearly, articulately and with some sort of twang to be acceptable to other foreign ears. hehehe. I sound quite silly singing English words in my Bikol accent with this YouTube affinity. hahaha. Don't get me wrong, I am comfortable in my own Bicolana skin, I just need some refreshment. Sounding a little foreign do ring my ears. Considering English as a lingua franca, wherein most of us prefer accent to be neutral for practicality, has alot to say about why speaking ENGLISH is not 'basta-basta'.

We must've heard at least one funny Filipino anecdote in a call center setting. The usual scene is an irate customer becoming more irate because he cannot understand the accent of his supposed-to-be-comforting agent. And the agent doesn't have a clue why there seems to be an escalation. To add injury to insult, he tries to pull off a joke. Bad move. hahaha. (I remember a funny incident during my call center days as a novice CSR trainee in Sutherland. I'm thankful for the support and inputs of SUTH people because I learned a lot in my sojourn stay in the company.)

THE STORY: I was building rapport with this nice American male customer. Because of my Filipino accent, he mentioned being a tourist in the Philippines and that he's had enough of Korean tourists. Then our conversation suddenly became puzzling to him. That's when I tried to ease him up since I thought he disliked Korean in general. hahaha. Suddenly I sounded stupid. Meaning that Koreans must be the world's top or most common tourists nowadays, I said something he could not instantly digest. 'Aahh', I said in an attempt to sound smart. 'Koreans are rice, eh?', I added as if reaffirming or clarifying his opinion. hahaha. I knew what I was saying but the connotation was different to him. hahaha. Being a tourist in the Philipppines helped him understand me later on in our 'business' small talk. That was after I explained further how I compared Koreans to rice being a staple food in the Philippines, or something to that effect.

My native tongue is very 'pang-KANTO: fast-speaking, has 'punto', and loud..hahaha. I'm not sure i can pull this off by end of the year. Yes, phrase of the day: PULL OFF. So never be pulled down by minor sound glitches or physical flaws. Lesson of the day: Always aim to be better amidst limitations by seeking adaptable strategies. hahaha Now I sound corporate. =)