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Language Barrier in an Interview

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by ccrobinson 2 views

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A few weeks ago, I had a phone interview that I don't think I handled very well and I would appreciate your advice, especially if you've been in the same situation.

I was very qualified for the position and I fully expected that this interview would go very well. There were 2 interviewers, J (the manager), and Q (an IT engineer) on the other side of the phone. From any viewpoint, I had no trouble answering the questions of either J or Q. As noted, I was very qualified for the job and it was right in my wheelhouse, so to speak.

The problem was that it was extremely difficult to understand Q's questions. He was from India and while some people from India speak English clearly, Q did not. Everytime he asked a question, I had to ask him to say it again because I couldn't understand what he was asking. At one point about halfway through, J stepped in and helped "translate" a question, but he only did that once and never did it again.

It's been over a month now, so I have no illusion that I'm going to get an offer and I think it's because of the language barrier that existed during the interview.

So, have you ever had a language barrier to deal with during an interview? How did you handle it? Did you get the job even though there was a language barrier?

Thanks!

38 replies

by tig2

My favourite way to deal with it is to tell the other person that I am sorry but I am having some difficulty tuning my ear to their voice. From that point on, I repeat back any question so as to insure that I am understanding correctly. At the end of the conversation, I apologise for any dis-connect that may have occurred and thank them for their patience.

What I have found is that the person on the other end of that conversation appreciates that I am struggling just as much as they are. I find that this helps to avoid a second wedge in the communication.

As off-shoring continues, I think that all of us will run into the issue more and more frequently. Looking for ways to help the other person know that I am committed to the communication helps some.

by abcarter1016

It's a tough situation and you have my sympathy. TiggerTwo's advice is exactly right. The only thing I would add is not to show any frustration or anxiety. Relax, make sure you understand the question and then reply. Also remember that if you are having problems understanding his English, then the reverse is probably also the case. So speak clearly and slowly (but dear God not loud).

by rammukund-at-yahoo

TT, to slightly alter Churchill's aphorism, India is a country divided by a common link language i.e. English.

It's frequently a problem for a Punjabi from the open Northern plains to understand a Malayali from the lush West coast - both speaking their own dialect of 'Inglish' with distinct intonations, emphases and mispronounciations (in BBC terms). The reverse holds too.

by deadly ernest

accent just far to thick, try saying something like - There's some phone interference at your end - as well as the suggestion by TT.

by trsnell

I've been on the hiring side of this and although sympathetic to the candidate and really wanting to give them a start, you have to think about how it's going to go down the road. In my case, our staff would avoid going to the newbie and end up overloading the people we were hiring to help. If you got a job in this firm, would it not be entirely frustrating from the other side, asking for clarification all the time, interpreting instead of knowing, what was expected?

by mike

I blow off such interviews. I frequently get calls from people of Southwest Asian descent and can't understand a darn thing they say. These people need to adapt if they want to work with us.

YES, there are a lot of talented IT folks of Southwest Asian descent, but until they can speak American English clearly, they should stay in Southwest Asia and help their countries' economy with their talents, and we take care of our own economy.

by marchred

The main issue I have with this attitude is your generalisation that only people with English (wtf is "American English"? - you didn't invent the language, you know!!!) as a first language are entitled to work in the US. I've met some incredibly talented IT people who admittedly do have a "heavy accent" but their skills far out way the language difficulty.

While I object to ringing a customer service desk and getting someone I cannot understand I do not accept that someone from a non-English speaking background should be automatically discounted. So, I would not expect someone who has difficulty speaking English to be in a front line support role.

What we need to remember here, is that the Indian chappie conducting the interview was obviously seen by the organisation as being appropriate to vet potential new employees. Certainly says a lot for the cultural diversity and awareness of that organisation.

Sure it's hard to understand some people from other cultures - but if one makes the effort it's amazing how good the learning experience can be for us WASPs (or in my case WASCatholic).

by joe mctroll

Don't make it harder for non native-speakers.

I've always wondered why people tend to choose natural languages as lingua-francas, and tend to choose the most difficult ones (e.g. English, Francais, Mandarin Chinese, etc.) as world communication tools.

I still have faith that one day of these mankind will choose an artificially constructed language as the preferred medium of exchange, either one easy for all (like esperanto or ido) or one difficult to all (i've tried learning lojban and... man, it's DIFFICULT!!! at least to me...)

But remember speaking a language is like a handshake. You can't just rest on your back and let the other guy do all the hard work - do some of the heavy lifting yourself!!! Try to learn at least the basics of the other's language, then you'll have a better time understanding common pronounciation or grammar mistakes (they'll probably be the opposite you'll make while trying to speak the other language)

Especially with USA people (some accents of the States I find very difficult to understand): they tend to believe they have a right to speak in an as fast, mispronounced and full of slang language as they please, and that you've got somehow the obligation of understanding them always, otherwise you are kinda fool...

When speaking with people whose first language isn't English just try to speak at a moderate pace: neither too fast nor too slow. Pronounce clearly each consonant and each vowel (this goes especially for Americans, who tend to blur too much vowels on certain positions) and avoid slang, archaic, overly cult or diplomatic language.

As usual, follow the golden rule: treat the others as you'd like to be treaten if the papers were reversed (and it seems to me they soon will, I've seen a lot of anglos learning Mandarin Chinese recently, and getting lost at its difficulties!!!)

by katokato

I had teacher from south in my university. Nobody could understand what the he was talking about, non-american english speaking people were literally lost during his lectures. May be he should have stayed in his own state and not move to OHIO to teach us?

Your comments are immature.

by bigbigboss

Should we only have Texan American or Boson American working in this country ? These two types don't understand each other, and no Californian can understand either of them.

I am sure the South Asians can stay in their own country and develop their own economy, and also handle our economy as well. Hmm... I just want to see you working for an Indian boss.

by jp

Hey guys,
I'll start off by saying that i'm a Canadian living and working in Britain. Being confused as an 'American' is most annoying. But anyways I digress, working in the UK is most challenging. Just getting a handle on the multitude of different accents is an interesting challenge. You guys think the differences between 'Boston American', 'Texan American' and 'Californian' is difficult. Where I live, 15 minutes up the road people have a totally diffrence accent. I work with people from all over the UK and Europe. Ever try supporting a Server in another country where you dont speak the lanuage?(In this case german) Bable fish is my friend. I have no shame when it comes to accents. If i cant understand you I'll ask you to repeat it, write it down, do charades, I dont care. I understand why people from countries that dont speak english to those that do. After all its the sames reason I moved from Canada to the UK. Why make dollars when you can make pounds, or why make sea shells when you can make dollars. And whats this about people staying where they are if they can't speak english, sounds 'Geshtapo' to me. Besides you can pick up some interesting words and phrases, after all I can swear and order beer in 50 languages. All thanks to immigrants.

by pat.reynolds

Why don't you try to speak a second language.
I bet no matter how much you try, you won't be as good as the natives who were born with it.

by deadly ernest

Historically, French was the international language, they called it the language of diplomacy at one time. This was because the Pope, of that time, was residing in France, he was French born, and all diplomatic activities went through, or with the approval of, the Pope.

Many people learn Mandarin Chinese because it is the main language of China, and that is where the big growth market is at the moment. Also, many statistics show it as the single language spoken by the most people world wide - something to do with the high Chinese population.

English is often used as a central language as it's the language spoken, as an official language, in the most countries in the world. Great Britain, Australia, USA, Canada, new Zealand, India, etc. And many other countries have it as the official 2nd language, thanks to be ex-British colonies.

It is also the hardest language to learn as it uses so many words that sound the same, with different meanings, and so many that spell the same, but different meanings only decidable by context eg minute, spell.

by minstrel mike

Speaking of spelling, I read in a wordplay book that there are about 80 different sounds made in languages. Spanish spells those 200 possible ways, French spells them 300 possible ways, English spells them 1100 different ways. And there is a far higher number of dyslexics in English countries than in Spanish countires, which seems to indicate some sort of relationship (i.e., it's not all the "fault" of the dyslexic brain).

by deadly ernest

are easily treated with the correct aids. Also differences in diagnosis levels could well be due to how much or how little people take notice of the students, and the education system itself.

by rob mekel

Well maybe in number of people English has more native speakers, but don't know if that is true on countries.
Lets start with Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama (altho (i)nice isn't it/i) they tend to English), Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Philippines oh and yes Spain. Oh and some Caribbean countries as Cuba, Porto Rico, ... as well.
So I don't know if that is true on numbers of countries.

Rob

by deadly ernest

For some weird reason, the linguists see two languages in use there - Spanish with some derivatives, and South American Latin with derivatives. Buggered if I know what the difference is.

by jaqui

Since the end of WWII the world has been operating under a double agreement.

point 1: International business operations will use Amercian English.

point 2: International Trade will be conducted with the US dollar.

This was to create a unified currency for trade, and to have a language for such activities that every country could use.

US was used because of the impact the US had on the second world war.

They didn't concider the long term effects of tying the global economy to one country's economy. Every time the US economy drops it screws the global economy because of the international trade agreement.

I think that we should now start switching to the Euro, since it was designed as an International Currency, and is not backed by one country but by the entire European Union. This would actually stabilise the global economy, benefiting everyone.

by deadly ernest

introduce logic and common sense into any discussion involving international trade, economics, or imply that the USA doesn't already own the world. Ask the USA Congress and Senate - they'll tell you they own the world :p at least the laws and trade agreements they push at are worded that way, they rest of us are only allowed to rent the part we live on.

by dawgit

It was in the works, and is for the most part (unofficialy) the curency standard. When it was proposed to be 'The' standard, the world community realized that the US $ would collasp. China steped in to stabilize that problem, but then asked that the $ remain as the official standard. They stand to loose their basket of nest eggs. (and then 'own' the US by the US defaulting on the debt they owe- not a pretty picture)
By and large though, English is the International Business language.

by Member 25348569

While in the Navajo Nation this last vacation, I swapped a few choice Welsh phrases for some Navajo curses.

Got no-one here to try them out on...

:(

by gadgetgirl

that's what you get for settling in Lincolnshire!

(VERY tongue in cheek, jp, I'm a born and bred Geordie! - have you tried understanding one of US yet??!!) :p

GG

by rob mekel

But for sure it's often misdiagnosed.
My brother was lucky to be diagnosed early (back then it was early) and correctly. Did take him 5 years to overcome it in some sort of manner (it never is overcome completely) but he got his Masters. And that not in language(lol) but in science.
Oh yea, he was diagnosed in the mid 60's on the age of 11. He still thinks he is a lucky guy :)

Rob

by stargazerr

Happened to me. It took me time to get used to the various accents in the UK. And I have flunked quite a few interviews because of that. The best way to go about it is to ask them to bear with u and help u adapt to the accent. You know, the humble approach ;)

]:)

by fredbrillo

Hey...I live in South Florida...one never knows whether he will be interviewed by a South American interviewer, or a Caribbean Interviewer that would include Jamaica, or Haiti as well as Puerto Rico or Cuban/American.

At the lunch table in my last job, we had Jamaican's, Indian's, Pakistani's, Trinidadians, Cubans, Afro-American's, Argentines, Peruvians, Puerto Ricans, and good ole American Red Necks.

I've recently accepted a position in Boca Raton...so I guess I'll have to learn New Yorkeeese...it is after all...the 6th burrough of NY.

We thrive on our diversity here in South Florida. Get used to it. Embrace it. Its the new world order.

by erik hanson

Not only is the "easily treated" comment wrong and, frankly, I think undermining to the effort that dyslexics have to put in to overcome thier condition, but I think the English tie is wrong too.

Staying on the English-Spanish difference, you might want to consider your definition of dyslexia there, because it sounds a bit off. What I think is more likely the cause of the difference in diagnosis rates is the amount of training to spot and diagnose dyslexia and other conditions in the school system. Call me crazy, but I haven't seen too many dyslexia experts in the mountain towns of Peru or the pueblos of Mexico.

Then again, the only way my brother got diagnosed was because my family, as Americans (specifically, estadounidenses), knew to get suspicious when years of trying still couldn't help him sort out p, b, and d.

Funny, that classic letter problem exists the same way in Spanish!

by dawgit

be very quiet with all that about the US and logic. (or lack of it) you'll Max all upset. (I think he's already cooking because of the US Elections)
:D

by cs

If people are going to allocate the time to interview someone it should be done face to face. You should think yourself lucky that you are not working for that organisation if they care so little for potential employees.

A job interview should be a two way process with the ability to assess visual clues, such as eye contact, posture, attentiveness from both sides of the table.

I once interviewed candidates to take the roles of IT Manager in our offices in Turkey. I was based in UK and because of time constraints had to undertake the interview using Video Conference facilities. There were three local candidates, one of whom managed to disconnect the video call halfway through by pressing the wrong button on the controller. It took about 15 minutes to get reconnected, but strangely enough he got the job!

by methatswho

I have had several phone interviews. I would rather see the face of the person asking the question; then I know if I was able to make my point.

by aminomer

Let's get to the heart of the matter, I will tend to lay my feedback without getting into the trap of "which language is better or what culture is best," to me ALL are the same!!!

Anyway, I had been on the other side of the table, i.e. being on the interviewer chair. While I don't claim that I am fully conversed in English nor in my mother tongue, I usually tend to run to a similar situation during interviews, not registering what the other party is saying. I recommend early on before even prepare to answer a technical question to buil sort of a rapport, where both sides hint this, it is an interview not a techno-lingual battle. I always found that the interviewee would become more receptive once this mutual-trust is established. "If a Trust is set to be transitive then access will be granted BOTH directions". My two cents.

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