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I laughed my heart out after seeing this video and not on the reasons like most people have but more I can relate because of my first hand experience.

I came in Dubai thinking that my exceptional grades in English proves that I could converse enough. I was wrong.

Few days after I arrived, I got a call and wondering what’s this person on the other line talking, it sounds gibberish and it took time for me to register that he’s actually talking in English. He sounded like singing or partially paralyzed that he couldn’t move his tongue and worst his eating the words or his tongue is stock or rolling. All I could understand – his mentioning sort of a name, a place and a time.  So, I asked him to slow down and spell it to me because all I need are the details – I presumed it’s a job interview since I’m looking for one. While he spells it, I’m taking notes then he mentioned the word (double “m”) which I understand for purposes of understanding though frowned by my English teacher then he mentioned “Zed”. I said: “Pardon?” Which he didn’t get what I mean and I rephrase my question: ” Could you please repeat the last letter?”, he said: “Zed!”. Hence, I heard it right but I don’t know what letter it is and thinking maybe another one because Filipino Alphabet looks like the English Alphabet but it has more letters. For purposes of clarification,I asked:”Is that an English alphabet?”. This time he sounded irritated and replied: “Yes! A to Zed… You speaking English?”.  I smiled silently and now I get it then, for double checking I said: “  Yes, I speak English but you mean, Zed for Zebra and Zed for Zoo?”. He answered and sounded like I’m too dumb not to comprehend: “Yes baba same same kalas!…#%*/^( and the rest I couldn’t understand)!”.

After ending the call, I learned a new letter in the English Alphabet that most of the English-speaking country don’t know yet. That’s a fete I am proud of, I was able to communicate and that’s the essence of communication: to convey, transmit and impart the idea or message which the Call Center Supervisor and the caller failed to do.

I blamed more the call center supervisor because he’s the one more educated and speak of the English language well, he should have thought out of the box and not resigned to the fact that there are only 26 letters and read as it is. Because in reality they are not,  some country have more and some have less and some read it in a different way. Like the Japanese find it difficult to pronounce my name because of the “L” which is non-existent in their alphabet and  “R” is the near replacement, thus, I’m “Arner” to them or simply” the friend of (a person whose name is simpler for them to pronounce)” ; while the Arabs used the “P” and “B” interchangeably so don’t be surprised if they call you ” Beter” if your name is “Peter”  because they are the same but I’m wondering why they called me “Arneld or Arnold” what’s that extra letter in my very simple name.tsk.tsk.tsk. As I say,  some have more and a good example is our Filipino alphabet because there is no equivalent letter of it in English as shown  below :

I endure the halting English of the Chinese that sounds being chopped who thought that everyone who works in my previous employer knows how to speak Chinese , well they’re not to blame for the name itself suggest it. Now I’m getting accustomed to varied English who have distinct flair from where they came from and I felt relieve that I won’t be bothered with grammar and pronunciation because from where I came from they could easily point out your mistake specially in writing memos and letters I have to read it a hundred times otherwise I could see the recipients of that mail scribbling the errors besides I learned english people speak with bad grammar and they don’t give a damn.It may not be the correct English but the most important thing is you were able to convey your message and that matters most.

Whether in the video is a prank call or not – I doubted. Because he sounded like an Indian and the singing sound is just how the way most of them talk that sometimes I also got infected when talking to them as the Chinese did before. Probably on that part of his country they read “K” as “ek” as the same token as “Z” read as “Zed”. We only need to have an open mind,  the important thing is we were able to communicate. Who knows maybe later it could be accepted or added in the English alphabet besides they are the race who discovered the number zero when no one thought it existed and that change the course of history.

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