Common Mistakes In Conversational English

I've been keeping this reference article for a while, trying to decide whether or not to feature it, However, after a short discussion with a friend over the weekend, I talking about english again is still beneficial.

I must admit that even I have been very lax with my english lately. Having left the BPO industry and needing to deal with an industry largely reliant on our mother tongue, I haven't had as much practice as I used to have before. I've also almost stopped watching movies and TV altogether, so the supplementary exercises that come with them have also been largely out of my life.However, I am grateful that my years of training still has not failed me yet - thanks largely to my dad's way of upbringing and the people I grew up with.

However, I understand that not everybody has the same linguistic blueprint as I do.  Jayjay Viray of Jobsdb lists down some of the common mistakes form applicants commonly encountered by recruitment professionals:

Prepositions – that one word that bridges a subject and a verb can make a huge difference in terms of giving meaning to the sentence. Many kids still stumble and use “giving for” as opposed to “giving to”.    Should you express sympathy “to” or “for” the bereaved?

Tenses – One sentence starts out in the present tense. The following then goes back to the past. And a third will swing to the future. The lack of temporal consistency can muddle the facts and confuse the interviewer.

Subject/verb agreement – Although this is the less common mistake, it still slips out occasionally. The subject may be singular, but the verb is plural, and vice-versa.

Unfamiliarity with American idioms – The grammar may be flawless, the syntax precise, but a couple of applicants still blink when the interviewer throws in American idioms or popular expressions their way. It’s not just a question of knowing what is “cool” or understanding what is “hip”. Would-be call center employees should watch out  if they are still “kept in the loop”, or if a client “can’t make heads or tails” of a product, or when the demands and requirements of a particular service are “going overboard.”

These phrases are not just picturesque, flowery descriptions – Americans, who make up the bunk of call center clients, use them in their everyday lingo. It’s important not just to understand these idioms, but to master their usage.

Translatese – A Filipino employee thinks in Filipino, and then translates it according to the same number of words and arrangement into spoken English. The result may be awkward and even grammatically imprecise. “Did you eat already?”  is literally “Kumain ka na ba?”. The correct English version is “Have you eaten?” – without the “already”.

How about the often used “I’ll buy you.” A non-Filipino who hears this may have sudden visions of a slave trade pop in his brain. But the Filipino saying this actually means, “I will buy (an item) FOR you.” His Translatese version comes from the Tagalog words he had already processed in his mind.  “Ibibili kita ng ________” (t-shirt, softdrink, lunch, etc.).

Confidence – This is perhaps a major factor that can swing for or against a call center applicant’s favor. We’ve had cases wherein interviewees started out on the same basic level, stumbling along their grammar and syntax. But those who do not allow themselves to be intimidated somehow, some way pull some linguistic rabbit out of their habit. Before the interview is over, they have managed to minimize their mistakes and uttered grammatically correct if not exactly sophisticated conversational English.