Telephone Etiquette?

thelizardqueen

Hello, oh collective font of wisdom on all things Indian,

Here's a silly question: What's the most polite way for an English speaker to begin a telephone conversation with a person at a hotel (or whatever) in India?

I know full well that the staff at the place I'm thinking of will speak English, but it just seems rude to start the conversation in English without even trying. My normal M.O. when traveling is this:

Start the convo with "Good [Morning/Afternoon/Evening], I'm calling from the United States, and I have a question" in the local language. Then I either let my accent give me away (usually the case) or ask to speak in English (sometimes the case).

When you all make such calls, how do you greet the person on the other end?

Many thanks,

--Liz (12 days and counting until I'm in India!)

Merchant

Chances are, the language of their business is English, so they will answer the phone in English and expect to speak it. You won't have to ask if English is okay. In the service industry, you won't get any points for trying other languages. These folks were hired, in part, for their ability to interface with a wide variety of people, Indian and otherwise. English is the language that facilitates that. The houseboys and sweepers won't speak English. But anyone who answers the phone for the business will.

Indojingai

OMG .. loosen up Lizardqueen...
theres nothing rude/wrong in starting on the phone with a hello in English.

Dont try to be too careful about everything... just go cool calm and relaxed.
Most all the rules are very different in India than the west...
For instance we can call people up at 9:30 .. even 10:30 in the night without a thought...

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machadinha

I wouldn't worry about calling up in English no, most office staff speak English among themselves anyhow. Nor would I worry about your accent slowly giving you away LOL, they'll know you're a yank.

I had to make some calls with India just recently and I was surprised with how bad the lines are still, i.e. be prepared for lags and trying to time the breaks where you're listening to yourself or waiting for the other person to say something. I don't know if more well-connected offices may be better. Also although you both may speak "English" you may find that your respective varieties of it are quite different, with all the amusing results this may lead to.

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LuAnnandJawahar

Well it's nice of you to think about how to handle things the most polite way. That will be well respected in your travels. However, it will probably be appreciated if you don't try out your Hindi with somebody over the phone. Connections are not always perfect and you want be certain of being understood for this important business transaction. In the odd case the the person answering the phone isn't fluent in English, he'll simply grab somebody who is after he hears your voice.

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Nick-H

"Hello, I am calling from ____, can I speak to in English please?"

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ddevadatta

I agree Englsih should be the way to go. No need repeating the advice already given. Avoid trying to someone you ain't. That is a whole lot worse than trying to artifically fit it. My limo company has this line: "Why fit in when you can stand out?"

But all this reminds me of an experience. I was lecturing in S. Korea and the President of the Univeristy and his wife took me on a day tour of Seoul. We were standing at the foot of General Macarthur's statue, the general who came to the aid of S. Koereans during the Korean conflict. The assistance received is still remembered and appreciated.

The President, at one point, looked at me and said" "At least you had the British as your colonizers. You Indians speak English." The implication was that English is really a second and foreign language for most Koreans and they are scrambling to learn English to compete and work in the global arena, an advantage that India, even a a former colony, had over them.

That was an interesting way he phrased it as to the wide spread use of Englsih in India but when I thought of it deeper and especially in comparision to his own country, he was right.

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