March 17, 2006

Was that an 'er', 'erm', or a 'what-the-fuck'?

My job for the past 3 weeks is mainly transcribing. Transcribing is horrible. Transcribing interview sessions of people who can't speak English fluently and who do not have the good habit of waiting instead of cutting into other's speech (and sometimes, interrupting their own speech) is absolutely horrifying.

The effects of my horrifying experience at work is slowly extending to the private, personal space. So, a 10 secs conversation between me (M) and girl (G) goes like this...

M: Then, what are you doing now?
G: Huh, nothing lor. I just finished preparing the lesson plan for the first two weeks.
M: ... Have you had lunch?
G: The bread just now was very filling. I'm still very full.
M: Mm-hmm. <== tis the traumatic part...
G: Ya. ... You?
M: I just had. Do you want to
G: [Oh, later,] I think I go home first then you message me later when you are knocking off? Is that OK?
M: /Mm-hmm. Ya, Ok, that's fine. <== tis the traumatic part too...

And this is a pretty normal and pleasant kind of conversation already. 'Cos M and G don't interrupt each other a lot, and hey! We speak in relatively fluent, predictable English sentences. Unlike the interviewers who are in the interviews I'm transcribing. I mean, it's one thing to think and utter your thoughts in the same language and another to think in your native langauge then try to translate into spoken English. The latter will just end up with a lot of interruptions mid-sentence as they try to modify their sentence to make their point (and it's not successful half the time, anyway). Know what I mean?

In any case, 3 weeks of doing this and I'm already slowly sifting out all my filler words in my daily conversations with other people. No more of those Mm-hmm, uhhuh, erm, and whatnot. Just keep quiet and listen. Let the eyes n the body langauge do the talking. Be more patient in waiting for the other party to finish talking or answering.

A lesson in communication.

Posted by 杏 cy （Jancy） at 13:18