Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 16:24:24 -0400
Reply-To: "Sridhar, Nagakumar" <nsridhar@RPSWEB.COM>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: "Sridhar, Nagakumar" <nsridhar@RPSWEB.COM>
Subject: Re: Programmer Skill Set
In-Reply-To: <47FCDDBF.AE53.00E7.0@auburn.edu>
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Nada:
I am laughing at Mark's suggestion. My personal opinion is that people in the South (regardless of white, black, brown or any other color) tend to speak with a southern accent (duh!! Brilliant deduction!) which sounds fascinating (although foreign to New Yorkers like me!). You think that's funny, wait till you hear of the Indian guy (you know how we tend to use complicated words in our sentences just to confuse the poor unsuspecting guy on the street) who wanted to know what time the local bus would come. He called up the bus company and his question was "Would you be kind enough to tell me what time the bus between spot1 and spot2 plies?" The person on the other end goes "What?" twice and finally understood the question.
Indians speak English the british way (which is to use long complicated words) while Americans use simple words that communicate the same (unfortunately sometimes, gestures too!). Indians (and I think I can speak as one of Indian descent) need to learn American (yeah, we've learned the gestures!) but we're still in the initial stages of learning the spoken language.
Regards,
Kumar
________________________________
From: Kanagasabai Nadarajah [mailto:NADARKA@auburn.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 4:16 PM
To: SAS-L@listserv.uga.edu; Sridhar, Nagakumar
Cc: Kanagasabai Nadarajah
Subject: Re: Programmer Skill Set
Hi Kumar,
Are your referring to my experience in Washington D.C about 30 yrs back or Mark's suggestion? Are you still laughing? You should try going very fast with a "southern accent : [hi-eat-here-or-to-go] " and that was a killer for me on my first day in America! I thought it was like some kind of a strange language from African Continent.
Nada
>>> "Sridhar, Nagakumar" <nsridhar@RPSWEB.COM> 4/9/2008 2:58 PM >>>
Hahahaha!!! Good one!!
-----Original Message-----
From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Keintz, H. Mark
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 3:49 PM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Programmer Skill Set
Dear Nada:
Given that you regularly form coherent thoughts and express them in
complete sentences, you may be eligible for a position at the head of
our national government.
Regards,
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Kanagasabai Nadarajah
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 3:29 PM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Programmer Skill Set
Mary & Kumar and others,
Reading and writing skills in English may of may not help someone to be
a good communicator! Communication skills are a gift. Like Kumar, I am
an Asian came to USA almost 30 yrs back, completed two degrees a (MS &
PhD). Now I am a researcher and an academic, perhaps may be able to
write well, using good grammar and appropriate words to formulate
elegant sentences. I would say, my communication skills in English is
average and wouldn't claim to be on the top though I do far better than
many others. However, I have seen a few of the "top researchers and
academics" from the English speaking counties (USA, UK) who are very
smart but are very poor communicators. Here in the Southern USA people
have a very distinct accent such that the people in the Northen USA
never could follow what they are talking!
I still remember, about 30 yrs back for first time when I landed in
Washington D.C, I want to get some cheap supper. The choice was the
McDonald's just in front of my hotel. Walked in, confused with what to
order for and also concerned with the price (didn't have much money),
before ordering anything the teller asked me, in a very fast manner,
[hi-here-to-eat-or-togo] , that killed me. I repeated twice,"I beg your
pardon". The African-American girl got very angry and slowly in a mean
way said " Sir, are you going to eat here or you want to take the food
with you", along with some form of a "hand sign language". Yap, I
understood very well then!. So is it my weakness in communication
skills?
Though not related to SAS, just to add a 0.5 cents into the pool of
discussion.
Nada
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