Re: Indian and other offshore MT companies
- From: RaeMorrill <RaeMorrill@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 07 Jul 2005 03:18:01 GMT
I think it would be extremely difficult. Afterall, how many of us who are have been born here still have difficulty at times with regional accents and phrases, etc. You'll see jokes going around that highlight this - for example "How to Speak Southern" or whatever. Many in other countries, India included, learn to speak British English which, of course is also rich in its own subset of dialects, ranging from the lower class, the sales women at Grace Brothers on "Are You Being Served, to the blue blood style you hear from Prince Charles. Didja, wouldja, all kinds of words run together we understand easily, but you won't find most of them in the dictionary. The MT I sub for is in North Carolina. She's southern herself and she still has trouble with one of her doctors with a lazy tongue who pronounces "Dill" (a name) as Deal. There are so many variables and just working for one facility you could be hearing accents from one extreme to another, New York, Boston, Louisiana, or Midwest.
VickieHerndonCMT wrote:
Donna, I will disagree on one issue here. I believe that **it could** rise above and become respectable and that is only because I know of 2 companies that put out pretty decent work and they **do care**. I am assuming that they know that if they do not care and let their quality go, that they will go. I think that has to be put into any contract with a major emphasis before even taking this on.
Back about 8 years ago when I started QAing offshore work, the work was terrible, but the people who actually do the work are intelligent people and with the proper training, I can imagine the actual American English can be learned enough to make an accurate report.
What I am seeing with some of these companies are that they are rather sloppy (to put it mildly) in their total approach, many not having any background at all other than a business background. They need a STRONG staff of medical language specialists to mentor their MTs and to help them with the English aspect as well.
It can be done, but you have to have rational thinking people in order to do this. Someone who is running 1000 mph in their brain will not stop to take the time to think about the actuals.
I suspect that we will see the day where the work will become satisfactory for at least maybe 50% of the Indian companies, but again, that will be after much mentoring by willing MTSOs here and their staff.
OTOH, I am seeing too much work being sent to SR and I find that to be problematic because SR in my humble opinion stinks! It works well with some, but believe that the time that it would entail for big university hospitals and major hospital systems is time that no one really wants to give it and the low-paid editors to do this work (the MTs with new names) will all throw their hands up in the air and scream before it is over. I am seeing that as a major major soon-to-be all-too-real problem even moreso than the Indian services.
Vickie
"Donna" <donna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:Xns968BD83F1CF99donnacroakerwoodscom@xxxxxxxxxxxx
I definitely think that the powers that be at offshore should at least know what's being said on SMT and pay close attention to the opinions and thoughts of this subgroup of American MTs, myself included. If it were possible for them rise above and correct the perceived and oftentimes real ills of all offshore companies, they'll be doing themselves a huge favor - reputation and financial.
I doubt very seriously, though, that any will take that opportunity. My personal feeling is that the goal is to make money, lots of money, with marginal quality work. We've all seen it. We get E-mails with "ur" instead of "you are" and "IC" rather than "I see," and other various short forms of American words that we hold dear. Yes, these companies speak and write English, but they don't speak and write American English. I doubt they ever will.
Even with the heartiest of QA, many offshore entities are just not going to measure up, try though they may (if they do try). My experience was relatively good, but also relatively generic. The general tone of business is different than we have been raised to believe is appropriate and functional in our country. I won't go into details regarding the company I worked with because I don't believe in burning bridges and speaking ill of a former employer, but I will say that overall business sense was and probably still is different than I'm accustomed to. The general cultural differences drove me in a "what am I doing here?" direction.
What I started to write here and need to refocus on is that I do not believe that offshore outsourcing is ever going to measure up. What will tell the tale, though, is whether our clients care enough to make a difference. They, too, are often in it for the dollar. And that might suck.
--
~Donna~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is never too late to be what you might have been. - George Eliot
Hold on tight to your dream. - ELO
http://www.zensewing.com
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