Modern labour-intensive communication-based industries, such as call centres, are increasingly outsourced to Asian countries where a dialect of English is widely spoken, and the pool of suitable staff is large. Despite the distances involved, this is highly cost effective, but is not without its drawbacks. In particular, when UK speakers hear a strong accent they often react negatively. This is partly due to the assumption that a strong accent normally indicates a lack of experience with, and a poor knowledge of, the language, and it may be felt that the call will somehow be delayed or its meaning misunderstood [1, 2]. Although the former assumption is usually unjustified, the latter may be true; unless the listener is attuned to the accent in question, it may be difficult to understand the speaker without frequent requests for repetition and clarification. This applies to the speech of both parties: both the UK-based caller and the Asian call centre operative. A difference in accents can significantly impair communication in both directions. An automated real-time system to reduce the misunderstanding between speakers with significantly different accents would be of great value to these industries.
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