Communication Advice: Listen to How the Locals Pronounce Words
Posted on Friday, February 5, 2010 by Frank RocheThere’s a very interesting article in Ad Age about how in Spain, Pepsi is called “Pesi.” The embedded video below shows soccer star Fernando Torres being reprimanded by an American director who wants Torres to say, “Pepsi.” He says, “In my neighborhood they call it ‘Pesi.’”
Would you consider listening to how the locals in your company pronounce words and call things what they call them? It would be killer communication.
What regional items can you think of? For instance, a “steak” in Philly has a particular meaning. Yours?
Matt (Geeky Traveler)
Feb 5th, 2010
A very embarrassing experience in Ireland taught us this:
Over there you say ‘trousers’, not ‘pants’ – ‘pants’ basically means underwear.
I’ll spare everyone the gory details.
Bill Strahan
Feb 5th, 2010
Youse right.
This specific point is one of the reasons that video is such a great tool for employee communication. It is authentic, right down to the dialect.
Jason Seiden
Feb 8th, 2010
One of the fastest ways to get accepted into a group is to mimic elements of the way they speak.