A for americanese
Knowledge gained from enduring this in business settings for the past so many years in various levels of slavery aka experience.
A: ‘I think we are moving in the right direction’
Actual meaning: ‘Innum velai mudiyalai…eppo dhaan mudiyumo!!!’
A:‘You probably might want to check this… ’
Actual meaning: ‘ Olunga idhai modhalla paaru…’
A: ‘Yeah…’ , ‘Great…’
Actual meaning: When used alone, these words have no meaning.
A:‘Hello…How are you?’
Actual meaning: ‘Hello..Sollu’
A:‘I am sure you all agree with me that Mr X has done an amazing job’
Actual meaning: ‘Mr. X rembo nallavan nu othukko..’
You say something and the response is
A:‘Yeah.. however’
Actual meaning: ‘I don’t agree with you’
A: ‘I really appreciate your inputs’
Actual meaning: ‘I don’t give a damn….’
Perfect, Cool, Awesome, Fantastic, Groovy are positives.. It’s the same as saying ‘Good, Very good, Super’ etc. Another thing to note is the voice tone.
February 26th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Actually, I was discussing the exact same thing with Sujan last week..:) IMO, Americans are the easiest people to work with. They always manage to convey their opinions without offending/hurting and they take criticism much better!
February 26th, 2009 at 11:45 am
subha
>they take criticism much better
I have to agree on this. Criticizing Indian bosses is a strict No-no. One can get blacklisted very easily. Naan konjam appo appo sattam pesuven… so am always seen as a damager by managers
But all this sweet talk sometimes make for false impressions..especially if you factor in long distance. I’ve faced some complications because of this.
In general, I agree that american managers are better. At least the politics will be very high level and not petty!
February 27th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
PK - There is politics everywhere , there is no doubt..but I have to agree with Subha.
All these are due to the World being Flat these days.
Take for example the Head Nodding in India - Any american / Westerner who goes to India wouldn’t know what that means !! That’s unique to India I think..might be wrong. ( In fact there is a joke about an Ohio Delegation that went to India - The Indians nodded their heads like they usually do to convey ‘YES’…but the delegation mistook it for ‘NO’ and came back !! )
BTW - I watched Kamal last night in India Glitz commenting on ARR and Oscar. The way he is pronouncing the word ‘PATH’. He didn’t say ‘PAUTH’….he said ‘ P (a nasal) th) ..like how it’s pronounced here !!
Overall - What’s you’ve said is right.