Hello! My name is JamesInTokyo. I am from Tokyo and I am a Begin

@JamesInTokyo
Welcome! What field do you work in?

Thanks for the kind welcome!Call center technology Actually I may have questions for the community if it's OK to ask about how call center agents speak with callers in Tagalog or Taglish (?). I have a lot to learn!

@JamesInTokyo Ah, that explains it then...the call center business in Manila and Cebu seems to be booming! Feel free to ask any questions here on these forums, we have some nice people here. I’m sure your co-workers in the Philippines will appreciate you taking time to learn the language a bit!

@JamesInTokyo In case what you meant was if local agents use Tagalog or Tag-lish, then I would think that most likely it's going to be Tag-lish. The vernacular has already become predominantly Tag-lish. With Tag-lish, English words replace some Tagalog words in a sentence. For example, "What is your name?" is "Ano ang pangalan mo?" in straight Tagalog. This becomes "Ano ang name mo?" in Tag-lish. 😁

@Tagamanila Yes, I heard the local agents typically use Taglish, which is really interesting to me!In Japan, where I live now, agents have to follow very strict scripts and speak in a very polite manner. Is there a similar culture in the Philippines? How would an agent typically answer a call?In English, we'd say something simple like: "Hello, this is with . How may I help you today?But in Japanese, it would be waaayyyy more formal, with a bunch of honorifics, formal expressions, and super polite. It would also take twice as long :-DHow would it go in Taglish??

@JamesInTokyo I think they follow a script when they answer a call. They also say something like, "Hello, this is "name". How may I help you?" or "Magandang araw po, ako ko si "name". Ano po ang maiitutulong ko sa inyo?" in Tagalog. It's when we start to converse that we automatically shift to Tag-lish. To us Filipinos, that is just normal. It would actually sound very formal, and maybe even less friendly if we do it strictly in Tagalog.A few companies might give you the option to choose if you'd like to talk to someone in Tagalog or in English. The nature of the business may also have an effect on the ability of the call agent to speak English. With my bank, for example, they speak English quite well. With some utility companies, speaking to their agents in English can be frustrating. You might be forced to just shift to Tag-lish to make it easier for the call agent to explain things to you.