Job Discussion Forums

[bulgogiboy]

"Native speaker of the American Language" - One of the essential requirements for an ESL job with Northrup Grummen in Saudi. Quite amusing, don't you think?

[Sadebugo]

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Others can only hire those it can give security classifications to...namely, citizens of that country. However, if this is the case, then it is worded poorly.

I see the link on the jobs board. You might note that this is a, more-or-less, personal ad as it has a hotmail address. Nothing official there. Which may or may not give an insight into the quality of employee.

I know that Vinnell (Northrup jes' owns Vinnell) gives extra pay and days off to people who can suck others into their morass. I would think that this person is jes' collecting resumes and referring them to HR and claiming a reward for "helping" in the recruitment of new staff...

NCTBA

[johntpartee]

Maybe they need someone to tutor ad-writers.

[Kiwi303]

WHICH American language? Cherokee? Apache? Sioux? Comanche? Maybe they also mean south American? Anyone here speak Ancient Mayan, or some of the tribal Amazonian dialects?

Geeze, some of these reruiters need to learn to clarify their requirements...

[johntpartee]

Yeah, I have relatives all over south America; some of them are really hard to understand sometimes. Especially the ones in Alabama.

[fladude]

Well in fairness I've seen adds that ask for British English only, and what they really are asking for is anyone who is white and from an English speaking country except from the United States.

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

[naturegirl321]

Saudi? I'd go, if my husband would come with me.

[artemisia]

It probably does have a lot to do with visa requirements for a particular company and who they can recruit. I've also seen jobs for which you must have a British passport.

Sometimes there's a perception though that a certain accent is easier to understand. I came across that a lot in Japan where American accents were believed to be easier to follow. This would come up in class and I'd say - "So you all think American accents are easier to understand" (nod, nod, nod etc..) "And you can hear that I don't speak with an American accent" (group nodding..). "And you all think this makes me harder to understand" (more nodding..). "So why did you ask me if I was an American? Couldn't you hear that I'm not?"
"Er....." (head scratching..)
I have to admit Japanese people had trouble understanding certain words like: "thirty" or "daughter". I'd get blank faces or puzzled looks. Then I'd try saying them again in a frightful rendition of an American accent and ....just like magic! Instant recognition!

[naturegirl321]

[artemisia]

How do I say them? Hmm, a bit of a head scratcher in itself. Not sure how well I can demonstrate this without phonetic symbols but I�ll give it a go:

daughter = door ter (saw)
thirty = thirty (a short sound as in 'berty�) (fur)

So I'd say:
"How's your door ter?"
"Eh?"
"Turn to page therty"
"Eh?"

[seamallowance]

My students (here in China) have an easier time with my American accent than they do with the other teacher's (Australian) accent, and his accent is not that bad.

[sistercream]

It's nearly 10 years since I was teaching in Taiwan, so things might have changed, but in those days nearly all the language centres specified clearly whether they taught American (美語)or British (英語) and a lot of parents really seemed to think that the difference was as wide as that between Taiwanese and Mandarin.

[jonniboy]