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Why can't people learn to speak English?
No, this isn't a race thread nor is it intended to be. Today I got a phone call from a model's manager. He apparently wanted me to do a shoot with his model because she was coming to PA this weekend. Or at least that's what I think he said. You see, this guy had an accent you would need a chainsaw to cut. Now, first off, I had a potential shoot booked for this weekend. Also, money's a little tight and I have to be choosey who I shoot with. I'm back to having to arrange schedules based on first come, first shot. Also, the pics he sent me of this model made her look kinda skanky. I mean, I might be a third rate bondage porn peddler, but at least my pictures have some resolution to them. These photos did not look very good and may or may not have made the model look like someone I did not care to shoot with. But the dealbreaker was the fact that the manager couldn't speak English too well. I had to ask him the model's name at least twice before I understood what he was saying. Hell, I had to ask him who the hell he was calling for three times before I figured out he meant me! If you're going to represent models and contact photogs begging them for shoots, be sure you can speak their native language. If I can't understand you when you talk to me, why would I shoot with your model? It can lead to all sorts of miscommunication which can lead to even bigger problems. Just my four cents worth. Oct 06 06 05:32 pm Link Could he speak proper english or was his accent just very strong? There is a big difference. Oct 06 06 05:35 pm Link Combination of very strong accent and very poor English. Oct 06 06 05:36 pm Link I feel your pain. I work for an Israeli and a Lebanese man and the office has a lot of immigrated (but legal) Hispanics so between their poor English and heavy accents and their friends and colleagues calling with their foreign names and accents, I'm about through by the end of the day. Especially when these rich Middle Eastern guys call and are all arrogant and impatient that I can't pronounce their names. Well shit! I'm used to John, Matthew and Lisa not whatever the hell your mother named you. Sorry, that went off topic. I guess my point is that in any business one should try their hardest to communicate properly. If for whatever reason you can't be understood, try to fix it.  Or if you can't, understand that it'll apparently limit your model manager career.Oct 06 06 05:44 pm Link Having english as my first language I tend to agree. However, if a beautiful russian model's manager called me and I could see she was beautiful, I would still want to work with her, language barrier or not. If your model was a skank, you turned her down for that reason, not her, or her managers verbal skills. If you did turn them down for the verbal skills you better get out of PA and live a little and figure out what going on these days. Being for NJ originally, you know I don't think much of the PA attitude, driving skills and speed of life, or average I.Q. at least in eastern PA. I just can't believe that you would consider not working with someone else, because someone they know had an accent. I just don't see what an accent has to do with a good photo. Oct 06 06 05:48 pm Link Tape Her Up wrote: If you spoke his language, I am sure you guys wouldn't have a problem understanding each other! Oct 06 06 05:53 pm Link Okay, let me try to clarify then the problem. If I could barely understand him, he could barely understand me (and in fact, he could barely understand me!). Now, let's say I say "okay, but it will have to be TFP" and he ends up thinking I said something like "three" and thinks it's 300 or what have you or he tells her something that she can't quite get and she thinks she's gonna get paid or get paid more than she would have... Look, when you're dealing with the public, ya gotta learn the language. Like I said, when he called he said he was looking for "Tape Her Up Productions", but he ended up saying it three times because I couldn't understand what he was saying. And then when I said that yes, he had found Tape Her Up Productions, he didn't understand me! That's pretty much how the whole conversation went! My dentist is Polish and has an accent, but her English is near perfect and I have no problems understanding a word she says. I have friends who are Italian and have Italian accents, but I have no problem understanding them when they talk to me. By the way, I'm originally from NJ myself. I just happen to live in PA. Oct 06 06 05:57 pm Link Tape Her Up wrote: That's got "tag line" written all over it. Time to redo your business cards. Oct 06 06 05:59 pm Link Tape Her Up wrote: Communicate in writing. Oct 06 06 06:00 pm Link Madcitychel wrote: So wait...are you suggesting that I need to learn his language? I mean, he came to America to live, but I have to learn Pakistani or whatever the hell language is his native tongue? He shouldn't have to learn my native tongue if he's going to: Oct 06 06 06:00 pm Link Madcitychel wrote: There again, he could have simply sent me an e-mail with her pics, etc, and that would have cut down on the bad first impression. I still would have ended up not shooting with her because she looked skanky, but I wouldn't have thought "what clown hired THIS guy to be their manager?" Oct 06 06 06:03 pm Link Tape Her Up wrote: watches as the joke/sarcasm flies right over Tape Her Up's head Oct 06 06 06:05 pm Link Look, she wouldn't have been the first person to make such an absurd suggestion! And quite a few of them are as serious as a heart attack about it! Oct 06 06 06:07 pm Link Tape Her Up wrote: What you mean? I no understood what mean. Please you to explain self more better. Oct 06 06 06:07 pm Link the model in my avatar spoke half spanish half english the whole shoot. i deal with alot of hispanic people there great ! i sell a 7 meg file that prints a 8x10 , i have one of a little hispanic girls face ive sold 400+ copies at $25.00 a copy. so if you dont want the hispanic models ill take,em ( do the math ) ( a face pic just like in my port ) Oct 06 06 06:21 pm Link Tape Her Up wrote: Himself perhaps? Oct 06 06 06:23 pm Link I've shot with a Hispanic model before. She's my site's top seller, in fact. That doesn't change the fact that we have to have the ability to understand one another. Oct 06 06 06:23 pm Link para español aprieta dos Haven't Y'all figured out yet if you speak REALLY loud and SLOW to them they'll understand?  Try this phrase-works everytime: "CAN YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORDS COMMING OUT OF MY MOUTH?" Oct 06 06 07:35 pm Link Tape Her Up wrote: oh dear jésus, i'll alert the media. sigh. Oct 06 06 07:38 pm Link FML-Photography wrote: You know, this kind of attitude pisses me off. Only in America can you move to this country and never bother to learn a word of the common language spoken, and still get by. If I moved to France, or Spain, or any other mainly non-english speaking country, you can bet I would be REQUIRED to learn that language in order to get a decent job. And before you assume that I only speak one language, I know enough french to decipher your little jab, and am currently taking German as well. Oct 06 06 07:51 pm Link arianna77 wrote: *DING DING DING* Oct 06 06 07:55 pm Link Tape Her Up wrote: That's the most sordid confession I've ever heard. Oct 06 06 08:02 pm Link Hey, at least I'm honest. I know one guy who is a fourth rate bondage porn peddler, yet he swears he's as good a filmmaker as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg! He one time told me he made better movies now. Nope. He's doing the same shit he was doing 20 years ago! Oct 06 06 08:04 pm Link Tape Her Up wrote: Oh, I wasn't trying to put you down. I meant it as a compliment. Oct 06 06 08:10 pm Link This sways a bit off topic, but still relates to the English language, punctuation and grammar. I'm a writer, also. So, it's hard for me not to notice others use of words, spelling, punctuation. I write non-fiction -- newspaper columns, short articles, music reviews, etc. So, I've visited my share of online writer forums. I've gotta' say, I'm quite impressed with the way most of you photogs and models know how to use proper punctuation, spelling, etc. Because, it's better than what I've seen at some of the writer forums from people claiming to be employed writers. I'm impressed. Just felt like saying that. *shrugs* Oct 06 06 08:10 pm Link Rossi Photography wrote: Damn, up until that last bit, I was all ready to pounce. Now it would be plain discourteous of me to point out the error in the second sentence. Oct 06 06 08:19 pm Link Hate to tell you this - But - less than 20% of the people in this world have english as their mother tongue - Oct 06 06 08:20 pm Link Glenn Worton wrote: This may be...but when you're living in a country where English IS the mother tongue and you want to work in that country and interact with other citizens of that country, it behooves you to learn the mother tongue, don't you think?* Oct 06 06 08:34 pm Link QuaeVide wrote: Hey... never once did I say mine is perfected. That's why I use MS Word to correct my errors when submitting a piece for publication. Lol... Oct 06 06 09:04 pm Link I have traveled quite a bit in my career, I love it when people try to speak english to me in another country, it makes me feel kind of wanted. In America land of many types of people it might be a good idea to get off your high horse and try to understand someone from another country. English is not the mother tongue of the North American continent actually it was many different dialects spoken by those who were here before the english language arrived with its disease,murder,bigotry,rape,slavery,genocide,land theft , corruption , racism , greed , arrogance , ignorance and pollution. Those are just a few of the english words that come to mind when reading your post. I really don't care about your spelling or punctuation try being friendly to those who were not born here. It just might help someone to get their piece of the American dream , most likely just like your ancestors did at one time. Oct 06 06 09:31 pm Link I had the same chinese professor for calculus I and II in college. Dude sounded more like he was chewing the words rather than saying them. I went to class six times then said "fuck this" and skimmed through both classes with an A. Good thing I'm good at math. Oct 06 06 10:34 pm Link Sleepy Weasel wrote: That's exactly what I thought. Oct 06 06 10:41 pm Link Tape Her Up wrote: Language and accent aside, the real question is why they hell are you dealing with a net manager at all? In my experience, only grief can come from that! Oct 06 06 10:45 pm Link Tape Her Up wrote: Hell, if he was Pakistani, you should have taken the job. Based on what I know about Pakistanis, he probably had only been speaking English for 24 hours. Imagine how well you could communicate by the time they actually arrived for the shoot! Oct 06 06 10:45 pm Link arianna77 wrote: Tape Her Up wrote: sadly i fear you both missed my point. the fact that i spent yrs in France or that you know one of the languages i speak, doesn't mean you understand the culture that led me to the effort to make such a deliberately sarcastic statement. if i said i was making a joke you're going to believe me only less. Oct 06 06 10:46 pm Link Living in PA, I don't run into this problem very often. When I spent my summer in CA, there was so much diversity there. Everyone spoke different languages. Both of my parents are vietnamese, and I was born here so I speak perfect English. It annoyed me when I was in California because some people I talked to did not understand english and would start talking to me in another language (not vietnamese) and get annoyed with me because I didn't know their language. I feel that if you're going to live in the US you better learn how to speak english. I think it is okay if you just arrived from a different country and are just learning but trying really hard but I get really mad at people who don't even try and expect you to cater to them. You want to live here? learn the language. Oct 06 06 10:55 pm Link å¸è±æ? Oct 06 06 10:58 pm Link An bhfuil Gaeilge agat? (NÃl móran Gaeilge agam)... Oct 06 06 11:01 pm Link Your right...you are a very third rate bondage porn peddler!.. In fact, not only are your images really bbad, if this is the best you can do after two years, you have a problem. A piece of tape does not a bondage or porn image make. A hotel bedroom does not a photographer make. before you start criticising the way others speak, you ought to take a close look at your somewhat arrogant self...proclaiming to be a peddler of images....talk about a typical GWC. Sorry but your post really pissed me off. Oct 06 06 11:06 pm Link David Pankhurst Photo wrote: Gotta be careful of how you spean! Oct 06 06 11:09 pm Link |
