A little less accent, a little more customer service
One of the more frustrating aspects of offshoring is communicating effectively with customer service agents who speak English as their second language. IBM is looking to change that. Researchers at the company’s India Research Laboratory recently announced that they have developed a Web-based, interactive language technology to help people improve their English-speaking skills.
According to IBM, the system is based on advanced speech processing techniques the company devised for call centers in India to help improve the capabilities of their agents. The technology evaluates grammar, pronunciation, comprehension and other spoken-language skills, and provides detailed scores for each category.
The program uses specially adapted speech recognition software to score the pronunciation of passages and the stressing of syllables for individual words. The technology also consists of voice-enabled grammar evaluation tests, which identify areas for improvement by highlighting shortcomings and providing examples of correct pronunciation and grammar, IBM said.
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