Regional accents in automated announcement systems.

[WestCoast]

Now we have to suffer listening to annoucements where if I travel from South Shields I am apparently going to Newcarrrstle. Contacted Nexus about it and it is staying the way it is.

I am still surprised that Metrolink has a local voice!

 

[j0hn0]

Ring any (UK) call centre, I constantly hear geordie, scottish and yorkshire accents, apparently people are more likely to trust people from oop north.

So marketing says anyway.

So I don't see why it can't be applied to trains, lets not let the southerners take over. Its Grass not Grarss

 

[route101]

The one at Glasgow Central kinda has that 'cant be bothered attitude' I cant imagine if an English one will be popular in Glasgow.

 

[valenta]

Ring any (UK) call centre, I constantly hear geordie, scottish and yorkshire accents, apparently people are more likely to trust people from oop north.

So marketing says anyway.

So I don't see why it can't be applied to trains, lets not let the southerners take over. Its Grass not Grarss

Precisely, we have almost developed a stereotype for southeastern accents!

 

[142094]

In the past few days a call centre for Hewlett Packard has opened in Gateshead, with one of the reasons being that the Geordie accent is good to the ear and recognisable.

Anyone been on the NY Subway cars which do not have the automatic announcements? Still understood then from across the Pond

 

[northwichcat]

I am still surprised that Metrolink has a local voice!

Metrolink would have a lot of different accents. People from Altrincham and Timperley sound very different to Manucians and around the Bury area is another different accent.

 

[tbtc]

Ring any (UK) call centre, I constantly hear geordie, scottish and yorkshire accents, apparently people are more likely to trust people from oop north.

So marketing says anyway

I think its more that these parts of the country have lots of people who can be cheaply employed in call centres, due to the lack of historic employment

 

[WestCoast]

Metrolink would have a lot of different accents. People from Altrincham and Timperley sound very different to Manucians and around the Bury area is another different accent.

Well, they do have different accents (Bury sound more like a Lancs mill town to me) but from a non-local perspective they don't sound hugely different. Certainly nothing like the difference between "Scouse" and "Manc". Its also got a lot do to with class.

Also, you'll find some of the younger generations adopt a general "Mancunian" accent and some people go for something even more generic than that. If you really listen, everyone sounds slightly different and people have their own ways.

 

[Greenback]

I think its more that these parts of the country have lots of people who can be cheaply employed in call centres, due to the lack of historic employment

That is true, but I think there is more than a grian of truth in the idea that some regional accents are considered better for certain purposes!

 

[northwichcat]

Well, they do have different accents (Bury sound more like a Lancs mill town to me) but from a non-local perspective they don't sound hugely different. Certainly nothing like the difference between "Scouse" and "Manc". Its also got a lot do to with class.

I agree about Bury/Altrincham not being Manchester/Liverpool. However, to me most people in Altrincham talk with the same sort of accent I hear in Knutsford. Manchester and Bury accents sound like different accents.

Yes class does come in it. The poshest sounding people I've ever heard are from Hale near Altrincham. However, all towns have different social class, it's just some have bigger gaps between classes than others.

Going back to Altrincham/Manchester/Bury. If there was another Metrolink type system that did Doncaster-Sheffield-Chesterfield, I would say there would be less variation in accent on that route.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

That is true, but I think there is more than a grian of truth in the idea that some regional accents are considered better for certain purposes!

Unfortunately call centres do always seem to go to the cheapest option, rather than the best, which is why so many have gone to India.

I imagine county wide that a call centre based in Bristol would be more popular with customers than one based in Glasgow. However, if the call centre in question is Scottish Power's (who took over MANWEB - the MANW bit standing for Merseyside and North Wales) then I imagine a Wrexham call centre would be a better option due to the accent being similar to a large chunk of their primary market.

Jason Manford once did a joke about phoning a call centre and the person answering having a Wythenshawe accent, so he said he decided not to buy over the phone.

 

[WestCoast]

All I'm saying is that accents can be quite tricky. Local people can probably tell the difference between towns, areas and social class but I doubt that many foreigners (or, for example, people from the South East) could tell a Lancashire accent from a Manchester accent. They are different in certain ways but they do share a lot of similarities - flat vowels, vocabulary, aspects of dialect e.t.c.

The trend at the moment is for accents to merge. Like I say, younger generations are leaning towards "super-accents" which cover a wider area.

Unfortunately call centres do always seem to go to the cheapest option, rather than the best, which is why so many have gone to India.

If they have to use a foreign call centre they should use one in the Philippines. Yes, they have thick American accents, but they are understandable and seemed to be trained in understanding UK dialects.

I do still get annoyed that really important things like banking are handled abroad.

 

[tbtc]

Unfortunately call centres do always seem to go to the cheapest option, rather than the best, which is why so many have gone to India

The fact that so many move to India kind of ruins the "friendly voices" patronising stuff that people tell Geordies/ Glaswegians etc

As for local accents, we can get into various debates about this - to many in the south the accents beyond Scotch Corner are indistinguishable (Geordie, Mackem, Smoggie, Northumbrian...), some people can't tell Scottish accents from Irish ones, yet we all like to spot very local ones and state that those from five minutes down the road sound very different (even though other people can't appreciate the difference).

 

[Metroland]

I can't think of anything worse. At least the emotionless non-accented (well, nearly) voices now mean that anyone can understand them, regardless of where they come from.

It's telling on regional news, most of the accents tend to be 'Standard English' types, where there are regional accents they are slight and easily understandable.

Perhaps another suggestion, is using well-known people associated with a place doing announcements, for example:

Brain Blessed: Mexborough/Sheffield - recently he has done a voice over for a sat nav http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/7930644/Brian-Blessed-new-voice-of-TomTom-Sat-Nav.html
Jasper Carrot: Birmingham New street
Lilly Savage: Liverpool Lime street

and so on

 

[Nym]

Well, the ONS (Via BSS and LM (Not London Midland)) Decided that a contact centre in Manchester Studentville was a good idea, but that was for many other reasons, other than the 'friendly manc accent' (Although 50 - 60% of the staff wern't from manchester)

 

[185]

Mixture of posh Scouse, some Mancunian and a bit of light Yoikshire, through living in all three places won me a competition some time ago to do recorded station announcements

Allegedly.

 

[WestCoast]

Mixture of posh Scouse, some Mancunian and a bit of light Yoikshire, through living in all three places won me a competition some time ago to do recorded station announcements

Allegedly.

You're not the voice of the 'TPE-operated stations' announcement system are you?

 

[AutoKratz]

I can't recall any problems with the old "Stand Clear of the Doors, Please" announcement on the Metro when it was around, even with the various Geordie, Sandancer and Mackem accents they used to have. Now we have to suffer listening to annoucements where if I travel from South Shields I am apparently going to Newcarrrstle. Contacted Nexus about it and it is staying the way it is.

Oh don't get me started on this thing! It's the worst automated system I've heard on any metro or rail system! Is it some sort of text to speech software?

It grates on me like mad everytime she says 'Newcarrrrsle' or 'veeeeea the coast' or the most annoying is the screaming tone and fragmented speech when she says 'change here for. all. mainline. and. regional. rail services.'

And the worst thing is we've got to hear her on the platform and her listen to her talk almost constantly on-board the metro itself.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I still like the sound of the softly spoken East of Scotland accent from areas about 50 miles north of Edinburgh.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I think it would be nice to have a slight regional accent on stations, but it is probably impractical these days. There's a range of accents covered by ATW for a start, so they would have to have a lot of different recordings for the Wales and Borders network!

I always liked the accent of Gladys Pugh in "Hi-di-Hi", especially when she referred to the Hawaiian Ballroom events. She had a very lilting accent, even though it was accentuated for the programme.

 

[142094]

Oh don't get me started on this thing! It's the worst automated system I've heard on any metro or rail system! Is it some sort of text to speech software?

It grates on me like mad everytime she says 'Newcarrrrsle' or 'veeeeea the coast' or the most annoying is the screaming tone and fragmented speech when she says 'change here for. all. mainline. and. regional. rail services.'

And the worst thing is we've got to hear her on the platform and her listen to her talk almost constantly on-board the metro itself.

Not sure what software it is but one of the announcements when coming into South Gosforth has been spliced from various station announcements for trains to the Coast. If you listen out you'll know what I mean.

Nexus are taking customer feedback into account according to the Nexus Discussion forum.

 

[valenta]

Not sure what software it is but one of the announcements when coming into South Gosforth has been spliced from various station announcements for trains to the Coast. If you listen out you'll know what I mean.

Each of these sections said in a different tone
Section 1: The next station is
Section 2: South Gosfourth (or so she says)
Section 3: change here
Section 4: for
Section 5: trains to
Section 6: the
Section 7: Airport
Section 8: from
Section 9: platform 2

I find it quite amusing!

 

[142094]

TBH, I could have done a better job myself with a crappy tape recorder. Not sure why they could not have just recorded one sentence for changing at stations such as South Gosforth and Monument instead of putting two or three words together as you say.

I've already asked Nexus why the announcements say "Change here for all local bus services" - which is incorrect. If I want to travel from the City Centre to the west or east end I wouldn't get off at Haymarket - I'd get off at Monument. Correction should be - "Change here for Haymarket Bus Station". Then there should be a seperate announcement for Monument saying "Change here for buses from Blackett Street" or something similar. I haven't been to Central/Heworth/Sunderland yet so not sure what the announcements will be like for "Change here for local and mainline rail services".

 

[valenta]

Heworth: The next station is Heworth, change here for local bus and regional rail services.

Central: The next station is Central station, change here for mainline and regional rail services (I think)

Not sure about Sunderland, but I think it will be similar to the latter.

 

[142094]

Sounds similar to the list that driver's are given for which stations have to be announced. Not good for DB if Nexus finds out a driver isn't announcing the correct stations!