Cathay Dragon 666

This is a huge surprise (maybe the norm to come). Cathay Pacific has always been the organization in Hong Kong that has agents that speak great to perfect English. Until today. I have called in to Cathay Pacific MPC as usual and wanted to do a date change. The agent speaks really bad English with a very heavy accent. I was so struggling to understand her that I asked if there's another English-speaking agent I can talk to. She said they are all busy at the moment and I'm welcome to call back and try to be redirected. Tried again, it's her again, so I said forget it, can I speak my broken Cantonese to you (I have self-taught Cantonese from watching Hong Kong movies), and she said go for it. Apparently she can understand my broken Cantonese better than I can understand her. So at the end what I needed is done.

Just curious, has any other English speakers here calling into MPC have experienced the same or notice the degradation of English-speaking abilities of MPC agents?

Frayed_Yak

Seemingly, customers, too.

MichaelBaku

The English in your post isn't exactly flawless.

Fly Me To The Moon

But, the OP was not looking for the MPC agent to speak flawless English.

tentseller

It is the latest trend: the 50 step laughing at the inadequacy of the 100 step.

Cambo

What often works well is, when both parties speak their native language and listen to the foreign language. For a bystander this sounds pretty stupid, though it's quite effective. Requires a little practice though, to not jump to the other language, while speaking.

hermanc

Never had any issues on this front.

IncyWincy

Never had horrific English from MPC agents.

But I have noticed that the agents answering (after I have pressed 1 for English) are HK agents (nothing wrong with that) which means that English line is handled by HK and not Manila call centre. I thought from reading the posts here that English line is manned in Manila? Or is there is a difference between tiers? Eg Silver, Gold, Diamond?

Thanks.

sxc

My past few calls to MPC have been picked up by HK. And I’m not diamond. It made me think they’ve shut down the Manila call centre.

Pickles

It's a lot easier to understand a non-native English speaker when the listener is fluent in English. You're not, so we can't tell if the miscommunication is because the MPC agent's spoken English was poor, or because your English listening skills are.

boybi

Whenever I call MPC, there’s an option to choose between English and Tagalog (Filipino) language. I choose Tagalog everytime, but ended up speaking to HK agents.

RolfD

Isochronous

I always seem to get a lovely Filipina named Gemma when I call the AM English line for redemption bookings.

benyiu

I share the same feeling when calling this week.
Surprisingly all the calls (English) were picked up instantly.

s0ssos

Absolutely not true. It is easier to understand a non-native English speaker when you also have a similar accent.
Many people in America cannot understand different accents, because they don't have much experience with it. Like if you outside of California they think Indians are like Apu and cannot understand them. But if you are from the Bay Area, you obviously understand Indian-accented English because it is so commonly heard.
Some people cannot understand East Asian accents, and some cannot do European accents. It all depends on what you have been exposed to.

I used to think it is true if the listener is fluent in English they can understand all accented English but that is absolutely not true. What is true is that people can understand my accent because I speak Hollywood English (well, from California). So in England, driving through the countryside I had no idea what they were saying, but they could definitely understand me very well.