Christine Krafft

Standard American English and South African English in a Call Centre Environment Christine Krafft

South African English is just one of the many varieties of English spoken across the globe. However, South African English itself does not only have one variety but four major varieties, namely White South African English(WSAfE), Black South African English (BlSAfE), Indian South African English(IndSAfE) and Cape Flats English (CFE). One of the most influential of the world Englishes is Standard American English. Standard American English and the Englishes of South Africa do not only have things in common but also lots of differences. Do these differences lead to a breakdown in communication? An environment where we can see how intercultural communication between these two countries happens is the call centre industry. The call centre industry in South Africa is a booming industry especially in the Western Cape. Foreign investors, like airlines, are outsourcing their call centres to South Africa due to a number of factors. The result of the thesis is that communication accommodation surely plays a role in inter cultural communication;however linguistically accommodating a customer in a conversation is not the only way to have a successful and efficient conversation.