Acceso usuarios
Johanna Woydack
Drawing on long-term ethnography and interviews, I investigate language work and language management in a London multilingual call center. Using long-term participant ethnography and interviews, I examine how language issues are managed day to day, specifically in three previously overlooked areas: i) how multilingual agents are recruited, ii) how agents are trained in language management, and iii) how their performance on the phone in multiple languages is evaluated and monitored. I re-examine the value of scripts, particularly in relation to knowledge management, and I challenge the idea that working language fluency on the phone is the principal skill required. Instead, I demonstrate that successful agents utilize a variety of skills learned with the help of scripts. I conclude that the term ‘interactive professional’ rather than ‘language worker’ better describes the skill set required by agents for this work
