Hi Guys, I have a simple (at least I hope it'll be simple) home project in audio signal processing that I'd like to build. Related to that project I've been trying to learn the details of programming a Texas Instruments (TI) MSP430 microcontroller. I've been looking at all sorts of PDF files related to the MSP430 and some online tutorial videos related to the MSP430. At: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIUcMvukRXs there's a video clip produced by TI. The 'host' of the video clip is Adrian Fernandez, a friendly young engineer whose ethnicity appears to me to be Asian. Adrian's English speech is pure American (he uses the word "cool") and very easy to understand. When I saw that video it occurred to me that TI was being politically correct by having a non-Caucasian engineer as an MSP430 spokesperson. Of course that is no problem--although Adrian speaks, as do most young people in America, very quickly, but his diction is quite clear and he does a good job. Now TI has produced a new FRAM-version of the MSP430 chip and the online video describing that new chip is at: http://www.ti.edn.com/microcontrollers?bctid=938923882001 In that video the spokespeople are two people whose English is their second language. The guy on the video is Sabastian Fritz and the gal in the video is Pryia Thanigai. For both of these people English is their second language. Sabastian and Pryia speak very quickly, their English diction is not very good, and I was unable to understand much of what they were saying. Now please tell me, if you're going to produce a video in English why wouldn't you use people whose first language was English? Asking my question in a different way, if you were going to produce a video in the French language, wouldn't you choose a spokesperson who grew up in France? You wouldn't use a spokesperson who grew up in Germany and took French in school as your spokesperson, would you? Am I worrying about nothing, or is there a cultural change taking place in the electrical engineering business in America? Any thoughts? See Ya', [-Rick-]
Slightly OT: Am I a worried about nothing
Started by ●June 2, 2011
Reply by ●June 2, 20112011-06-02
On Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:32:27 -0700, Rick Lyons <R.Lyons@_BOGUS_ieee.org> wrote:> >Hi Guys, > I have a simple (at least I hope it'll be simple) home project in >audio signal processing that I'd like to build. Related to that >project I've been trying to learn the details of programming a Texas >Instruments (TI) MSP430 microcontroller. I've been looking at all >sorts of PDF files related to the MSP430 and some online tutorial >videos related to the MSP430. At: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIUcMvukRXs > >there's a video clip produced by TI. The 'host' of the video clip is >Adrian Fernandez, a friendly young engineer whose ethnicity appears to >me to be Asian. Adrian's English speech is pure American (he uses the >word "cool") and very easy to understand. When I saw that video it >occurred to me that TI was being politically correct by having a >non-Caucasian engineer as an MSP430 spokesperson. Of course that is >no problem--although Adrian speaks, as do most young people in >America, very quickly, but his diction is quite clear and he does a >good job. > >Now TI has produced a new FRAM-version of the MSP430 chip and the >online video describing that new chip is at: > >http://www.ti.edn.com/microcontrollers?bctid=938923882001 > >In that video the spokespeople are two people whose English is their >second language. The guy on the video is Sabastian Fritz and the gal >in the video is Pryia Thanigai. For both of these people English is >their second language. Sabastian and Pryia speak very quickly, their >English diction is not very good, and I was unable to understand much >of what they were saying. Now please tell me, if you're going to >produce a video in English why wouldn't you use people whose first >language was English? > >Asking my question in a different way, if you were going to produce a >video in the French language, wouldn't you choose a spokesperson who >grew up in France? You wouldn't use a spokesperson who grew up in >Germany and took French in school as your spokesperson, would you? > >Am I worrying about nothing, or is there a cultural change >taking place in the electrical engineering business in >America? Any thoughts? > >See Ya', >[-Rick-]I watched the first minute or so. They both seem easy to understand to me, but I have a pretty good accent decoder. Since the US is a nation of immigrants and has been for centuries it seems normal to me that there are experts with accents. There are plenty of examples of heavily accented contributors to the American technology scene that helped spread their expertise through teaching. I think every place I've ever worked or taken college classes there were foreign accents to deal with. So, to me, it's not a big deal. Eric Jacobsen http://www.ericjacobsen.org http://www.dsprelated.com/blogs-1//Eric_Jacobsen.php
Reply by ●June 3, 20112011-06-03
On Jun 2, 9:32�pm, Rick Lyons <R.Lyons@_BOGUS_ieee.org> wrote:> Hi Guys, > � I have a simple (at least I hope it'll be simple) home project in > audio signal processing that I'd like to build. �Related to that > project I've been trying to learn the details of programming a Texas > Instruments (TI) MSP430 microcontroller. �I've been looking at all > sorts of PDF files related to the MSP430 and some online tutorial > videos related to the MSP430. At: > > �http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIUcMvukRXs > > there's a video clip produced by TI. �The 'host' of the video clip is > Adrian Fernandez, a friendly young engineer whose ethnicity appears to > me to be Asian. �Adrian's English speech is pure American (he uses the > word "cool") and very easy to understand. �When I saw that video it > occurred to me that TI was being politically correct by having a > non-Caucasian engineer as an MSP430 spokesperson. �Of course that is > no problem--although Adrian speaks, as do most young people in > America, very quickly, but his diction is quite clear and he does a > good job. � > > Now TI has produced a new FRAM-version of the MSP430 chip and the > online video describing that new chip is at: > > http://www.ti.edn.com/microcontrollers?bctid=938923882001 > > In that video the spokespeople are two people whose English is their > second language. �The guy on the video is Sabastian Fritz and the gal > in the video is Pryia Thanigai. �For both of these people English is > their second language. �Sabastian and Pryia speak very quickly, their > English diction is not very good, and I was unable to understand much > of what they were saying. �Now please tell me, if you're going to > produce a video in English why wouldn't you use people whose first > language was English? > > Asking my question in a different way, if you were going to produce a > video in the French language, wouldn't you choose a spokesperson who > grew up in France? �You wouldn't use a spokesperson who grew up in > Germany and took French in school as your spokesperson, would you? > > Am I worrying about nothing, or is there a cultural change > taking place in the electrical engineering business in > America? � Any thoughts? > > See Ya', > [-Rick-]Rick, It doesn't matter to me if English is their first, second, or eighth language. What I care about is how well I understand. English was not either of my parent's first language (or mine, for that matter*) but you would never have guessed otherwise to talk to them. Jerry _____________________________________ *I grew up in New York, but I used English, Yiddish, and French as I learned to speak. My facility with the last two gradually faded with time.
Reply by ●June 3, 20112011-06-03
On Jun 3, 3:32�am, Rick Lyons <R.Lyons@_BOGUS_ieee.org> wrote:> Am I worrying about nothing, or is there a cultural change > taking place in the electrical engineering business in > America? � Any thoughts?I'd say this is a cultural change that is taking place everywhere: It is regarded an infringement on the person responsible for the video to suggest there might be tasks - doing the voice-over, in this case - better done by others. Rune
Reply by ●June 3, 20112011-06-03
Hi Rick,>Hi Guys, > I have a simple (at least I hope it'll be simple) home project in >audio signal processing that I'd like to build. Related to that >project I've been trying to learn the details of programming a Texas >Instruments (TI) MSP430 microcontroller. I've been looking at all >sorts of PDF files related to the MSP430 and some online tutorial >videos related to the MSP430. At: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIUcMvukRXs > >there's a video clip produced by TI. The 'host' of the video clip is >Adrian Fernandez, a friendly young engineer whose ethnicity appears to >me to be Asian. Adrian's English speech is pure American (he uses the >word "cool") and very easy to understand. When I saw that video it >occurred to me that TI was being politically correct by having a >non-Caucasian engineer as an MSP430 spokesperson. Of course that is >no problem--although Adrian speaks, as do most young people in >America, very quickly, but his diction is quite clear and he does a >good job. > >Now TI has produced a new FRAM-version of the MSP430 chip and the >online video describing that new chip is at: > >http://www.ti.edn.com/microcontrollers?bctid=938923882001 > >In that video the spokespeople are two people whose English is their >second language. The guy on the video is Sabastian Fritz and the gal >in the video is Pryia Thanigai. For both of these people English is >their second language. Sabastian and Pryia speak very quickly, their >English diction is not very good, and I was unable to understand much >of what they were saying. Now please tell me, if you're going to >produce a video in English why wouldn't you use people whose first >language was English? > >Asking my question in a different way, if you were going to produce a >video in the French language, wouldn't you choose a spokesperson who >grew up in France? You wouldn't use a spokesperson who grew up in >Germany and took French in school as your spokesperson, would you? > >Am I worrying about nothing, or is there a cultural change >taking place in the electrical engineering business in >America? Any thoughts? > >See Ya', >[-Rick-]I happen to know the people in those videos. What TI has done is to get the people actually responsible for these products to present the videos. They aren't marketing people, or paid stooges. Priya and Sebastian certainly have accents when they speak English, and I guess as an American you do too. :-) I think they speak very easy to understand English, though. If their accents were considered too thick, I expect someone else would have made the videos. I remember a Texan from Motorola needing a translator once when he presented some new MC68k stuff to us in London. I know a lot of marketing material, especially printed material, shows blatantly crafted ethnic mixes. What you are seeing in these videos is just a large global company at work, and TI has been global for a long time. Steve
Reply by ●June 3, 20112011-06-03
Being English, and a native English speaker, I would say that the strong Am= erican accent in the first video is far more distracting than ether Sebasti= an's, to my ears, mild German accent or Priya's also mild accent. I know t= hat English comes in many accents and dialects but these two are very easil= y understood. On this side of the pond the tabloid press have been getting very excited a= bout the possibility that Americans would not be able to understand one of = the English judges on the TV program "X-Factor" because she has a mild, by = Geordie standards, accent. As she has left the show we will now not find o= ut!
Reply by ●June 3, 20112011-06-03
Ian wrote:> Being English, and a native English speaker, I would say that the strong American accent in the first video is far more distracting than ether Sebastian's, to my ears, mild German accent or Priya's also mild accent. I know that English comes in many accents and dialects but these two are very easily understood. > > On this side of the pond the tabloid press have been getting very excited about the possibility that Americans would not be able to understand one of the English judges on the TV program "X-Factor" because she has a mild, by Geordie standards, accent. As she has left the show we will now not find out!Chuckle ;} Takes me back 50 years. Had a professor with an extremely pronounced accent. Took weeks to adjust to his accent. Came from a reasonably large town - London.
Reply by ●June 3, 20112011-06-03
On Jun 3, 9:31=A0am, Richard Owlett <rowl...@pcnetinc.com> wrote:> Ian wrote: > > Being English, and a native English speaker, I would say that the stron=g American accent in the first video is far more distracting than ether Seb= astian's, to my ears, mild German accent or Priya's also mild accent. =A0I = know that English comes in many accents and dialects but these two are very= easily understood.> > > On this side of the pond the tabloid press have been getting very excit=ed about the possibility that Americans would not be able to understand one= of the English judges on the TV program "X-Factor" because she has a mild,= by Geordie standards, accent. =A0As she has left the show we will now not = find out!> > Chuckle ;} > Takes me back 50 years. Had a professor with an extremely > pronounced accent. Took weeks to adjust to his accent. Came from > =A0 a reasonably large town - London.I had a professor in a filter-synthesis course (everything was analog then) whose accent when speaking English was unremarkable, but he was difficult to understand anyway. Many people say nucular when they mean nuclear. He went further, saying uncular when he meant unclear. (At least he was consistent.) He introduced me to the notion of casual (read causal) circuits. Jerry -- Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
Reply by ●June 3, 20112011-06-03
On Jun 3, 6:13=A0am, Ian <ian.o...@gmail.com> wrote:> Being English, and a native English speaker, I would say that the strong =American accent in the first video is far more distracting than ether Sebas= tian's, to my ears, mild German accent or Priya's also mild accent. =A0I kn= ow that English comes in many accents and dialects but these two are very e= asily understood.> > On this side of the pond the tabloid press have been getting very excited=about the possibility that Americans would not be able to understand one o= f the English judges on the TV program "X-Factor" because she has a mild, b= y Geordie standards, accent. =A0As she has left the show we will now not fi= nd out! They played clips of her over here in the USA, she was very hard to understand, basically spending majority of my time trying to figure out what she said not why she said it, it would not go over well if she was a judge. Public speaking, no matter what accent you have, requires training to overcome bad speaking habits most people naturally have. Any accent can be made clearer to everyone by using certain common rules (tempo, loudness etc) to enhance overall enunciation. I never have any problem at all understanding anyone on BBC news.
Reply by ●June 3, 20112011-06-03
On Fri, 3 Jun 2011 03:13:05 -0700 (PDT), Ian <ian.okey@gmail.com> wrote:>Being English, and a native English speaker, I would say that the strong Am= >erican accent in the first video is far more distracting than ether Sebasti= >an's, to my ears, mild German accent or Priya's also mild accent. I know t= >hat English comes in many accents and dialects but these two are very easil= >y understood. > >On this side of the pond the tabloid press have been getting very excited a= >bout the possibility that Americans would not be able to understand one of = >the English judges on the TV program "X-Factor" because she has a mild, by = >Geordie standards, accent. As she has left the show we will now not find o= >ut!That's been in the news here, too. Eric Jacobsen http://www.ericjacobsen.org http://www.dsprelated.com/blogs-1//Eric_Jacobsen.php
