Language and common sense

I often get voice mail messages in languages other than English, or from people with heavy accents in their English. For most voice mail messages there are two key bits of information that I need. The name and the telephone number of the caller. It is not uncommon for someone to give their name and then proceed to provide a lengthy monologue with their message. At the end of all of this they spit out their phone number as quickly as possible. Maybe they are afraid that they spoke too long.

Numbers are very difficult to understand in a foreign language. We are so hard-wired to deal with numbers in our own language that we do not just click in right away when we hear numbers in another language. It is a wise idea to speak slowly when giving one's telephone number, in any case. Repeating the number is also not a bad idea.

I would also recommend that the number be given at the beginning of the message as well as at the end. If I have to repeat the message in order to figure out the phone number, at least I do not have to listen through the whole message again. It seems that it is mostly the wordy people who just spit out their phone number at the end. All of this is even more important if one of the parties is not using their own language.

A minor irritation, which becomes major if you have to listen to a message 3 times.

Comments

[Irene]

I think, very often the phone numbers are spoken in groups.
For an understanding in a foreign language it would be better to speak alone and slowly each number in the correct order.
Irene

[Mitch]

Another thing that makes numbers difficult: We are use to reading the symbols (0, 1, 2..) and not the words spelled out. When we run across these symbols, it is instinct to pronounce them the way we normally do. I think this carries over even when we aren't reading.

[Chris]

It's also really difficult in Chinese, to think in characters rather than the numbers we're used to. Same applies to words.