I’m a new associate and often interact with engineers in the tech space for R&D tax credit studies. Many of these engineers are Indian or Chinese, and I sometimes struggle to understand them during calls due to their accent and the speed at which they speak. I’m hesitant to ask them to repeat themselves or bring this up with my manager. Has anyone else faced this? How do you navigate such situations?

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You can also turn on “closed captions” in Teams - it’s basically subtitles for your call (nothing is saved but you can copy and paste it and scroll back through it during the call). It’s not 100% accurate of course but this is how I’ve gotten around some of this disconnect in R&D calls!

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This ^ or turn on copilot

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So you have a choice of asking them to repeat themselves or get off the call and have no idea what was discussed. Which option you choose is up to you

likesmart

Ask them to repeat themselves. You could just be hard of hearing.

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This and ask them to slow down a bit. Taking fast is sometimes because of being nervous on their end so it’s normal.

I usually repeat what I think they said and ask them to confirm. Usually, this works when you know the context, and you can still follow one or two words so you can kind of guess what they wanted to say. If you absolutely can not follow anything at all, then ask them to repeat like other users said.

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I don't think you need to go to your manager. There is nothing wrong with asking them to repeat what they said or even asking them to slow down. Its not really what you say its moreso how you say it so just be kind and it won't be an issue.

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Or to slow them down, you might say something like "If I'm understanding you correctly, . . . . ." Another option if it's a Teams call or something would be to ask if it's okay to record it.

Please don’t make this normal. Would not recommend.

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