Can the Philippines become an English-exempt country in the Future?

FutureUSRN · Apr 7, 2007

And something that you are all forgetting about:
Passing of the IELTS exams or the TOEFL series does not say one thing that a nurse has good English skills in communicating with their patients, or even other nurses and physicians. Many times I have seen nurses that have had excellent scores on their exam, but their skills have been horrible and they have been let go from their jobs. That is the reason that you are seeing more and more interviews being done over the phone before the nurse is hired, no matter where they are from.
And this does not matter which country that they are from. If you look at other statistics, you will find that PI has actually lost something like 200,000 jobs that have gone to India and Pakistan because of the English skills there. There have been many issues where the skills are not the same as they used to be, more are speaking Tagalog and not English when away from work.
And just the usage of idioms...........are very different and can cause major issues with patients in different areas of the US. And we do not use the word grammarian here in the US, it is just not used. There is no such thing here. What you learn from a book is not the same as what is spoken on a daily basis.

True and I agree. Because Filipino nurses who passed English exams are above-average. When they are talking to average native English speakers, there is a huge difference. Native average english speakers won't understand the word "grammarian"; but if we speak with Harvard graduates, they will know what a "grammarian" is.

Maybe, those nurses who fail an above-average passing score but may score an average rating can communicate well with average english speaking people.

I've been in the US many times and mind you, there is a huge gap between academic english and spoken native english. Filipino nurses must learn to go down the level of native english speakers like using "bad grammar" in order to communicate with them.

Btw, Call-centers from India and Malaysia are now moving into the Philippines....this is a fact. What keeps certain Companies from moving into the Philippines is not the English skills but the political climate and the economic instability.

lawrence01 · Apr 7, 2007

HuH?
The thread was started with the English-exemption, not the immigration news.
Anyhow, here's my take on the original issue.
NEVER.
Hathaway.

john83 attached his post originally in the thread Immigration News and Updates and since the topic is already not within the boundaries of that thread, it deserves a thread of it's own as to not derail the purpose of the thread Immigration News and Updates and at the same time spur further discussions for john83's topic.

lavalin · Apr 7, 2007

You're saying we are lagging behind? :uhoh3: Have you tried working with them? Dude, you're starting to compare us now, be careful.

How come there are no Indian or Malaysian Forum here in allnurses? How come most of the active members are from the Philippines?

suzanne4, RN · Apr 7, 2007

True and I agree. Because Filipino nurses who passed English exams are above-average. When they are talking to average native English speakers, there is a huge difference. Native average english speakers won't understand the word "grammarian"; but if we speak with Harvard graduates, they will know what a "grammarian" is.
Maybe, those nurses who fail an above-average passing score but may score an average rating can communicate well with average english speaking people.
I've been in the US many times and mind you, there is a huge gap between academic english and spoken native english. Filipino nurses must learn to go down the level of native english speakers like using "bad grammar" in order to communicate with them.
Btw, Call-centers from India and Malaysia are now moving into the Philippines....this is a fact. What keeps certain Companies from moving into the Philippines is not the English skills but the political climate and the economic instability.

Sorry, but I do not agree with you one bit on this topic. The jobs that I am speaking of that PI lost are actually well documented, and one of the reasons that the English exams are still a requirement for those from PI. This is not something that I just made up. There was much talk abotu this about two years ago.

And sorry, those at Harvard or anywhere else do not use "Grammarian" when they speak, it is just not used. And not all that pass the English exams are above-average. Not sure where you are getting your information from.

Harvard is not any different than any other university when it comes to English skills. What about Stanford and Berkeley? Much of it comes down to the English instructors that taught the student in the first place and when they were first learning English. Trying to throw words in that are not used in everyday speech does not make anyone any better. Only keeps many from wanting to listen to them.

suzanne4, RN · Apr 7, 2007

You're saying we are lagging behind? Have you tried working with them? Dude, you're starting to compare us now, be careful.
How come there are no Indian or Malaysian Forum here in allnurses? How come most of the active members are from the Philippines?

Because of the shear number of nurses from PI that wish to work in the US or overseas. Those countries also do not train nurses in the number that are being trained in PI right now. They do not have 15 to 18 students for one patient, either. The largest number of foreign nurses in the US are from PI, but it does not make them better than any other.

And yes, I have worked with nurses from PI for too many years too count, since I started my career, long ago.

--------------------------------

There are only a handful of countries that have their own forums, the others come under the International Forum. Notice that you do not see a forum for Indonesia, or even Thailand. And if you notice with many of the postings on the PI forum, they are about working in the US, or something related to that. How many of you actually went to nursing school to work in your country?

suzanne4, RN · Apr 7, 2007

Thread being closed for a time-out period. All that needed to be said on this topic has been said.

lawrence01 · Apr 7, 2007

You're saying we are lagging behind? Have you tried working with them? Dude, you're starting to compare us now, be careful.
How come there are no Indian or Malaysian Forum here in allnurses? How come most of the active members are from the Philippines?

With all due respect, I was talking about English comprehension and nothing else.

lawrence01 · Apr 7, 2007

true and i agree. because filipino nurses who passed english exams are above-average. when they are talking to average native english speakers, there is a huge difference. native average english speakers won't understand the word "grammarian"; but if we speak with harvard graduates, they will know what a "grammarian" is.
maybe, those nurses who fail an above-average passing score but may score an average rating can communicate well with average english speaking people.
i've been in the us many times and mind you, there is a huge gap between academic english and spoken native english. filipino nurses must learn to go down the level of native english speakers like using "bad grammar" in order to communicate with them.
btw, call-centers from india and malaysia are now moving into the philippines....this is a fact. what keeps certain companies from moving into the philippines is not the english skills but the political climate and the economic instability.

it is good that there are more call centers in the philippines but w/ all due respect i was talking about actual hires and unfortunately according to my source only 3% get hired for various reasons w/c includes english proficiency.