Post by Elson on Jun 13, 2005 10:05:25 GMT -8
From Yahoo/Reuters news:
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050613/od_nm/transport_elocution_dc&printer=1
Transit workers get elocution lessons
By Deborah Zabarenko
Mon Jun 13,10:05 AM ET
Latter-day Eliza Doolittles, carefully enunciating station stops like "Pentagon" and "L'Enfant Plaza," on Friday joined the first elocution class for workers in Washington's beleaguered transit system.
"I heard a 'T' over there," class teacher Doris McMillon said severely as the group intoned "L'Enfant Plaza."
The typical pronunciation for that station on the U.S. capital's Metro trains is "La-font Plaza," but McMillon, a former television and radio anchor, stressed the French pronunciation, with no final "T" sound: "Lohn-fon Plaza."
But she wanted to hear the "T" when they said "Pentagon." Too often, McMillon said, it came out "Pen-a-gon," which in the Washington area is more than a five-sided military headquarters -- it is a major transfer hub for trains and buses.
Washington's 29-year-old Metro system gets hundreds of complaints a year, most about delayed trains, but complaints of inaudible or unintelligible train announcements are among the biggest gripes, with 168 registered from April 2004 through March of this year, Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith said.
Smith acknowledged elocution was not the only problem, because the original public address system is outdated and in need of an upgrade. She said there were plans to move Metro's loudspeakers from their high perch -- where they send sound bouncing around stations and often make it garbled -- to a lower level closer to riders' ears.
SQUAWKY TALK
Washington is hardly alone in spurring this kind of complaint. Commuters in New York City have groused for years about announcements that give only tantalizing hints at critical information.
Now some New York subways have upgraded public address systems that offer clearer, more timely announcements, replacing the squawky talk that frequently left patrons wondering where they were and what was happening when the train stopped. On some lines, there are prerecorded announcements.
Automated recordings have replaced human announcements on Chicago's "El" trains as well.
Tabatha Hawkins, one of 20 elocution students and an eight-year veteran of Washington's Metro, doubted recorded messages could take the place of people on Metro.
"I think having the operator make the announcement makes it a little more personal, makes people feel comfortable," Hawkins said in an interview during a class break. "If I'm on the train and I just hear a taped announcement, how do I know if someone is really sitting there on the train?"
Even routine station announcements take on added importance in Washington, because of the high volume of tourists who are unfamiliar with the system and because most stations look exactly alike from the train platforms: dimly lit, with gray concrete walls and a rounded, ribbed shape that makes riders feel as if they have just been swallowed by a large fish.
The transit authority took a beating in a recent Washington Post series that detailed financial troubles, broken escalators, ground water leaking into train tunnels and other problems. Smith said the elocution classes were set up months ago and were not a response to the newspaper's series.
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050613/od_nm/transport_elocution_dc&printer=1
Transit workers get elocution lessons
By Deborah Zabarenko
Mon Jun 13,10:05 AM ET
Latter-day Eliza Doolittles, carefully enunciating station stops like "Pentagon" and "L'Enfant Plaza," on Friday joined the first elocution class for workers in Washington's beleaguered transit system.
"I heard a 'T' over there," class teacher Doris McMillon said severely as the group intoned "L'Enfant Plaza."
The typical pronunciation for that station on the U.S. capital's Metro trains is "La-font Plaza," but McMillon, a former television and radio anchor, stressed the French pronunciation, with no final "T" sound: "Lohn-fon Plaza."
But she wanted to hear the "T" when they said "Pentagon." Too often, McMillon said, it came out "Pen-a-gon," which in the Washington area is more than a five-sided military headquarters -- it is a major transfer hub for trains and buses.
Washington's 29-year-old Metro system gets hundreds of complaints a year, most about delayed trains, but complaints of inaudible or unintelligible train announcements are among the biggest gripes, with 168 registered from April 2004 through March of this year, Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith said.
Smith acknowledged elocution was not the only problem, because the original public address system is outdated and in need of an upgrade. She said there were plans to move Metro's loudspeakers from their high perch -- where they send sound bouncing around stations and often make it garbled -- to a lower level closer to riders' ears.
SQUAWKY TALK
Washington is hardly alone in spurring this kind of complaint. Commuters in New York City have groused for years about announcements that give only tantalizing hints at critical information.
Now some New York subways have upgraded public address systems that offer clearer, more timely announcements, replacing the squawky talk that frequently left patrons wondering where they were and what was happening when the train stopped. On some lines, there are prerecorded announcements.
Automated recordings have replaced human announcements on Chicago's "El" trains as well.
Tabatha Hawkins, one of 20 elocution students and an eight-year veteran of Washington's Metro, doubted recorded messages could take the place of people on Metro.
"I think having the operator make the announcement makes it a little more personal, makes people feel comfortable," Hawkins said in an interview during a class break. "If I'm on the train and I just hear a taped announcement, how do I know if someone is really sitting there on the train?"
Even routine station announcements take on added importance in Washington, because of the high volume of tourists who are unfamiliar with the system and because most stations look exactly alike from the train platforms: dimly lit, with gray concrete walls and a rounded, ribbed shape that makes riders feel as if they have just been swallowed by a large fish.
The transit authority took a beating in a recent Washington Post series that detailed financial troubles, broken escalators, ground water leaking into train tunnels and other problems. Smith said the elocution classes were set up months ago and were not a response to the newspaper's series.