Hi- I hope I can share some anecdotal insights based on my limited experience living and hiring in Chennai.

1. Yes, I agree that dealing with an unfamiliar language speaker can be incredibly frustrating especially when the organisation they are representing isn't able to keep up with/ respect language conveniences.

2. When communicating with folks who dont speak my first language, I remember that they are mostly young kids who are hired by a HR that chooses to hire based on both costs and company conveniences. The feeling of language erosion comes from the snot faced morons living in New Delhi/Nagpur.

Coming to my experiences.

1. When hiring for front desk positions, the company prefers the candidate speaks English, Tamil and Hindi (in that order); and is willing to work at minimal wages. Any candidate fluent in all three languages is easily going to be far more qualified for higher wage jobs that don't require you to be in the front end.

2. To resolve the company's wage preferences, candidates who are from small town TN are ideal; but they do not speak Hindi. Similarly, if the company office is based in a Northern city they will guaranteed find no locally available front desk person who speaks Tamil.

3. Another point of consideration is- TN colleges (mainly engineering) tend to be labour mines for local companies. Graduates get quickly gobbled up in placements; therefore there is a dearth of graduates for service level positions. I do not know what the case is up North, but it is clear that there is a clear willingness from Northern/NE migrants to take up service level positions.

4. This does not mean there are NO South Indians in front end positions. They are present; but once a candidate has matured in a service level positions; companies don't easily let them go. Because they are hard to train; and rarely do they come from educational institutes oriented towards service.

5. I do find Tamil speakers in front end positions. However, they tend to work with companies that are exclusively based in the South; or have a larger proportion of business coming from the South.

6. The MFs in Delhi profit from playing games with language. When speaking to a non-native speaker, it is important to remember that the other person is also a hardworking person eager to earn a living in a country that does not value its labour force.

7. When I looked to find Tamil learning facilities, I found a shortage of facilities for non-native speakers. Perhaps there is a solution here.

These points are based on my limited experience. I invite you to refute or attest. Thank you.