TO HER CUSTOMERS from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, Sine ad Walsh is "Nicole". Her Irish name is generally "too hard for them to pronounce", she explains.
She herself is in the lucky position of having "near-native" fluency in both German and French. These two languages, one Romantic, one Germanic, have provided her with the linguistic keys to understanding many the other European languages. She begins her list - Italian, Spanish, Dutch...
"Once you have the ability to learn one language, you're quick to pick up others," she says.
As a sales executive in Gateway 2000 in Dublin, Sine ad is on the phone all day talking to people across Europe. She generally works with the German sales team; at other times she works in French.
Listen carefully. It's like the tower of Babel out there, with up to 700 people in the general area of sales, technical support and customer service at Gateway, all speaking on the phone to customers in a variety of European languages.
Although the contact with individuals is always over the phone, Sine ad stresses the fulfilment and enjoyment of her job. There is always time at the end of a call for a little bit of banter, she says. Each customer has a file and contact with each is on-going: a salesperson is able to build up a client base, get to know each caller and establish a link of sorts with the person at the other end of the line.
"Because there's no body language, you have to improve your vocal skills. They can hear a smile. You cannot use your hands. You have to be extremely friendly and pay attention to detail," she says. "I love talking all day."
Sine ad deals with all their queries, from delivery times to method of payment. People call on a freephone line, believing they are phoning someone in their own country. According to Sine ad, they are often surprised when they discover that they have been talking to Dublin - they often only realise this when they get a fax.
"Every call is different. You get to know all the accounts." Customers phone with questions about their computers and how they can update their systems and buy another new package; perhaps they may want to know the cost of a particular package. Sinead has had to learn understand how a computer works, so she can deal with people from beginners to techies.
"I didn't think when I left college that I would be able to build a computer," Sinead says, with a disbelieving laugh. Her computer training at Gateway 2000, however has prepared her for the job.
She went to college after completing her Leaving Cert at Manor House Convent in Raheny, Dublin, studying at DCU for a degree in applied languages - translating and interpreting. She describes the course in DCU as "very tough, very strict". Her studies included spending her third year in a German university: she went to Saarbrucken, on the French/German border, and attended lectures in 10 different subjects at Des Saarlandes university.
Language students from DCU are encouraged to choose subjects during this year which will be useful to them, she explains, picking technical, scientific, economic and computer-related subjects so that their vocabulary and comprehension skills will increase and prepare them for possible translation work in the future.
After college and a year off in the US, Sine ad come back to Ireland and got a job with a telemarketing company in Dublin, where she worked for seven months. Here, she says, "I got used to the idea of telemarketing. You have to be extremely focussed. You just have to really, really listen."
She moved to Gateway 2000 at the beginning of this year. "I just love all the different people that you talk to on the phone," she beams, "when they say `thank you', they really mean it."
