[vxNsr]

I get this all the time with russian, I can understand basically all russian but my ability to speak it, sucks. So Russians will tell me to just say it in English bec most have a better grasp of English than I have of Russian, they'll speak to me in Russian, and I to them in English.

About the Phone thing: When I get someone from South East Asia for customer support, I ask them to speak phonetically in the most courteous way possible, this was after yelling at a few reps who just didn't understand a word I was saying, nor I them. I felt there had to be a better way than to berate someone for just trying to do his job (somehow the women were easier to understand, probably just the luck of the draw). Anyway I highly recommend it to everyone who complains about bad customer rep phone calls, learn the Phonetic Alphabet (I have a copy taped to my wall for easy access) (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, etc). It may be a little slower but if they don't like it they'll just transfer you to their supervisor or to someone with a better grasp and no one feels bad at the end of the call.