Speak English

[woohoo]

Says a guy who probably spent most of his holidays pointing at pictures of egg and chips on a menu.

I do like a good egg and chips. Though I don’t plan on emigrating.

[Whorty]

Nope. In Switzerland to get a permanent residency permit, you have to have at least A2 in the local language. In some cantons, it's higher than that.

To get a job though, you'll have to speak some German (or French or Italian) or work for an English speaking company.

Oh, and if you're an EU citizen, you can come and look for work for three months. If you don't find anything within that period that pays a reasonable salary, you must leave. This is an option open to all EU countries. Just some (e.g. the UK) chose not to implement it.

Yeah, but that's the corrupt EU's fault, innit? Nothing to do with our wonderful leaders

[Mordac]

Nope. In Switzerland to get a permanent residency permit, you have to have at least A2 in the local language. In some cantons, it's higher than that.

To get a job though, you'll have to speak some German (or French or Italian) or work for an English speaking company.

Oh, and if you're an EU citizen, you can come and look for work for three months. If you don't find anything within that period that pays a reasonable salary, you must leave. This is an option open to all EU countries. Just some (e.g. the UK) chose not to implement it.

Or the people chose not to accept EU-style ID cards, despite Mr Blair's best efforts. I wonder whether he'd have been more successful if he'd just come out and said they were essential for the UK to function effectively in the EU. We'll probably never know. It's irrelevant now, anyway.

[edison]

Seems reasonable, what do you my fellow contractors think. Is it too much to ask a migrant to be able to speak English?

‘Speak English’ in order to work in UK, Britain tells post-Brexit migrants | Euronews

Could reduce translation costs at the benefits office, courts and within the NHS. What do you think guys?

Possibly but kind of an ironic question given the number of Brits working and living across the EU who have low language skills themselves.

There are several hundred thousand Brits registered in Spain for long term residency, I'm not sure what Spain's language requirements are but if there was a requirement to speak Spanish to a decent level, a lot of them would have to leave.

Having worked in countries like France, Portugal and Belgium, my observation of most working Brits is their language skills are inferior to most Europeans, many of whom can speak two or three languages quite fluently.

[Naruto1]

I am working with one who somehow landed the role and the fella can't speak or write properly. I raised this with him in a friendly way and he told me not to teach him English. WTF?

[Mordac]

Possibly but kind of an ironic question given the number of Brits working and living across the EU who have low language skills themselves.

There are several hundred thousand Brits registered in Spain for long term residency, I'm not sure what Spain's language requirements are but if there was a requirement to speak Spanish to a decent level, a lot of them would have to leave.

Having worked in countries like France, Portugal and Belgium, my observation of most working Brits is their language skills are inferior to most Europeans, many of whom can speak two or three languages quite fluently.

Most of them are retired, how would preventing them getting a job because they don't speak Spanish* have any effect?

*Although in my experience, many do.

[SueEllen]

Or the people chose not to accept EU-style ID cards, despite Mr Blair's best efforts. I wonder whether he'd have been more successful if he'd just come out and said they were essential for the UK to function effectively in the EU. We'll probably never know. It's irrelevant now, anyway.

He didn't need to do ID cards though. He simply could have done a benefits and NHS card with your photo on that you renewed every 10 years or newer if your situation changed. I wonder which EU country has already done something like this......

[SueEllen]

I am working with one who somehow landed the role and the fella can't speak or write properly. I raised this with him in a friendly way and he told me not to teach him English. WTF?

He doesn't like you.

I do remember working with a guy with "poor English". His English wasn't that poor as when the marketing head started sprouting bulltulip in a meeting he questioned him in a "I don't understand English" way leaving the rest of us having to suppress laughs.

I've also lived near various women who when a white man comes to speak to them they immediately don't understand English even though they were talking to me for a good 10 minutes before in their "poor English".

[Zigenare]

He doesn't like you.

I do remember working with a guy with "poor English". His English wasn't that poor as when the marketing head started sprouting bulltulip in a meeting he questioned him in a "I don't understand English" way leaving the rest of us having to suppress laughs.

I've also lived near various women who when a white man comes to speak to them they immediately don't understand English even though they were talking to me for a good 10 minutes before in their "poor English".

Are they racist, sexist, or both?

[NotAllThere]

A 9 year-old Turkish girl in SW Germany was punished at her school for speaking Turkish in the playground. The parents are considering taking legal action to overturn the rule on the grounds that it is discriminatory.