Are you an ethnic minority?

[northernladuk]

what is racist about noting that people in groups of a single nationally tend to talk in their mother tongue?

I spent hours in a meeting with the locals speaking French, luckily one of the better developers was translating as needed for me the only non French speaker.

I experienced something not dissimilar in Spanish.

Most international companies default to English when there is no common language.

It wasn't really racist but was trying to make a point. (IMO) OP sounds a bit daft mentioning all this. The fact it bothers him enough to have to come on to mention it makes himself look like something from Daddys Army/It Aint Half Hot era indicates he's got some kind of problem with it and needs to get over it. It's the new world and it's how many of us here have been working for many years now. He just sounds totally out of date.

I haven't checked back but has he referred to this demographic as 'them' yet?

[northernladuk]

May I ask where you're working, Belgium? I really want to get a job in a French speaking country, ideally in the next few months, but France has nothing that is English speaking. Belgium though stuff crops up, although it's not always clear if it's the French speaking part.

My French level is conversational but not yet business and it won't improve much until I can move to a French speaking country.

You know if you go work in Belgium you'll be surrounded by foreigners again don't you?

[vetran]

May I ask where you're working, Belgium? I really want to get a job in a French speaking country, ideally in the next few months, but France has nothing that is English speaking. Belgium though stuff crops up, although it's not always clear if it's the French speaking part.

My French level is conversational but not yet business and it won't improve much until I can move to a French speaking country.

No I worked for a huge French company, I upset the senior devs and managers by pointing out their solution was too complicated for our customers (something the customers were quite clear about in their feedback). The senior devs etc wanted to screw me back. Luckily a few of the junior devs understood then helped me and we managed to get a great solution out which made it one of the most successful in the industry.

If you want a bit of overt racism try the French! I spat my tea out more than once!

[edison]

You know if you go work in Belgium you'll be surrounded by foreigners again don't you?

This.

Well, at least in my experience working in Brussels.

Given it is the HQ of NATO, the EU and several other pan-European or global institutions, it attracts a lot of non-Belgians.

I worked on a very large transformation programme run by two global consultancies. Consultants were from all over Europe plus a few from North America. Everyone spoke English. Was a bit of a shame as my business French was reasonable at the time and I was hoping to improve it but got little chance to practice. And occasionally I'd get a stare from someone in a shop for not speaking Flemish!

[WTFH]

There are plenty of companies based in French-speaking nations (such as France and parts of Belgium) where the official company language is English.
If there are non-French speaking people in a meeting, then it is supposed to be conducted in English.
That's not to say that they will not have separate break-out discussions in a different language, but that they are supposed to switch to English when necessary.

If everyone in the room speaks the same language (e.g. French) then the conversation will be held in that language.
If you think getting a job in France or Belgium is going to improve your business French, you've got another think coming. The main improvement in my french was my ability to swear in the vernacular in a way that people who have only studied RP, etc, would find rude/offensive, but the locals accepted me more. It was also fun telling French people that one of the English contractors spoke French like a Belgian. He thought it was a compliment.

So, in short, look at contracts with multi-nationals, particularly US based ones, but don't expect it to improve your business French.

[FIERCE TANK BATTLE]

No I worked for a huge French company, I upset the senior devs and managers by pointing out their solution was too complicated for our customers (something the customers were quite clear about in their feedback). The senior devs etc wanted to screw me back. Luckily a few of the junior devs understood then helped me and we managed to get a great solution out which made it one of the most successful in the industry.

If you want a bit of overt racism try the French! I spat my tea out more than once!

Really, damn. I've been combing Linkedin for weeks and made a fake french linkedin profile and I haven't seen a single job anywhere (perm or contract) that doesn't require C1-C2 French.

If you think getting a job in France or Belgium is going to improve your business French, you've got another think coming. The main improvement in my french was my ability to swear in the vernacular in a way that people who have only studied RP, etc, would find rude/offensive, but the locals accepted me more. It was also fun telling French people that one of the English contractors spoke French like a Belgian. He thought it was a compliment.

So, in short, look at contracts with multi-nationals, particularly US based ones, but don't expect it to improve your business French.

I don't expect it to improve at work but I want to move to France or similar and learn outside of work.

[vetran]

Really, damn. I've been combing Linkedin for weeks and made a fake french linkedin profile and I haven't seen a single job anywhere (perm or contract) that doesn't require C1-C2 French.



I don't expect it to improve at work but I want to move to France or similar and learn outside of work.

It was a UK wing of a French company but I had to visit the mothership many times.

Moving to France will do it, working in a French company won't, as all the French want to practise their English and once the hospitality etc staff hear your accent they switch to perfect English.

[FIERCE TANK BATTLE]

It was a UK wing of a French company but I had to visit the mothership many times.

Sadly I think that is the only way, otherwise it's onwards to Belgium.

Or I guess I could move there and work remotely but I'm not sure I could cope easily with moving to another country without some kind of social network even if it's just coworkers. Hmm.