Reply to: Foreign Languages in the Work Place

[OwlHoot]

Just tell them "if you want to have a private conversation, then go somewhere private, otherwise speak in English"

Maybe first have a word with an HR drone, if it's that kind of company (e.g. large enough), and ask what the company policy is regarding work-related discussions like this. If there isn't one, you can bet there pretty soon will be.

[Slumdog]

and here we are complaining that no-one speaks English in the rest of Europe/Asia/World when we are on holiday/working overseas.

Move on with your petty moaning and deal with it.

[threaded]

Make a great show of learning about 3 words of Hindi
("shukriya", thank you, is handy, as is "bahut khub", nice job!). That should shame them into using English more.

If not, Hindi has some of the most imaginative swear-words and phrases in any language, e.g.:

Teri maa ki chut mein chatri leke ghus jaunga aur khol dunga.

Mein teri maa ko teri bahen ki choot mein chodoonga aur tera baap laltern lekar aayega.

In your mothers what? Oh dear.

अपनी माँ को एक हम्सटर था और अपने पिता झाड़ी का जंगल की बदबू आती थी.

[cojak]

Was always brought up to believe that in mixed company always speak the common language (if there is one), anything else is just pure bad manners and downright rude

This is definitely considered rude on the continent.

Even today I was asked for permission from one delegate to explain in German the technical detail of the course I was running to the colleague next to him.

As soon as the explanation was given they returned to speaking English.

[Churchill]

Huh?

So, you lot don't change language to Welsh when someone you suspect to be English walks into the corner shop?

[Not So Wise]

Hark at the Welsh boy!

Oh the irony!

Huh?

Edit: Oh the Dragon? Not welsh, just like dragons

[Dong]

It does seem a bit mean and rude to cut everyone out of the conversation. In my previous work place it was policy to speak in English (we had numerous nationalities.) We found that in a team environment, if some members spoke in their native tongue, not only did it go against the whole team building thing by segregating the group, but it also meant that some people were aware of things going on that others didn't.

Cheers

[Churchill]

Just tell them "if you want to have a private conversation, then go somewhere private, otherwise speak in English"

Hark at the Welsh boy!

Oh the irony!

[Not So Wise]

I am going to give it to this guy with both barrels fairly soon, but what are the odds that he plays the racist card?

Just tell them "if you want to have a private conversation, then go somewhere private, otherwise speak in English"

[SuperZ]

Don`t go at him with both guns, that`s the worse thing you could do. If it bothers you, have a quiet word with him/them but word your talk carefully.

I've worked in a team of Indians and they did the same sometimes but it never bothered me at all. I respected them and they did me so I assumed they would communicate in English when talking work related stuff that I might have input on and they used their natural tongue when having personal conversations with each other.

Maybe there is an issue other than just the language spoken?

[Clippy]

The work place is in Australia.

I have never experienced this before. I worked in London in teams composed of 40% Africans, 40% Indians, and the rest a mixed bag of British, Antipodeans and Europeans, and it was an unspoken agreement that people spoke English at work and chatted in their own lingo at lunch breaks or after work.

Even when I worked in Amsterdam, the consensus was that in an English speaking site, people did not suddenly start chatting in Dutch and cut the rest of the team out of the conversation.

And its not about eaves-dropping on a personal conversation. 50% of their conversation is about work because I hear the common buzz words about our systems and team member's names sprinkled about in the conversation.

I am not into having head phones on because I pick up a lot of useful stuff about the systems from conversations going on in the open plan environment. Not everything we have to test is documented so we need to know what is coming our way. Headphones are for developers.

I can listen to about 5 different conversations in English at the same time and filter out what is not relevant while working at the same time.

Trying to listen to a foreign conversation is more distracting. I speak pretty good French, and understand enough Mandarin and German to get by pretty well in those countries, but unfortunately Hindi is not high on my list of languages that I want to learn.

I am going to give it to this guy with both barrels fairly soon, but what are the odds that he plays the racist card?

What makes you think a bunch of strangers on an internet forum are best placed to judge a situation that is unique to you?

[ContractTester]

The work place is in Australia.

I have never experienced this before. I worked in London in teams composed of 40% Africans, 40% Indians, and the rest a mixed bag of British, Antipodeans and Europeans, and it was an unspoken agreement that people spoke English at work and chatted in their own lingo at lunch breaks or after work.

Even when I worked in Amsterdam, the consensus was that in an English speaking site, people did not suddenly start chatting in Dutch and cut the rest of the team out of the conversation.

And its not about eaves-dropping on a personal conversation. 50% of their conversation is about work because I hear the common buzz words about our systems and team member's names sprinkled about in the conversation.

I am not into having head phones on because I pick up a lot of useful stuff about the systems from conversations going on in the open plan environment. Not everything we have to test is documented so we need to know what is coming our way. Headphones are for developers.

I can listen to about 5 different conversations in English at the same time and filter out what is not relevant while working at the same time.

Trying to listen to a foreign conversation is more distracting. I speak pretty good French, and understand enough Mandarin and German to get by pretty well in those countries, but unfortunately Hindi is not high on my list of languages that I want to learn.

I am going to give it to this guy with both barrels fairly soon, but what are the odds that he plays the racist card?

[dang65]

Was always brought up to believe that in mixed company always speak the common language (if there is one), anything else is just pure bad manners and downright rude

This rule makes things a lot less awkward for speakers of other languages as well, which I do hope they appreciate. Wherever they are in the world, they can simply look around the room, see that there is an English person present and immediately they will know which is the only possible common language to use.

[Troll]

Hi,
Would be interested in other people's input on this one.

I am working in a test team, 6 testers and a test manager.

The team is pretty multi-cultural, A Brit, an Aussie, a Vietnamese, a Nigerian, two Indians and the Test Lead who is Indian,

Is the project in the UK- if so is this why UK nationals who are testers are having such a tough time at the moment?

Are you also the token white?

[cailin maith]

Sorry, just pissed off!

Chin up buttercup