2w ago

what's your take on employers banning the use of languages other than English between coworkers at the workplace?

cross-posted from: https://linux.community/post/3497784

Example: several of my former coworkers are from Mexico, Peru and Argentina, meaning they share Spanish as a common language.
I used to practice Spanish with them, but my last charge (like a ward's manager) would yell at us to stop it, use English only. She would get very angry really fast if she heard anything in a language she didn't understand.
I find it stupid, because some of them would use Spanish to better explain to the new nurses how to do certain procedures, but maybe I'm missing something?

86 comments

Racist, and a way for management to know if workers are discussing unionization.
- Not always, it's also a politeness thing, it depends on context
  
  I don't agree. Forcing people to use a language they are less comfortable with just so others can eavesdrop has nothing to do with "politeness."
  
  Preserving "politeness" is the same tactic they use to keep workers from discussing their pay with each other, which is also deeply anti-labor.
  
  Why do you care about what I do if I'm not talking you? If talking a different language seems impolite to you and you're not the one talking, who the fuck cares? That's a you problem.
  
  You can tell it's not that cuz of how quick the person got angry. If it's remarkable enough to seem strange, there's a reason.
I was always told it's a bit rude to use a language that not everyone present understands, since you're basically excluding people from the conversation. Your example seems a bit silly though.
- Offense: "a bit rude"
  Punishment: no job, bad references, no health insurance
  
  What's funny is no charge nurse is capable of getting you to the point of getting fired over this shit. They're just capable of making you want to quit. Management does not like spending money orienting new nurses.
  
  imo in this case the offence wouldn’t be the “a bit rude” part: nobody likely got fired for speaking another language before the rule… the offence would be breaking company policy/rules
- Same. English is my second language but I still make sure to speak english even if talking to someone from my country if there is someone who doesn't speak portuguese nearby
- Talking to a person excludes all others by default. If I'm talking to you I'm not talking to the guy behind me. What does the guy behind me care what language we're using? And why should I care about the one I'm NOT talking to.
  
  Hallway chat is the reason people come to the office.
  It’s impossible to take part if people use a language you don’t know.
  
  Nah if it’s the workplace, I treat it like talking at a dinner table. I’m definitely using the common language and not excluding my coworkers. I’m being thoughtful towards the people around me.
  I also get that speaking in a language my company doesn’t understand could make them uncomfortable. I speak a 2nd language. The very few times that I’ve used it at work (not in an interpreter/translator capacity), it was because a certain coworker switched to talk shit about another coworker to me. So yes, people absolutely do this to talk shit. It’s not paranoia, it happens.
If you're scared of another language it just means you're a puta gordo
- 50+ Caucasian cis male multinational tech company middle manager here.
  I speak Spanish on work zooms, when everyone else is in Mexico.
  TBH I do it because I try to avoid being the asshole boss who everyone else has to accommodate, and instead be the pluralistic, humble boss that shows appropriate deference and respect to the employees that actually do the work.
I had a bilingual coworker that, after a customer came with a complaint, would turn to me and say "this asshole can suck my dick" in spanish and i would just nod thoughtfully like some important piece of information was given to troubleshoot with.
Shit was so funny. Very rude but i still laugh at that.
Ive never had coworkers talking meaninggully behind someones back in another language, and yeah thats rude too.
I have been the only people talking english somewhere and i felt rude for that.
Whether any of this rudeness justfies work place punishment or should or shouldnt be allowed just depends on the job.
- That's extremely risky, a TON of people speak Spanish, including a bunch who you would assume did not by surface-level appearance. Your coworker got really lucky that they didn't get caught and called out.
  
  Time and place. The hours sucked, the system we supported was worse, and we made sure it worked regardless. Place was lowkey toxic but in a comradery kind of way. I agree though. Assuming people dont know, especially cuss words, is asking for it lol
Sounds like that wasn't your employer, that was your manager. I'd take that to the employer and ask if this rule is authorized, because it seems like a huge overstep on your manager's part.
At the break table talking another language, no problem. Needing it to be able to understand their job, problem. Unless your clients are mostly Spanish it is their needs that are being overlooked. They need someone fully competent in an official language. If nurses revert to Spanish when they don't understand things, then their manager doesn't know what it is that they are having a problem with, unless someone is translating for her. She could end up in trouble for putting someone on a task that they are not able to do. I don't immediately see it a a racist problem (although it could be) but a work safety problem.
Wouldn't work here. We only use English with coworkers who have not yet learned the local language.
I'm trying to figure out why a manager would assume that people speaking in Spanish are doing it to have a nefarious, malicious secret code, when Spanish is the fourth-most widely spoken language on the planet, and is not a difficult second language for English speakers to start picking up comprehension with.
If I wanted an evil secret code, wouldn't I pick something far more obscure?
- Erhapspay ig pay atin lay?
I live somewhere where French is prevalent but there’s also an important English community.
When people are speaking in English on break there’s normally no problem … but ! If you speak Arab, Spanish or even Creole on your break you’ll probably lived exactly the same thing you experienced.
My point is … racism, pernicious racism and control
- Vous êtes au Québec n'est pas?
I mean, foreign languages can and sometimes are used to talk shit about people without them knowing. Speaking English in a non-English place is rude for that reason as well, to make it less bait-y.
If even brief, well-explained excursions into Spanish are punished, that's ideology or personal paranoia, though.
For the most part I think you should be allowed to speak whatever language you want so long as you aren't speaking it with a customer, co-worker, boss, etcetera, that doesn't understand it.
I personally don't see any reason why the language you speak should be policed so long as you aren't using it with people who don't understand it, unless they're saying illegal things, but even then that can be shaky depending on what country you're in IMO.
Charge nurses and power tripping, name a more iconic duo.
Just another expression of that innate American/Western fear that informs their actions and ends up with them in racist rallies, lol. Ridiculous.
Fucking stupid. The Haitians didn't speak English and we needed our bilingual guy to speak Spanish sometimes or else we wouldn't get shit done. Oh also the boss's English was shit too and sometimes him and the others from the country our company was from needed to communicate clearly
Honestly, time to talk to HR who I'm sure would have a quiet word with this manager.
This sounds like bullying, triggered by racism/xenophia/paranoia or just plain bigotry. And yelling at people? That's terrible too.
Seems like a horribly xenophobic policy. Honestly a red flag.
I personally speak Spanish and French at work, in addition to obviously English. Work is the only place I really get to practice speaking French, and I take any chance I can to speak Spanish since I don't want to lose it
I think it makes sense to have a common language among all of the staff that is spoken whenever business is being discussed, in meetings and things like that.
I think that policing private conversations is kind of weird. I don't know why they would do that.
I could see this becoming necessary. In Amsterdam and other European tech hubs it’s common to have English-speaking offices, so it’d be bad for team cohesion to have the native speakers form a clique in the lunch room.
I think it's mostly stupid and ethically questionable, except when your speech needs to be evaluated as a routine part of the job. I don't think worker to worker conversations should be impacted though.
Here I am thinking that it would be sick to have more multilingual coworkers. I'm struggling through learning the basics of a couple second languages (not complaining, it is what it is and I'll get there eventually). So its nice to have a native or fluent speakers around to help communicate with someone who doesn't speak english that well. Or at all. At work our english-speaking offices expect people who are stationed there to be able to speak English, or to learn it if they don't. But it's not mandatory to speak it in-office. Usually it's just faster for people to speak other languages with non-english locations or ESL people. Honestly its usually it's the other way around, with people in other places learning English to talk with us, but that doesn't always work out well. Its nice to be able to do both.
Your (edit - former?) manager sounds sheltered and unprofessional, to say the least. I hope HR gets involved (unless they're racists too...)
It sounds like you're dealing with a multinational company.
There may be value in having all employees operate in the company's ligua franca over a better language as it provides practice to employees to function in the common language.
It may be easier for you to function in Spanish now, but you may have to interface with employees in the future where they know English and not Spanish.
How do you help those who can't speak Spanish?
That frankly sounds like power-tripping / intimidation, but perhaps I'm biased living amd working in a multi-lingual environment.
- Yeah. Probably American institutionalized racism.
I believe "ah, claro, y señor puede chupar mis juevos con salsa fresca" would be a proper response.
I've actually had the opposite experience. When I happen to work with people that speak my second language it's usually them who don't want to speak their other language bc they don't want to exclude teammates.
Maybe this person is an asshole and has the reasonable expectation that people will say rude things about them if they can't understand what they are saying.
Employers can go suck a big fat cock.
If the enployee can communicate with their managers and co-worker in English when needed and talk in an other language when they talk between them, there's nothing wrong.
I hope they then talked about this person right in front of her in Spanish. LOL.
- So texting a coworker on an unmonitored phone is also out of the question?
What companies are doing this?
- It's being pushed in a lot of NZ hospitals at the moment. The claim is something along the lines of "all healthcare discussions need to be in english to avoid miscommunication", but in reality it's a bunch of white people getting upset because they think brown people are talking shit about them behind their backs.
  
  Maybe they are, and they're polite enough to make sure they speak in a language they don't understand so they don't hurt their feelings, lol. But even that isn't enough for the Anglo-Saxon man! 😔😂
Hardern hell to police
In meetings English or Dutch depending on the language skills of the people. Eating or anything else together the same. Two people from the same country collaborating on something with just the two of them, their own! Way more effective as long as their documentation is in English again :)
Employers should mind their own business. The only people who have a problem with people speaking other languages in personal conversation are control freaks who think they have the right to know what everyone is saying all the time. The person I'm talking to understands that language, therefore I'm accomplishing my goal of communication with the sounds I'm making. Why do you care?

86 comments