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?
I’ve only ever worked a single job that tried to enforce that shit, and those motherfuckers were the most racist pieces of shit I’ve had to deal with in person. They thought because I was the only white guy that I was on their side. I still wonder what they did when after the 3rd day of the season, everyone just quit and walked off an hour before lunch.
dumb because other places have other languages
It is a sign that they have an unhealthy need to control others and it is best to get everyone to quit collectively
Counterpoint: In the Airline Industry, Aviation English is the lingua franca, do you think pilots and ATC should quit over the language requirement?
That is not a single boss but an industry wide standard, like using metric vs imperial units. There is no market corrective mechanism in that case and thus quitting would be pointless.
But excellent point.
Another example would be requiring code to be written in Java or COBOL.
That’s not really the same thing. You’re required to use English for communication critical for the flight, as a means to ensure proper communication between parties for safety. It doesn’t mean you can’t gossip between coworkers on Spanish or whatever. You have to do what’s required for the job, but the rules shouldn’t extend beyond that to effect how employees interact on non-work things.
Not sure what country, but in the US, wouldn’t that technically be illegal (at least between co-workers)? I know some places, such as call centers, won’t let you speak another language to customers without approval (for liability reasons, I assume).
She would get very angry really fast if she heard anything in a language she didn’t understand.
Karen es una cabrón.
my work has an english only rule when talking about work. we hire from all over the world, so making sure there is a common language is nice when i have to message someone in another country.
non-work-related talk is whatever, though.
This would be a non-starter where I work and employees would sue for discrimination. Rightly so.
We thrive on diversity. It’s crucial for customer service.
I’m pretty sure this would be straight up illegal in my country.
Came here to say the same thing. The entire company would be cancelled.
I kind of get it if she’s around and cannot tell if your chat is work-related or not. You could be telling your colleagues to go cut the red wire but she knows it ought to be the blue wire. She could’ve jumped in at that point to correct you, had she understood. But the bomb went off already and everybody died. I’m exaggerating the stakes here obvs.
I would try to keep shit in English when she’s within earshot. And if she sneaked up on you while you’re practicing your Spanish, apologize, acknowledge her wishes, and tell her you were just talking about the weather or the game or whatever. She might just be nervous about you talking about her behind her back - while she’s in the room. So put her mind at ease. Don’t piss off the higher-ups unless you’re willing to lose the job.
She might just be nervous about you talking about her behind her back
In the US I get so tired of hearing this from other white people. I do not look like a typical Spanish speaker but I’m fluent in the language and not once have I heard anyone talking shit in Spanish around me or other white people (living in Los Angeles with Spanish all around me).
At this point I just assume people who have this fear are just completely self-centered.
“Ive never experienced this so it cant possibly exist”
How arrogant can you be.
Why are you afraid of punctuation?
- I’ve*
- exist.”*
- be?*
When 2 people that know a language want to talk shit about someone else that doesn’t know the language, the first thing they’ll do is speak that language.
It’s not an unreasonable fear at all.
A sign of fear. And weakness.
The vacancy required German, but the department is from all over the place and we speak English a lot of the time. Nobody cares because they’re not bigoted asshats.
For a while I was the only non-spanish speaker on a shipyard barge loading / cleaning crew. The other guys spoke varying degrees of English and I was learning Spanish. Despite the job being incredibly dangerous with huge overhead weight, cranes, massive ships on floating docks, and other heavy equipment abound, we had no real accidents and communicated well. If I didn’t need to know a thing, it was probably said in Spanish. Buy, we kept all radio comms in English, for my sake and for safety.
We decided that, as the workers. Not because some Karen didn’t like Spanish. As long as the work is done safely and communication is timely and in a language understandable by the intended recipients there is not issue. Karen can fuck off.
As a joke you should all go in on a copy Rosetta Stone for her.
Work related? Sure, 100%. Everyone might need to hear what’s going on and if English is the dominant language that’s what should be used. Personal conversation? Fuck that.
If Spanish is the dominant language I would expect all business to be conducted in Spanish.
edit: but yeah, if someone needs it explained in their native language, for sure use it. In that case one should do both languages.
It is ridiculous of course but I do have one strange anecdote about this. I have been in a lot of retirement and assisted living homes and there can be some serious tension between racist resident and their non-white caregivers when they speak there languages around them.
One old Vietnam vet would get the fuck triggered out of him when the Filipinos would talk in Tagalog around him. They ended up making a rule that they can’t speak non-english around him. Not saying that this was right, but it was understandable.
I think in a Healthcare setting this has a lot to do with these types of rules.
Regardless of the fact that most communications in other languages will not be this, there will almost certainly be cases where a second language is used to talk about a patient or coworker in their presence. This builds an outgroup/ingroup dynamic that can undermine confidence in healthcare outcomes and cause patient distress.
Essentially, if some people hear another language being spoken in their presence, and especially if they are in a vulnerable state, they will assume they are being talked about disparagingly or conspired against. Avoiding causing undue distress to patients is a standard of care concern.
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With the NLRB it would have been illegal in the states. A form of preventing workers from organizing.
imperialistic discrimination
