to think that in the Uk you should speak English at work?

[Wrongornot]

I can't make up my mind?

My employer have banned the use of any language other that English being spoken during working hours?

Are they being unreasonable?

www.scotsman.com/news/odd/lidl-polish-workers-banned-from-speaking-own-language-1-3596137

(Regular but name changed)

Nomana - not every Brit is like that. See my earlier post about my uncle in Spain and my brother lived in Beijing for a while and learnt Mandarin. My dd lived in France for 6 months' and did A level French. If I lived abroad I would try to learn the language.

To be fair some people may be better linguists than others.

Alemci, to my shame, my parents ARE like that. 8 years and counting.... they haven't even tried, they just do that mortifyingly embarrassing shouty thing we Brits are stereotypically recognised for!

Stereotypes usually exist with good reason... my parents personify that one!

I expect MacDonalds has a policy on it

Schlep makes a really valid point which has been made by others too, this is more about manners than language. Of course it is fine to answer a customer's question in the language they ask in but it is not ok to use language in a way that excludes or alienates others either when working or on breaks

I worked abroad for a few years in a country that spoke English and another language which is very different to anything we learned at school and I was pretty rubbish at it but I tried, I tried really hard, Equally my colleagues, for whom English was a second language, tried hard too. That's how manners work and it is sad that we have to have these conversations, accusations of racism, xenophobia, etc because people forget them

I'm foreign and I do think it's right to expect English to be spoken at the workplace and with customers and co-workers.

It's rude otherwise and can be a H&S issue.