The Asian ladies that work in nail salons

[Charlieandthechocolatecake]

Please forgive my ignorance. Please!

I had a pedicure today (for the first time in 5 years!)

I was thinking whilst i was there that the majority of that staff in salons I have been to are Asian women. Some of them young.

I've also noticed that in my experience, their English is limited.

I'd like to know if anybody knows if these women are here specifically to do that job?

Or are they here for education? A better future?

I ask because I have never had my nails done by an Asian woman that can speak fluent English.

I had my nails done by a lovely young woman today...i know this is a career choice for many that have a passion for it. But is it for these women in particular or do they hope to gain an education here and an alternative career? If like to think so.

Is it possible to get English subtitles on Vietnamese videos? There are some really good, informative ones, they are only in Vietnamese though.

Hellokitty - I'm interested - is English your first language if Vietnamese is not?

Yes, English and French are my first languages. I speak others as well, but Vietnamese and Mandren were the hardest to learn. And my Vietnamese is much much better than my Manderin!

One of my very Prius and precious possessions given to me for free by the Ho Chi Minh City braille library. Yes I can also read Vietnamese braille. A lot of people don't realize that Brielle is not universal. Being that Vietnamese is also a tonal language, and has additional letters, the braille is different. Regular letters, BCGH, etc. are the same though.

It took such a long time to learn because when I first started working in Vietnam, I had no resources that were accessible to me. I used to go to the market and ask what's this? What's this?

They relaxed when the man wasn't there. I would speak to the police. They may well be slaves.

I should have said there has been a lot in the media about this sort of thing, it's happening right under our noses.

Dragons, I don't think all of your posts went through. Was the first post meant to be longer?

I realise reading back it was a bit disjointed. That was it. Suffering with a migraine here so cohesive thinking is proving difficult.

Oh no, poor you! 🍪☕️

Thanks kitty brain is returning slightly having drunk a decaf, a Coke and eaten some peanuts. 🤤 See it's stopped seeping out my mouth, hasn't it?

fatdogs

Isn't it 20 hours a week?

I have seen the media coverage about their links to people trafficking too. I wouldn't visit a nail salon like this knowing what I know.

One of my friends pointed out to me recently that it was odd that none of the cheaper nail bars take cards at all - why not? Are they paying proper taxes etc? Cash only businesses are dodgy nowadays.

I have always assumed they are trafficked from the Philippines

I agree with Blaah and came to say exactly the same thing. I don't understand why, given that they are HIGHLY unlikely to be here entirely legally and on NMW, these places aren't raided and closed down and the employees sent packing with charges brought against the owners. Why are they ignored and tolerated when everyone knows there is something dodgy going on there?

And if they are legal, that begs the question since when were we compelled to bring in foreign labour from outside the EU to run nail bars? Do we not have enough young women training in Beauty Therapy already? It hardly comes under the category of 'essential roles that must be filled by any means in order to keep the country ticking over' now does it?

I've never seen a western person do the detailed fine work that nail bars do, the delicate painted designs etc.

I went to a nail bar where none of the staff spoke at all. I didn't go back, because I worried about trafficking.

Big the official reason will be that it's to avoid expensive bank charges thus keeping costs to the customer down and making them more competitive. That in itself is a good enough reason I suppose, but you can bet your life it's not the onl/main reason and it provides a very convenient cover for some dodgy employment practice and tax avoidance.

I think any company that does (especially one that exclusively employs foreign labour) this needs to be put under very rigorous investigation.

*@picklemepopcorn
*
I can do very intricate designs on nails. And I'm white as they come.

Hellokittymania thank you for taking the time to write your really interesting posts. Many people seem to have no idea how different the Far Eastern languages are. The idea that a typical British person could go to China, Japan, Vietnam, etc and just "learn the language" is laughable. And yet we complain when people come here and can't instantly get their heads around English (a particularly difficult language, I think).

And of course we don't even speak English properly! It should be "ladies WHO work in nail salons", OP.

I can't understand what makes them so fast and good!

British salons take hours, charge more and they don't last as long.

I ask because, I have never had my nails done by an Asian woman that should be who can speak fluent English.

Sentence length a little long and subordinate clauses should be separated with commas.

You should use who as relative pronoun rather than that as the subject of your clause is human.

Good luck with your English studies OP.

I have also heard a lot about trafficking for nail salons and have stopped going for that reason. If you google "nail salon human trafficking" you will get a whole heap of references to have a look at.

FWIW OP I really don't think your original post is racist at all - I think it's a valid question and you now have a valid answer - research is the thing!

I agree with the PP who said that you should go to the police. The fact that the women relaxed when the owner went out tells you all that you need to know. These women are likely to be slaves, abused and locked up.