About different languages being spoken at work?

[purplesnake]

To be honest, I'm scared to post this at the risk of sounding a bit racist, but I don't intend it to be taken like that at all.

I work, in London, for a company which has an incredibly diverse employee base - being British definitely makes you a minority. I'm not going to debate whether that's a good or bad thing.

Anyway, a lot of my coworkers are from mainland Europe and frequently talk amongst themselves at the desks in their native languages. I speak semi-decent French and Spanish but nowhere near good enough to understand them (I am trying to improve though!) and I find it a bit intimidating to be sat at my desk, knowing they're talking but having no idea what they're saying. I also feel like if they are talking about work, they should speak in English so that the rest of us, even if we just overhear things, can have an idea of what's going on.

Of course, if they are talking to a French speaking client on the phone, for example, then I have no issue with them speaking French. Or if they wanted to grab a coffee and chat about personal things in their own language, good for them.

AIBU to expect that in a business environment in an English speaking country, people should be speaking English?

If I work with people who constantly revert to another language at work even when they could use English, I assume they do it on purpose to exclude others from the conversation.

I assume you're quite a paranoid individual then.

I think it depends what the job is to be honest. In an environment where someone refers to above where communication is critical to the end result I do think the native language should be spoken. Similarly in a care Home for example, residents have the right to be able to understand the language being spoken in their environment by staff in their own home. Otherwise, unless the speaking of another lanaguage is deliberately being used to exclude/harass people I think it’s OK.

AIBU to expect that in a business environment in an English speaking country, people should be speaking English?

I agree with you.....YANBU

I think YABU and I suspect that few of those who say YANBU would feel the same if they were working abroad and had the opportunity to speak to a colleague in English. I don't think you are being racist, OP, but I do think some of this attitude comes from feeling as though English is the default language and from being unused to environments where it's common to be bi- or multi-lingual. The main purpose of speaking another language is not to exclude or be rude about people who don't speak it!

I'm an MFL teacher and have worked in several MFL offices with natuve speakers of several languages, not all of whom understand all of the languages spoken. It wouldn't ever have occurred to any of them that we should only speak English because we were in England.

Are people missing the OP's points.

Work environment in England.......WORK

Sitting at your desk {not on a break} chattering away to others in a foreign language.....so therefore excluding your English speaking Colleagues.

This is not about ALL the other points lots of people have raised.

What you choose to speak once you are "out the door" after work hours...couldn't give a shit.

In London given the language is English and the job is not about developing linguistic skills then in the working parts of the day that is the language that should be used.

Sitting at your desk {not on a break} chattering away to others in a foreign language.....so therefore excluding your English speaking Colleagues

What about people speaking under their voices?

English should be spoken in meetings, as part of official transactions. This didn’t appear to be that.

Being at WORK does not necessarily mean that you can't have the odd chat with someone. Nor does it mean that every single WORK -related thing you say MUST be listened to by every single person in the office. Why does speaking in another language equal excluding?

YABU. Basically you are saying that no one is allowed to have a private conversation. Plenty of bitching happens in English anyway, you don't exactly need people to have a second language available for it to happen.

" in a care Home for example, residents have the right to be able to understand the language being spoken in their environment by staff in their own home. "

I can imagine lots of people in care homes can't hear much unless something is said in a loud voice directly to them. Also, if someone is suffering from dementia, having a staff member able to speak their language can be a great comfort.

Also, if someone is suffering from dementia, having a staff member able to speak their language can be a great comfort.

Well yes, but that’s not the same as staff members chatting away in a language residents don’t understand, is it?

I’ve come across a care Home advertising for Urdu speakers because the vast majority of residents spoke that language. It doesn’t have to be English that takes priority.

I can imagine lots of people in care homes can't hear much unless something is said in a loud voice directly to them.

So because they might have hearing difficulties, it's OK to have conversations in front of them in a language they can't understand? Ageist and disablist.

Should I buy a megaphone for work? Because I'm sure I often have conversations in the lunch room or at my desk in a low voice that colleagues not taking part in the conversation won't be able to hear properly. Clearly excluding and wrong.

I used to work in an office with many people from mainland Europe (it wasn't a large company, only around 25-30 people altogether).

The German people would chat to each other in German if they were just having a general chat about non-work related stuff, but if they were discussing work, it was always English. I don't think there was an official policy; it's just what seemed to happen.

When I was studying in Germany and going somewhere on the train I remember a gap year girl from England saying we should speak to each other in German. I found that very strange. I expect I'd find it strange to speak to English native speakers in another language if I worked with them outside the UK.

Also remember being on a conservation project and some Swedish girls having their conversation in English in the off-chance that anyone wanted to join in.

YABU. I don’t understand people moaning about people talking their own language in England. But then speak English when they go on holiday abroad with the family . You didn’t learn Arabic before you booked a holiday to Egypt did you?

YANBU - I have two colleagues who chat away in Gujarati, my boss hates it and so do the rest of the team.

Personally I don't think you can equally compare a UK office environment with two weeks on holiday in Hurghada

The private conversations of others are none of your business OP. Why should a group of colleagues place your needs above theirs if they aren’t directly dealing with you? It smacks of total arrogance and double standards unless you always speak in the language of whatever country you travel to. I am multilingual and not from Britain, so I love the chance to catch up in my other languages. The type who insists on English ‘coz we’re in England’ seem to seldom implement this kind of rule when they are abroad. I know of multiple English people who live and work abroad and still hardly speak a word of the language of their host country. You do sound somewhat xenophobic.

YADNBU
Why would you need to have a private conversation at work amongst your colleague? Its sneaky, childish and attention seeking because it draws more attention. If its your break and you are talking privately its fine. In my open plan work they just talk loudly over desks in their language. The work is not related to languages and both can speak English.

Its like talking in code and bitching with an in joke. Its not good for team building.

I work in a university and staff and students come from all over the world. I love the buzz of hearing the different languages and it fosters a real sense of international community. So YABU. Embrace it - you could even try to learn another language.

On balance I think YANBU and I am a 'foreigner'. it wouldnt occur to me to speak my mother tongue in my english office. i can understand if there are a few groups of people sharing the same mother tongue it may be hard for them to speak english but imo they should keep their mother tongue for break times/lunch time. in the office they should stick to english unless required for work purposes. i also work in HR and this is a very common rule/policy.

YANBU.

We had an issue at work where a different language was being used by a small group to bitch about others in the office. (Un)fortunately they forgot a couple of others could speak it...Who then raised a grievance. They argued it was a private conversation (because it's ok to insult your colleagues in the office....)

Now you can only speak English unless there is a business need not to.

I worked in an international office in UK for many years, also in the Geneva office which was even more international. The rules are nearly always the same in multinationals: big meetings and telephone conferences in official company language, office meetings in local language if all people share same language and if not, in official company language. Chit chat and informal 1:1 chat- anything goes!
It IS rude to talk in a group in another language when there is a shared language,.but that's now what you describe.
If I am out in public with my bilingual kids and we are around locals, I switch to local language, because I know it can be disconcerting to have someone chattering next to you if you don't have a second language. But that is YOUR problem, not ours really.
People are right though, that it's natural to sometimes want to speak your mother tongue. Some days I start to doubt myself and my mother tongue language now.

I agree OP. It's not good for team building.