I was told I can’t speak English

[Yoloohno]

And no one can understand me while I wax at work.

I speak clearly and use correct English phrasing and terms.

is it discriminatory?

@IfIhearmumagaintoday I just messaged one of them, she said she didn’t have to take an English test because she’d trained in the EU and when she started with the nhs there was no English test requirement for EU trained nurses and midwives. That has now been changed, I think since 2017.

www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2015/08/23324.pdf

which explains why their English was so poor.

Branleuse I think you'll find it's perfectly possible to acknowledge (and detest) the existence of genuine racism, while still regretting the accusation being made where there are no grounds

I have a friend in the NHS who suffered a life changing injury because the nurse she was paired with didn't speak good enough English

Back in my nursing days, I remember going to a nursing home one night for the first time and being introduced to the residents in the sitting room by a foreign nurse...she pointed to each lady individually and said

"She stands up, she stands up, she doesn't stand up, she stands up"...and so on.

What she actually meant was that these were the residents who 'got up' in the morning with the night shift, it was not a comment on their mobility status.

Fortunately, I didn't attempt to move any of these ladies based on what I had been told.

Depends upon the accent and the way in which they speak.

I've found some accents easier to decode than others - I generally find Fante, Asante Twi, Sinhali or Konkani native speakers easy to understand compared to those whose home language is Kasem, Gujarati, or Tamil. Or a mate from Fife compared to the one from Shields especially when they're both three pints in. That's partly due to the tonal characteristics of their home languages and exposure to their speech (my friend from Fife just reminds me of my father, for example, and I've worked with many speakers of the first languages, so I'm used to the differences). Their pitch and rhythm of speaking matters - a monotone is often harder to discern meaning from, just as it is with native English speakers. Add in my Tinnitus and I can be losing important frequencies, especially if particular letter sounds I'm listening out for coincide with those frequencies/are altered in their accent.

However, there's also the physical cues - do they face me, do they move their lips clearly so I can get feedback from lipreading? Are they a mumbler in any language? Do they turn away or put their hand up to their mouth when speaking? Does their face move much at all - or have they botoxed any chance of my ever fully understanding away? Have they, from bitter experience, thought I'm just another fucking racist because I haven't understood them first time, hardened their jaw and become almost expressionless?

My worst case scenario is somebody with a strong accent with contrasting suprasegmental phonemes to English, high levels of non aspiration, allophones, neutralisation, background noise, botox, face mask or very bright/very dark light levels, has learned to speak English in a location that has a very strong accent, dialect and syntax/grammar different to those I have encountered previously AND suspects I'm just another racist dickhead. There's always a moment where I desperately hope that my saying 'I'm sorry', tapping my ear 'I can't quite understand' works - because I don't want to offend or hurt them. I just have multiple factors going on that mean with all the will in the world, the combination of all of these aspect can make it impossible for me to understand what a person with a particular native language or dialect is saying.

Many people find my colleague, for whom English is a first language, no strong accent difficult to understand because she uses so many colloquialisms and "emerging language" in what she says. It's particularly difficult for people for whom English is not a first language, and older people who are not familiar with modern slang.

I'm pretty sure that post is in English, but I haven't a fucking clue what it's saying lol

Given the OP's grammar, I'd say she's from the East End of London. Maybe a Cockney? I'm pretty sure that this will be deemed to be racist somehow but it's how a lot of people there speak I think. Now please don't pile on me!

I'm basing this assumption on the mixing up of tenses.

When I moved there first, I took some questions quite literally and everyone got confused lol.

E.g. What was your postcode? I'd give the previous postcode. What they actually wanted was my current postcode.

The above example actually happened when I was trying to register with a new GP practice. The receptionist was most confused that I would try to register in the East End of London when my postcode was in North London lol

Probably comes from Liverpool haha ;)

Thing with accents is that the onus is on you to make sure you are being heard correctly if you are working somewhere. Fair? Not really. But customers (and our colleagues) expect us to be understandable. I think there is some reasonableness to request people to speak clearly if they are working for you - especially if clients can't understand.

You get this a lot in healthcare. People w very strong accents giving info. My starting position is, if you can't get the information to me then you need to find a way.

I find it alot when some people mix up he's and she's. I often have to ask who they are talking about!

You only have to look at a few FB posts and those Microsoft News comments (MN tends to be better) to see that a lot of people's English is not terrific - wrong tenses, things like "you was", in writing, a lack of punctuation, etc. Add in slang, a regional accent and a lack of good diction and it's no wonder other people struggle to understand us. (I am guilty - sarf London 'ere.) I think lack of teaching this in schools must be part of it.

I remember hearing the Icelandic prime minister interviewed on the radio - clear speech, perfect grammar and sentence structure and a real joy to listen to.

Not being able to understand an accent is hardly racist. I have Scottish relatives whose accents are so strong that not even some of my other more anglicised Scottish relatives can understand. I work with a lovely lady whose first language is not English and I find her very hard to understand. I panic when I have to ask her more than once as I know it must seem so rude but my ear just can’t adjust to her heavy accent.

"emerging language"?

Is that like, "whole sentence that finishes with, innit?"

or

"whole sentence about women that doesn't use the noun but uses alternatives about my gizzards to describe my sex"?

I'm from that area. You haven't stumbled across an exotic regional variation - what she said was wrong. If she asked me "what was your postcode" I'd give her the previous one too. It illustrates perfectly why some people shouldn't be doing certain jobs.

So yes, people are not necessarily being discriminatory to the OP.

I think that the ability to be understood is the critical issue here.

I couldn't care less whether you speak the Queen's English or Pidgen English as long as I can understand you!
Accent is possibly less important when you're dealing with people in person. Over the phone, different accents can be almost impossible to understand.

The primary goal of speaking is to communicate something. If shit gets lost in translation, it's pointless.

I'm surprised you haven't come across the incorrect use of the past tense then?

i haven't heard that either. If somebody asked me what was your postcode, I'd think they meant what was it before the postcode you have now. That's confusing. never heard it!

I'm glad I'm not the only one!

How can you change your accent though. Scottish, Irish and Nigerian accents are what I find are strong. That's me personally though everyone finds and hears accents differently.

Even within Ireland, some accents are stronger. Cork accents can be difficult for me to understand. My father was once asked whether he came with subtitles. By a Dub! My father is from the West of Ireland.

Sorry, I should have explained. A Dub is what we call Dubliners. They call anyone from outside Dublin culchies.

Of course you can change your accent.
Actors do it all the time.
I grew up with a strong regional accent- I made a deliberate effort to change it as a young adult.
I now would find it difficult to speak the way I did when I was 16.

Bono is Irish and from North Dublin. He has an accent which is identifiably Irish but it's not a strong accent. When you're subjected to a lot of different accents, your accent can 'soften'.