To say something about language spoken at work

[Babbleoff]

Im in an english speaking country. I have started working in an office where the majority of other employees are from another country. They speak their own language all of the time. I mean, ALL of the time!! Whether its office banter or actual work issues, all in their language.

I am very experienced, have been employed for my specialist skills and am relatively senior, altho its a small company with a fairly flat structure.

I am feeling very excluded and struggling to fit in due to the fact that i dont speak the other language. I find it rude that in a small and close working environment no consideration is given to english speakers. The other couple of english speakers are much more junior than me and i don't think they'd say anything.

I make an effort to talk to people. On occasions a conversation i have started gets picked up by someone else and they take over and continue in their language. At lunch they speak their language even if im sitting with them.

AIBU to raise this with my boss? I feel like a dick suggesting people dont speak their own language, but ive been upset almost to the point of tears about this. I can go all day without being included in any conversations unless i start them myself. I feel so stupid even about that because ive been working for yrs and have very thick skin (bit of a cutthroat industry).

i should also point out that speaking their language is not necessary for the job and was not a requirement or mentioned during hiring process.

I work in a Welsh speaking office, not a school. Not at all uncommon in North West Wales.

Snore.

She doesn’t want to learn some random language.

Why should OP learn another language? She is a challenging job and has a family and a busy life. She doesn’t have time to be pissing around trying to learn a whole new language just because her work colleagues are so rude.

I have worked for multinational companies for multinationals for decades and it isn’t at all difficult to enforce. The companies have a policy of English being the business language and it is a requirement to only use English in the workplace. I can only think of one or two occasions when somebody needed to be spoken to about not adhering to the policy, because most people naturally understand it and would never behave as OP’s colleagues are.

Don’t know if it’s been suggested already but I have had a situation like this with friends before, they all individually spoke in English to me (we were in England and I don’t speak their native language) but when we were together in a group they’d go into their native language.

fair enough to some extent. But it wasn’t just one or two words or even sentences but it was constant and I just felt stupid for even being there because I couldn’t understand a word. Just sat there like a lemon.

anyway in the end I just announced that I wanted to learn their language because I didn’t understand anything (said it in a light hearted way) and every time after that when they forgot I was there and started talking their shared language I’d just ask what different words meant.

im Not bilingual but I’d imagine it’s very easy to accidentally switch back into your native tongue - I mean my friends were legitimately my friends. They invited me out. It wasn’t to exclude me.

no point asking them to stop tho. They’ll just get defensive

Yanbu it's rude. However I would say something to my colleagues before I went to my boss.

It was obviously not Welsh. She said that they'd been in this country for many years and raised their families here. This shows they came from outside the UK but have been living here for years.

If you’re in the UK I would mention it. If you’d been abroad and they were speaking the national language that would be different.

She's said clearly that she's in England and that the co-workers are speaking a European language.
If people don't want to read the whole thread, then just read OP updates on see all.

Why?! I grew up in Wales and am Welsh speaking. When I worked in Wales no way would us Welsh speakers behave like this. We would always speak English in work as otherwise it is incredibly rude. As it is for anyone speaking in a language that not everyone in the group/ team can understand.

Not to mention the fact that an awful
lot of Welsh people can’t actually speak Welsh!

I don't blame you OP it's really rude to do this and excluding. I stopped going to my hairdresser because they kept doing this. You can't join in with any conversations and you feel left out all the time. It's very unkind. I wouldn't mind the odd conversation or if they occasionally wanted to go off for lunch to speak their own language but all the time, just no.

This is what needs to happen.

For added context i already speak another european language fluently, just not theirs. I know how much effort it takes to learn. I can read their language very well, but engaging in fast paced often techncial conversations is a completely different ball game. They know this. I have been been clear about my (lack of) ability.

I have also previously worked in offices that were predominantly staffed by this nationality and yet have never encountered this level of exclusion.

Unfortunately I don't think there's anything you can do about it if your colleagues speak each other in the language other than English but I can understand that you might feel excluded.

I was in a large supermarket chain at the weekend and the staff member who was serving me was talking away in her own language to another staff member.

My mother spoke a language fluently and when family members came who could all speak fluent English they used to speak in their own language in front of my dad and us children.
I think it is so unbelievably rude.

Same here. It was a Chinese travel agency in China town and I was the manager. I was very young and insisted they spoke English even to the clients. What a mistake! The whole reason we were so successful was the language barrier being removed. I let them get in with it so long as all work related conversation was in English. It was lonely for me, but great for profitability

I agree. Nice chance to learn a new language!

I would adopt both of the approaches mentioned by other posters.

On one hand, excluding you from conversations is rude and unprofessional and also hinders your ability to contribute at work. If you don't know what's going on, how can you be fully part of the team and contribute your best work? Speak to management about this.

On the other hand, when with your colleagues, it can't hurt to show an interest in what they're saying. Learning even a few words of their language will be a nice gesture and could help you get along with them (without just being seen as the annoying person who made them stop speaking their language!).

Plus, if you regularly ask them to explain what they're saying and translate things "to help you learn their language" (rather than because their language is "wrong") they may begin to have a heightened awareness of the need to include you. It's a friendlier, less confrontational way of asking them to communicate things in English.

She already speaks a second language. Why would she want to learn another random language?

This sort of post is such tedious virtue signalling.

So freaking rude. This is a big issue where I work too among Indian staff. My manager is strict on it but it's really bad on nightshifts when managers aren't on.

Of course something can be done, they're preventing her from doing her job properly.

There's a couple of people at my workplace who do this. I can't stand it, I have to hold myself back from losing my shit at them. Beyond fucking rude and insufferable.

They are being very rude and no wonder it's bothering you. I would speak to your manager about it or if they do nothing, escalate it to HR.

They are excluding you which is borderline bullying.

I think I would look for a new job. Does this happen in other departments or just yours. You could raise it with the boss but it could be pointless if thats the norm for the company. I don't ont think it's acceptable.

I teach a native UK minority language. I also work in a different role where a higher % of the team use this language/fluently. There are some team that don't have fluency but are learning due to it being a role requirement.
We mostly use this language in team interactions (work or social). Sometimes we will clarify in English if needed. We also adapt the flow and vocab used to help team members as required. The conversation is very different to when it is between fluent people.

I love this role because I get to use my language day in day out which isn't the norm in society as awhile and in most other jobs here. In a English majority speaking team. I make the adjustments and have to adapt even through it is harder for me. No one adapts their English to adjust for me

That's a very different situation, though @Whatevercanbedone .
She's in England, in an English based company. They're English speaking but choose to speak a European language she does not know. Rude and exclusive.