Integrating a new employee with no common language

[Tangtasic]

I will be responsible for training and mentoring a new employee due to start next week. I work in Italy for an Italian company, we are a team of 10 with 6 different nationalities and languages but the common language spoken between us all is Italian.
We found out today that the new employee understands Italian well but barely speaks it. She speaks Russian and English. We have two employees on the team who also speak Russian and another two employees on the team who have very basic English.

I am worried that this is going to divide the team as there is no language which we can all communicate together in. We can do all of the training in English but things like team building activities, lunch breaks, team meetings at will all have to be done in one language or another. I can see either the two non English speakers getting excluded or that the three Russian speakers sperate off and form a group together.
Has anyone dealt with a situation like this before and has any tips on getting this to work?
The obvious tip would be to improve her Italian but consensus is that we can't hope for that as she has already been in the country for more than 10 years and if she hasn't got the hang of the language by now she probably never will.

Interesting. The fact is though that she can understand Italian. That would suggest she's far from incapable of learning to use the language. So I would suggest holding your nerve and doing training etc in Italian. Has anyone suggested funding intensive language lessons for her to improve her expression?

The company does offer free of charge language courses but only in English and French and only available for employees who have been with the company for more than 6 months. We could definitely see if the course provider can offer Italian but I doubt the company would be willing to pay for courses for the first few months until she has proved that she is the right fit for the role.

Has anyone discussed this with her? Maybe she is already frantically booking (and paying for) lessons - i would if i were her.

What is her current situation? If she's been working in an Italian company already and hasnt learned to speak, thats concerning. If shes been at home with kids or something, she's done well to get to a good level of understanding.

What if she paid for the language lessons with the understanding she would be refunded either wholly or partially at 6 months - would your boss agree that?

She has been working in Italy but has always worked in an English speaking environment and has not had to use Italian at work. We believe her husband is also Italian but it seem that they communicate in English.
The level of Italian that she has is so basic that she will need minimum of three months to get to a level where she is able to hold a conversation so even if she gets on Italian courses straight away we still have to find a way of getting through the first few months.

Well. If I'm honest I would just go on sticking with the language that works for your team. She took the job, after all - as long as she hasn't been promised an English speaking environment? There's a difference between 'she'll never get it' and 3 months. I would still offer her some kind of refund or incentive to take lessons, but if she can speak Italian with her husband too she's got every chance of getting there. That's up to her of course.

What's the home language of the company? Is it an English speaking company that she has gone for a role in? If so then it would need to be English.
If it's an Italian company and she needs English for her role - but wasn't promised the whole company is English then carry on with Italian. See how you go.

How on earth did she get the job then ?
I think if she understands it wrll then continue in Italian as your communication language and she can at least understand it. She will then have to make her points in another language and people can translate where needed

I think of she can understand Italian shell pick it up quickly, so stick with this unless she's really confused with something

Who hired her and did they know? Can you give us more info without being outing? My response on practical approach would differ depending what was discussed (or kept hidden) in the hiring process. Ultimately, unless there's extenuating circumstances I would do everything I could to promote Italian rather than disrupting the existing team.

I would stick with Italian, unless she is struggling with something, but definitely be clear (in its use) that Italian is the main language.

What language did they interview her in?

If have thought if she understand Italian well ad is "forced" to use it out of necessity, she'll pick it up pretty quickly.

You’re in Italy working for an Italian company and the common language of the team is Italian.

She has a probation period.

I think it’s pretty clear.

So, she was interviewed in English (or Russian?).
I think going forward, some Italian needs to be at least part of the interview process. However, that doesn't resolve the current situation.

Where neither of the 2 none English speakers are present, English can be the default. But if either of them are present, I think you need to go for Italian. Possibly with her replying in English?? Good luck. Whatever you do, you are going to antagonise someone. I think it meets to be the new start, not established employees.

What does the work involve?, if not a call centre she will be ok and will pick up Italian quickly

What language was she interviewed in? What was said by the hiring manager about the business language of the company? Did she say she could speak Italian and now it transpires she can’t? This shouldn’t be your problem to sort out.

She's living and working in Italy. It is absolutely her responsibility to learn Italian.

This op.
She needs to study the language by herself as well.
The knowledge of the language of the country where you live is crucial.
That applies equally everywhere.
End of.
Surely there’s some evening language school?
She needs to catch up or look for another job, where she doesn’t need to speak Italian.

The interview was attempted in Italian but very quickly changed to English. It is a role we struggle to recruit for so it is pretty much a case of her being the only applicant that was half way suitable. It's not the nest situation but we have to make the most of it and try our best to make it work with this lady. She will have lot of contact with clients from Eastern Europe and the USA but internally the company language is Italian although most people do speak english to a decent level.

Wouldn’t the group mutually translate as they go? If she didn’t understand something she’d ask and someone would answer in the language she speaks.

I stayed with a bi lingual family. The everyone translated and clarified for everyone else. There’s be granny who only speaks. French, Dad who only speaks German. Toddlers who speak both at the same time… when someone said something you couldn’t quite get, you’d look at a third party and they’d clarify.

I would think encouraging multilingualism would be the way to go in your particular set up.

If she has been recruited specifically for her russian speaking skills then i think you need to be a bit flexible.

I would continue to conduct team meetings mainly in italian but with an understanding that she can speak in english. This is assuming her italian is good enough to roughly follow a meeting in Italian.