Once upon a time in AF…we had a false belief that MK17 is a smart dude…
I dunno. I’ve worked around people from so many different cultures, speaking so many different languages, that this whole thread seems retarded. Who cares. Step into the 21st century, global business, bla bla, etc.
Seems like a thing 'Merikans get upset about!!
Well it seems like the general consensus is it’s not a big deal. That’s fine. What I find strange is that instead of people saying their opinion a lot of people attacked people who held a different opinion. If you think you’re cultured/modern/global/etc, but choose to attack people instead of helping them see your side, then you’re actually just a moron who wants to prove some type of false superiority.
It’s more fun to be a dick sometimes. It’s all good.
People talk to others in their native language because it is faster and easeir to explain complex ideas, they aren’t likely talking bad about you.
Step 1: Get a cup of soup
Step 2: Microwave said soup
Step 3: Insert yourself into their foreign conversation while cupping your bowl of soup
Step 4: Make gratuitously loud slurping sounds followed by saying “is good, yes?”
AWESOME!!!
Not quite that way, but I’ve inserted my myself. I just walk up and start testing out my Mandarin on them. We all goto lunch and mandarin-ize. Next thing you know the white dudes in the office are like “WTF, now the hot asian-chick group let’s you into their secret conversations? Are they talking about us?”.
Of course they are not talking about the boring white dudes in the office, they are talking about their hometown in China, how their mom is there, what their husband did last night, bla bla. Why do Americans always think people are using foreign language to say crappy things about each other? Because that is what they would do??
Yep. As I stated many times before, it’s just professionalism. you’re getting paid for your time at work so theoretically you should be doing work most of the time, and if so, you should be using the language of the office. Maybe that’s the hardline and everyone is just focusing on things that can be taken negatively out of context. I just dont’ think it’s necessary to bend over backwards to accomodate people based on their culture or social status. At the work place there should be one benchmark for everyone.
Carp! We need more than one, now???
I don’t see how the part I bolded follows from the premise that you should be doing work most of the time. If you get work done faster and/or clearer (i.e. with fewer errors) in another language you know, and the end client won’t be shortchanged by it in any way, shouldn’t you use the other language for the benefit of your company (better productivity, etc.)??
And even if there’s no difference in productivity, why would it even matter, then?
You can say that, personally, you don’t like it, but that doesn’t make it therefore “rude” or even “inappropriate.”
Not only rude, but racist.
I do not think there is such thing as “language of the office”. Language of individual situations? Sure. For instance, if you go into a meeting with some guys and they all start speaking Japanese (assuming you don’t speak Japanese), then that is obviously non-inclusive and probably quite rude to you. However, if the people are having an isolated conversation that is not meant to include other people, then I don’t see the need to be inclusive of people that are not already in that conversation
It is different if we need to make special accomodations for non-English speakers. The non-English speakers in my office do not expect any kind of accomodations. They will use English when they need to. So there is no inconvenience to English speakers. However, in other issues, like when we need to spend societal resources to provide redundant documentation, signs, education, etc. for non-English speakers, I would say it’s better to get those guys to just learn English.
Your point based on productivity is fair, as long as it is work related and benefits the company. From my experience, these conversations start off work related but end up being 30min talks about personal stuff, so maybe thats my bias. I don’t like it because it feels exclusionary to everyone else and I still think we can say it’s rude, but that’s just my opinion. This is a good opportunity to segway into a new thread called “Opinions in the Office”.
When I was consulting at MNES, I was offered the opportunity to learn Japanese via Rosetta Stone for free. My boss (at the consulting firm, not at MNES) said that I shouldn’t take the opportunity: that the Japanese engineers preferred that the Americans not understand Japanese, so that they (the Japanese engineers) could converse in private).
Interesting.
Isn’t that all the more reason to learn it? Just don’t tell them you know…
Believe me, had the project continued, I would have (either through the company, or on my own).
Maybe what you’re really getting at is that if they speak another language, you don’t get to monitor whether they are really working or socializing or not. But as long as someone can monitor that, perhaps it doesn’t matter. And - more importantly - as long as key work gets done with good quality results, who really cares.
You should have learned Japanese in secret, so that you can understand the Japanese conversations while allowing the Japanese to work with the feeling of privacy. This would also enable you to learn what people really think about certain things (“Yamazaki-san, your gaijin friend is rude and his head is bulbous like a winter melon”, “Indeed, and his body odor is also intolerable”). Then, when it comes time to turn the tables, you can reveal that you know everything, and unleash your secret knowledge like the wrath of 10,000 Unsullied soldiers.
This is why I’m fluent in High Valyrian, Dothraki, Elvish, Dwarvish, and the Black Tongue (because, honestly, if someone is screwing me over in a mythical language it’s going to be Mordor-speak).
But Klingon? F off nerd.
You’re making too much sense. Shut up, please.
Ha ha