Since when were work places allowed to do this?
rick182
Posts: 11,092 Forum Member
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My work has banned everyone from speaking any other languages other then English and its 3 warnings and your out if you dont follow the rule!.. To be fair its down to the nature of the work which involves seeing a lot of peoples personal details!... But still:eek:
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If so it's understandable.
However is this an outright ban ? what about if someone does not understand something fully and a colleague explains in their own language to assist and speed things up ?
Today for instance I asked one of my staff to pass me the stapler , he didn't understand ( a student who has only been in the counry a week and its his second day ) , so I told him in French, agrafeuse, and he smiled and passed it to me after asking me to pronounce stapler again for him so he knew for next time.
I see no problem with speaking other languages if it is to help a client, or if it is to help a colleague , I agree it is nicer if everyone speaks the same language whilst working it can also appear rude at times if people speak English one minute then a little of their own and then back to English , it may give the impression of talking about someone . I can also see why an employer may insist on Enlgish in certain areas for health and safety reasons ( so everyone knows what is happening etc ) but I am not sure about banning other languages full stop .
It could be seen as discriminatory in law unless there is a fully justifiable reason to implement such a rule.
I dont see the issue ...
You're in England, hence you should be speaking English ......
If I go on holiday to another country, I try my best to speak their language. If I ever want to live there, I would become fluent.
I work with a number of Indian guys and most of the time they will talkin English all the time. But you get the odd one or two, that will carry out a conversation in whatever Indian dialect it is, at length, thus excluding everyone else from the chat.
As liberal types, none of us ever complain, but it is a bit rude.
:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
There were 12 people on my line, and I was the only English person on there.
All the others were Polish or Portugeuse.
I hated EVERY minute I was working in that god-awful place.
Does that mean if you work in Wales you should speak Welsh, and if in Scotland speaks Scots or Scots Gaelic, or Irish speak in Irish Gaelic
TheOP doesn't say he/she works in ENGLAND.
Wales, Scotland or NI doesn't matter. They are still considered part of the UK till they gain independence. There is a difference between English > England, Britain, UK.
So since the national language of the UK is English, that is what people should speak, especially in the workplace.
However grumpyscot, I do also believe that people should take pride in their nationality within their own borders, so Im sure no-one would begrudge you speaking Scottish. Some people might even find your kilt quite fetching
Anyway, Ive come across similar issues to the other guys working production lines, not a British person in sight. Is very annoying when people know English, but deliberately disrespect our culture.
But unfortunately the world is very politically correct. In the news years back, one shop owner got fined and taken to court for making English the only language allowed in his shop. Fair enough one may think? Well shops around me trade by speaking only Polish and wont let British people in. Complaints have been made but they have yet to be fined. Hardly fair!
Not sure what I think about this but what about in the Republic of Ireland - they have gained independence - should you have to speak in Irish?
...if it wasn't made clear that only conversing in english was a prerequisite of the job...then one would be within one's rights to tell them to get fooked
just saying
I actually went to Ireland when I was 16 or so, many years back now
Anyway, even though I knew they spoke English as a national language, I still learnt one or two Irish words and while I was there, tried to absorb their culture and respect it. Walked and visited the site where the Irish fought the English many centuries ago.
Tasted the best cigarretes I ever have in my life and encountered horse racing for the first time. Oh on a minor edit, really enjoyed things like the hooley nights. Did many other things, but those moments stood out.
The point is, they have decided to carry on speaking English as their national language. However should they ever decide to speak Irish only, they absoloutely have that right, if it werent so harmful to business, I would encourage them to change. I will have no issues in speaking in Irish over there. I may need a phrasebook to get started, but hey, might be nice to learn.
What's the point going on holiday and behaving like one would at home? Then you might as well never go on holiday! What's the point in living somewhere permantely when you cant even speak the native tongue?
You assume that the only native British language is English which is incorrect.
I never said that at all, so I don't know where you came up with that ridiculous conclusion?
Many countries designate English as their national language, even though they have their own native language. One of the driving reasons is business communications.
You stated that Scotalnd , Wales and N.I did not matter, is that because they have their own variants of Gaelic which the English do not speak ? Remember that the English language was not used by choice, it was forced upon Gaelic speakers often under the threat of death which caused its demise.
Its not fair but we live in the UK so its one rule for one one rule for another, May a shop should try it agian and say speak English only and it they get a fined it does just show in the UK its its one rule for one one rule for another,
In the case of the OP, same; if the employer has in the past recruited people who speak very little English, they might well argue that they are disadvantaged by this new requirement. They probably haven't though, as it appears to be an office job.
While they are part of the UK, they are under our rule, so should abide by the laws set down by our government and speak the national language.
When they are under their own rule and considered their own country, they can do whatever they like. I would welcome them taking up their original language. I think it's a shame that Cornish for instance is such an endangered language.
But while one is part of the UK, they should do as the UK prescribes for all it's country members. Colonies of the UK also have certain obligations to the country and crown, rightfully so.
Exactly. Im all for equality, however I think in the past couple of decades especially, rather than tackling and educating people to overcome prejudice; we are in fact a society that punishes supposed prejudices against one group, but fails to do the same when the tables are turned.
They claim that is equality. However in my book and in the dictionary, it is the complete opposite of equality.
We should all live by the same rules to gain true equality and celebrate our culture instead of letting it be diminished by lower members of society. Let's remember how great we once were, because then, hopefully we can become great again and call ourselves Great Britain instead of just Britain.
Also it was a call centre type environment and their were Polish, Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi etc, etc and so many languages were being spoken it was ridiculous. Things were being missed and problems occuring and for example managers would be made aware of a problem in their department and would know nothing about it then find out that the whole thing had been discussed in front of them in Urdu but they had never known about it because they didn't understand. It makes business sense to have one common language for the workplace.
Totally agree with it, you should have
...it's perfectly legal to change T&Cs of a persons contract though, so not wise to recommend telling them to get fooked.
Get your union involved.