Working with Foreigners

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by Snotty


No, no, no. If I was being tried in court in a language other than my native language they MUST provide translation. Even with 5 years education you would be discriminating against people who have not perfected the language. And court is a place you should understand every word that is said. Translation is much easier for the court to provide than it is for the defendant to organize it.

Again, I am sure you are sore because your system is being abused, but removing translation is not the way to fix it.

Yep, that´s the problem, that it´s getting misused.
It is very costly for the State to repeat a trial and the capacity of the courts is very much overstrained, which leads to other trials getting delayed, just because some trial has to be repeated.

As for foreigners not understanding everything even after 5 years:
Dunno. You have to know one thing. In german courts it is mandatory to have a lawyer. If people are too poor to afford a lawyer the State pays for one, so noone has to stand alone before the trial and defend himself, without having assistance by someone who has knowledge of the german laws (although he may voluntarily do so ).
(another difference to for example the amrican court system is, that there is no jury of Civilians, which has to decie if the person is guilty or not, but it is the judge himself and his associate judges, who decide about the case)
So, even if a foreigner after 5 years may not be able to master the german language perfectly, I think that, with the help of his Lawyer he may be able to avoid all pitfalls which someone without knowledge of the german language may step into.

[Snotty]

As long as the lawyer can speak and clearly understand the immigrants language then I dont see a problem with it, and it would probably be the better solution than bogus retrials.

What measures are the courts considering to stop this misuse of translators?

[Proteus_MST]

AFAIK it is difficult.
If the Immigrant claims that he didn´t understand something correctly for example because the translator mistranslated it,
it is the duty of the court, to prove, that the immigrant makes a false claim.
If the court isn´t able to do so, it is very probable that there is a retrial.

[Japher]

One of the big reasons why I don't understand these people and why they can't speak English well is because the DO NOT use English enough. If they would speak it in the workplace all the time they would learn to speak it better.

Note: It IS against the law to speak any language other than English when working on drug manufacturing within the US... Which is what I do.

So, I am in the position to call them out on it and look like an idiot, or to hold my tongue, let my work suffer, and feel like an idiot...

[Verres]

well, at least you have admitted to the whole idiot thing

[Timexwatch]

This summer, I was in a similar situation where the guys I worked most with at my second job were Poles trying to learn English. They spoke all Polish amongst themselves, but made a serious effort to speak English to me. If you encourage people to improve their English, they'll speak it more.

[Japher]

My point exactly. However, if the speak it more it would improve.

[Bereta_Eder]

×áëÜñùóå Japher, ìçà ôá ðáßñÃåéò ôüóï Üãñéá.

[Snotty]

thats all greek to me

[Japher]

Well aeiouoeiexaieneoeianoieoeueunaiaxaiaia to you too!

now, where's the emoticon with the middle finger?

[Bereta_Eder]

Seriously it is a bit impolite to speak to a language a third party can't understand, assuming you have the option not to.

[flipside]

I work in a multi-lingual workplace and can say this.

If you are patient, respect their accent, culture and beliefs and are capable of saying the basics of the language ( i.e are you o.k, I would like this, please, thank you) you really will get a better response and work rate than if you expect everything on your own terms.

[Bereta_Eder]

Besides, you could just tell them.

Dear Gentlemen, you're constantly breaking my balls (you can indicate the particular body region to make sure your point gets across) by not speaking English. I am human too, I have communication needs and what is more I have the sneaking suspicion that whenever you laugh out loud you're refering to a certain body part of mine which is even more infuriating.

In any case, tell them before "reporting them". What are you? A snitch?

[Curiosity]

:nods: I often have that problem socially, being around groups of people who all speak cantonese or mandarin.

If you're patient and exercise a modicum of charm then eventually people will start switching to english to include you. Once you're on friendly terms with everyone in a smallish group then, when they drop into their language, you can just go 'Oh yes, I so agree!' and, mostly, everyone laughs and starts talking english.

If you can't make them want to talk to you, though, there's not much you can do about it. It may not feel fair to you, but remember, you have the problem, not them.

In the meantime, I'm learning Mandarin. This is lots of fun if you don't tell people about it...

[Sloth]

Originally posted by Oerdin
A company can most certainly insist people use a certain language while at work.

My wife works for a US company here in Italy. The company "insists" that the employees speak English in all "official" occasion (meaning not during the coffee breaks), even when no English speaking person is present. No one complains and the attitude is "oh well, at least I can practice".
But I have a feeling, I don't know why, that should such a policy be implemented in an English speaking country the attitude could be different.