Example: several of my former coworkers are from Mexico, Peru and Argentina, meaning they share Spanish as a common language.

I used to practice Spanish with them, but my last charge (like a ward’s manager) would yell at us to stop it, use English only. She would get very angry really fast if she heard anything in a language she didn’t understand.

I find it stupid, because some of them would use Spanish to better explain to the new nurses how to do certain procedures, but maybe I’m missing something?

  • wewbull@feddit.ukEnglish
    1·
    10 hours ago

    The sad truth is that, regardless of your intention, it does exclude them. Even if they’ve put some effort in and learnt some basics, they’re unlikely to jump in to group of natives talking.

    I don’t think there’s a good solution. I’ve been on all sides at work.

    • Having fast conversations in English and realising too late that somebody is completely excluded.
    • I’ve been excluded because people are speaking a language I don’t know (e.g. Danish – what the hell is that!!!)
    • …and I’ve caught people talking behind my back about me because they didn’t know I could understand a bit of Dutch. To be fair I didn’t know either but my subconscious worked out enough from German.