# English on the Job? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 11, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369 "2003-12-11T15:45:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369/21 "2003-12-12T19:16:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by furt \* > \*\*Lawyerly opinion requested: > > Employee A comes to me and says that employee B is making sexual suggestions, etc. in their mutual native language. Employee B denies this, however B continues to complain. I have no way of knowing what is said, making this a pure he said/she said situation. > > What are my obligations to avoid liability for Hostile Work Environment? \*\* Exactly. The employer is held legally liable for all kinds of communication that takes place at work, so the employer must remain free to decide under what terms communication will take place. Otherwise, you are telling a boss that every time he hires someone new who is not fluent in English, he had best take yet another language class. Guess how many non-English speakers will get jobs then… ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369/22 "2003-12-12T19:25:53Z")
**Kalhoun** : Eke. Forbidding non-English language being spoken in the workplace really hurts the morale of workers - if they are not fluent in English, their communication is enormously hampered. It’s also quite convenient for employers who don’t want their non-English-speaking employees to organize. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369/23 "2003-12-12T19:41:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scotandrsn \* > \*\*The employer is held legally liable for all kinds of communication that takes place at work … \*\* Well if this is the case, it seems it should be open and shut. You can’t very well hold someone liable for something you prohibit them from controlling. Not that some won’t try. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369/24 "2003-12-12T20:08:22Z")
Many of the teaching assistants in my department cannot speak English very well. Most come from China, and sometimes I’ll catch them in the hallway speaking to one another in Chinese. I imagine they relish those few moments when they don’t have to struggle to communicate. However, one of the professors–the one most TAs answer to–actively discourages non-English communication, believing foreign TAs need all the practice they can get. I can definitely see his point. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369/25 "2003-12-12T20:51:32Z")
I’m amazed that folks don’t take ESL on their own. I wouldn’t be happy in a land where I couldn’t communicate. And there’s really no excuse for not learning it. Community education programs offer it all the time. That said, I don’t think it’s fair that they expect the employees to completely lose their native language either. My old roommate’s kid spent weekends with his Spanish-speaking dad and the rest of the time in our English-speaking household. He was fluent in both languages by the age of 5. ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369/26 "2003-12-12T21:10:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spingears \* > \*\* By and large the immigrants of today are looking for the pot of gold and have no real interest in citizenship if they can get by without it. They want all the benefits with none of the responsibilities. \*\* Yes, and there’s no quicker way to that pot of gold than working at Gloor Lumber and Supply in Brownsville, Texas. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369/27 "2003-12-12T21:24:18Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by_ **Kalhoun** > I’m amazed that folks don’t take ESL on their own. I wouldn’t be happy in a land where I couldn’t communicate. And there’s really no excuse for not learning it. Community education programs offer it all the time. > > That said, I don’t think it’s fair that they expect the employees to completely lose their native language either. My old roommate’s kid spent weekends with his Spanish-speaking dad and the rest of the time in our English-speaking household. He was fluent in both languages by the age of 5. **Kalhoun** - 5 year olds pick languages up like we pick their clothes up off the floor… Some people retain that ability as adults (yours truly included). Some don’t. As an outsider looking in, it seems to me that the stupid part here is the employer being help responsible for all communication going on at their workplace. I mean - even if it is all in English, the employer just can’t be listening to every single discussion taking place, anyway. Take away that strawman, and there is no longer any good reason to forbid employees to use whatever language it takes to get the job done. As a member of a multi-lingual society, I can tell you that any pair of people here will end up speaking whatever they are mutually most comfortable with. I don’t see why anyone should see any need to control this. And forbidding employees to speak anything other than English on their **breaks**? :eek: Dani ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369/28 "2003-12-12T21:29:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gamaliel \* > \*\*Yes, and there’s no quicker way to that pot of gold than working at Gloor Lumber and Supply in Brownsville, Texas. :rolleyes: \*\* Chuckles, I’m not anti-immigrant by any means, but don’t ever forget that $5 an hour is a fortune to most of the people on this planet. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369/29 "2003-12-12T22:26:24Z")
My apologies for continueing this tangent… \*\*bayonet1976 \*\* and **Hyperelastic** , even if someone cannot use their child to attain citizenship for oneself, there may be some benefits. Do children who are citizens become elegible for various government programs (healthcare, college loans, etc.)? I live in a border community and many mothers will come to give birth in hospitals in the US. Even if these benefits are minor, maybe they are just looking out for their children’s best interests. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369/30 "2003-12-13T03:19:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kalhoun \* > \*\*I’m amazed that folks don’t take ESL on their own. I wouldn’t be happy in a land where I couldn’t communicate. And there’s really no excuse for not learning it. Community education programs offer it all the time. \*\* The availability of ESL programmes is often overestimated by people who haven’t actually tried to sign up for them. The free ones often have long waiting lists and the not-free ones are often priced out of reach of many immigrants. Also, immigrants frequently work long hours that may not be suitable for those programmes which are available. On top of that, it can take quite a while to learn a new language comfortably enough to discard your old one. I’m sure there are some immigrants who simply don’t feel the need to learn their new country’s language, but nobody has ever shown it to be anything but a small minority. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-on-the-job/218369.md?page=1)