I think what people mean is that they have to give 110% of their normal output, which is certainly possible, not 110% of their maximum output, which is obviously impossible. The Space Shuttle Main Engine can run at up to 109%, because its power level is given as a percentage of its “rated thrust”, a value that was decreed at an early stage in its development.
Back to the OP: When people who speak your language intentionally speak another language in front of you, it’s goddamned impolite and frequently exclusionary in motivation. But of course, if you say “Please speak English,” you’re a culture Nazi. All you can do is stop associating with people like that and leave them to wonder why you don’t come around anymore. Isn’t multiculturalism great?
My first year of college I was at a place called The Institute for German Studies (Institute für deutsche Studieren). It was a one year college submersion program that taught all of the classes in German, the atmosphere was German, the food was German, we slept in German. The only odd thing about it was that it was located 15 miles outside of Bemidji, MN. Those not familiar with Bemidji should know that this is a small town (about 30K) located in North-Central Minnesota and is one of the fabled homes of Paul Bunyan. It’s just a small everyday american-english speaking kind of town.
Except for the professors and teaching assistance, we were all America-born. All of the students between 18-22 years old. Some had spent time abroad and some had never been. All of our families spoke English as a first language as well.
Now, after a couple months of living and being “forced” to speak German, it became de rigueur. Phone calls home to family and friends, outings to the supermarket or a restaurant, and general everyday occurences became slightly problematic.
One person, working on the yearbook, was telling her mom about it. The mother finally stopped her and said “I have no idea what a ‘yaa boo’ is”. She was speaking English except she was unconsciously substituting “yearbook” for the German “Jahrbuch”. That was early on, as the year progressed, fewer and fewer “outsiders” could understand us and we had to make conscious decisions not to slip into German. This is from people who pretty much spent their whole lives in an English-speaking environment.
Our year was seperated into octomesters. We took one class a month, what would normally be a semester long class, but crammed into 20 days. At the end of the month we’d have a couple days off. I came home with my friend Honor and spent a weekend at my grandparent’s house. We’d talk in English with them and Honor or I would say a word in German and then unconsciously we’d slip into that language. My grandma knew some German and was happy to see us learning the language yet felt left out. It definitely wasn’t our intention to make my grandma feel left out, it was just a reflex to German that sent our brains that way.
My lengthy point being, a kitchen/restaurant staffed with prodominantly native Spanish-speaking workers is going to lapse into Spanish. If one of the workers is trying to express him/herself and is lacking a vocab word, they’ll probably say it in Spanish. This has a domino effect and will probably get everyone speaking in Spanish. Whether they realize it or not. My vernacular was a bit confused in high school and in college from all of the languages I was taking. And as such, sometimes my communication occassionally was stifled while I came up with the word for simple things like “house” or “shut up”.
With that being the case, how efficient is it to enforce English speaking only in a work environment dominated by people that have ESL? “I would like help from someone to chop this broccoli” could be a lot quicker in Spanish than trying to translate it first into english, say it to another person, have them translate it in their heads to Spanish and then resume. Seems like a lot of extra effort in a place that could use efficiency.
Seems to me your anecdote would support the opposite conclusion. You know what a haus is; you don’t have to translate it to English to understand its meaning, right? Maybe that’s not such a good example because it sounds almost the same. Lemme offer an example of my own, from one of my language studies. For me, comprehending the sentence “w dikaie Kronidh, despothV ei twn qewn” involves understanding each word as is: i.e. Kronidh is the despothV of all the qewn. Doesn’t need to be translated into “just son of Cronos, you are master of the gods” because that’s not what fluency is all about. So for the ESL employees, understanding the words “help”, “chop”, and “broccoli” without having to translate them is extremely benificial.
We have approximately 35 employees (I’m not counting, but that’s a very close guess), and 4 managers, including myself. Of those employees, only 1 is a native English speaker. He doesn’t understand any language other than English. The rest are all native Spanish speakers. Of the 4 managers, only one fluently understands Spanish, as noted in my OP. The other 3 of us are American born, and do not speak Spanish. If you talk slow for me, and use common Spanish words, I can pick up a sentence now and again. If you say “Voy al bano Pamela”,I know you’re going to the bathroom. Does that make me fluent?
When I did my math, I was referring to the number of employees only, not including the management. 34/35 Spanish natives takes you to 97%…not far from an exaggeration of my 99%. Including management, you get a percentage of 90%. Still the vast majority, I’d say. But yeah, shijinn was correct…I was saying “99%” to mean “almost all.” My apologies. I wasn’t trying to make anyone feel I was “entitled” to any special privilages…
You know what a haus is; you don’t have to translate it to English to understand its meaning, right? Maybe that’s not such a good example because it sounds almost the same. Lemme offer an example of my own, from one of my language studies. For me, comprehending the sentence “w dikaie Kronidh, despothV ei twn qewn” involves understanding each word as is: i.e. Kronidh is the despothV of all the qewn. Doesn’t need to be translated into “just son of Cronos, you are master of the gods” because that’s not what fluency is all about. So for the ESL employees, understanding the words “help”, “chop”, and “broccoli” without having to translate them is extremely benificial.