I am curious how many facilities have an "English Only" rule, and how/whether it is enforced.
I work at a SNF in which the vast majority of the employees are from the Philippines. Although we have an "English Only" rule, it seems that they have no interest in abiding by it, although all are fluent in English. Since I am one of only two white employees, I guess there isn't much I can do about it. It does bother me, though, when we are on our lunch break, and all of them are speaking their own language and I am the only one who does not understand the conversation!
I am curious if others have the same situation where they work, and if so, how they deal with it. Thanks.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
imo, speaking english should be the rule. i think we have too much "political correctness" in this country, when we "americans" have to bend over backwards to find interpreters for other "americans" who have lived here 10 or more years and never bothered to learn the english language.
i live in an area where we have a large italian and polish immigrants populations, i speak neither. if someone is visiting or new to the states, i have no problems jumping through hoops to find an interpreter, as i would like the same courtesy if i'm ever traveling abroad - however - many, many of these people have lived here for 20 or more years, and never learned english or barely speak english. i find that insulting, that an immigrant can move to this country, raise a family, reap the benefits of this land, and yet expect us to deviate from our norm to accommodate them.
i feel like we americans are being discriminated against sometimes.
if you want to speak your native language at home or at social events, feel free, in an american workplace with english being our language, out of respect for american society, that is the language that should be spoken.
i agree with you! my mother-in-law (who came to the us 56 years ago) bragged incessently that she never had to speak english. she married a german who also spoke spanish, she had a spanish doctor, grocer, butcher, dry cleaner and 13 spanish siblings. while she seemed to speak and comprehend english quite well when it suited her, she could be pretty darned manipulative about claiming not to understand english when she didn't like what she was hearing.
i too have had patients who have been in the us on vacation when an mi landed them in our ccu. i sympathize with them and will do my best to get them interpreters, get instructions translated, etc. but when someone has been living here for more than a few years and claims not to understand concepts such as "don't urinate on the floor", "you cannot eat or drink until after your surgery" or "keep your right leg straight" it burns me. in some of the places i've worked, interpreters come out of the unit's budget. personally, i think they should be added to the patient's bill when they're citizens and claim not to speak any english. i understand the need for an interpreter to translate such concepts as "there's an aneurysm in your aorta and you need emergency surgery", "mamma's brain isn't functioning anymore and even though you see her breathing, it's just the machine doing it for her" or "the risks of surgery are . . . ". but anyone who's lived here ought to be able to understand things like "no, your son and his 7 children cannot have sodas. those are for patients" and "do you need to use the toilet?"
i believe in respecting other cultures, but we're living in the us or uk, and perhaps all those immigrants who wanted to live in our country should begin respecting ours. this is an english-speaking country. we speak english here. so unless everyone in the tiny little break room understands your language, please conduct your conversation in english. if you need to have a private conversation, take it someplace private.
I live in an area that is 90+% Hispanic. In every aspect of my life, outside of home, I encounter people who cannot or will not speak English. This includes my peers in nursing school, my patients in clinicals, and even my teachers (while they speak mostly in English, they quite often interject phrases in Spanish that, although I'm sure the rest of the class understands...I have no idea what they mean. I finally just started to ask them to repeat it in English, please.)
Waiters in restaurants, bank tellers, drive through attendants, cops, salespeople of every stripe...they always start all conversations in Spanish, even though my wife and I are as lily-white as you can get. And when we ask them to speak English? You'd think we'd spit on them, from their body language and the look on their faces.
Specializes in NICU, Mother-baby, home health care.
Does that mean to say if you were one of five nurses on break and the other four were chatting amongst themselves in a language you didn't understand, you wouldn't feel a little uncomfortable? Put another way, if you were one of a group of nurses and you were one of the four that spoke a second language and one nurse didn't would you strike up a conversation with the other other nurses knowing that one of them would be totally excluded from the conversation?
No, I would not feel uncomfortable if they were speaking their own language around me in the break room. Second of all, I do speak a second language (spanish) however I "personally" would not engage in speaking spanish around someone who doesn't speak the language, this is my own personal belief. I have respect for those around me who do not speak spanish.
Specializes in NICU, Mother-baby, home health care.
Ha! As a mostly-English-speaking, college-class-spanish-speaking girl living in Miami, I believe that we must have a Spanish-Only rule down here. hehehehe
Doctors, patients, nurses, techs, food delivery guys, etc., allllllll speak spanish, and if there is someone around---a "foreigner" like me---who happens not to understand, well, then, "Lo siento, mami, you shouldn't have moved to miami!" :-D
i don't mind, most times, because i've really improved my spanish from that formal conversation stuff they teach you in college. The only time i mind is when people treat me like i'm stupid because i don't understand, instead of just uneducated.....
but i know that when i lived in wisconsin and ohio, there were probably so many times that people who didn't speak english were made to feel stupid rather than uneducated in that particular arena (not by me, mind you, but in general), that i guess it's just my gringo karma coming around :-D
pura vida! :-)
I love to "pretend" sometimes that I don't know a lick of spanish, just to see what some people may say around me. And then when I bust out with some spanish comment in regards to what they said, they get that look on their face like "Crap, she knows spanish". LOL I've done this when I've had some bad customer service and I call them on it, and when they get all bent out of shape and talk to the other person in spanish about me and my complaint, I bounce back with something in spanish.
I get ignored in these conversations as well. One of my charge nurses reminded the staff nurses in the break room to speak English because it was rude to exclude me. However, it has continued. It's not that I think they are talking about me at all. They are all very nice. It's just rude and thoughtless of them to leave me out of the conversations. I don't want to make a big fuss over it because I'm a student and will be new on the unit when I do start working there. Maybe when I feel a bit more comfortable with them will I say something. I've also been thinking about learning Tagolog.
If they are doing this, they're really not being as nice as you say, are they?
It's fine to learn other languages but very rude to speak foreign languages in front of others who do not understand them.
I have been on both sides of this. When I'm the one who doesn't know the language, it feels rude and uncomfortable. When I' m the one speaking another language, I am frustrated when others who do not speak that language think I'm being rude or that I'm excluding them. :argue:
One of my in-laws is currently in a lawsuit over this. She applied at a walmart for part-time to help make ends meet in the current trying economy. This walmart was in Orlando and almost every single employee is of Hispanic origin. Her application was denied,"Because it will be hard for you to communicate with your co-workers." So basically they told her they only hired persons with the capability to speak Spanish. This is the USA and we speak English so people need to conform to our language not expect us to learn theirs. What are we supposed to do?? Learn 10 languages in school?? I say the rule should be enforced and violators should get the companies policy for insubordination if they don't comply and if after all avenues of the policy have been enforced then send them packing. Maybe then they will understand something more than "ninguÌn hable inglés"!! Can you say,"Necesito el dinero que no tengo ninguÌn trabajo"??!!!
My only moan about colleagues talking in their own language is that, if I'm trying to concentrate and chart, it completely blanks out my thought processes! I usually tell them to go and talk where I can't hear them!
I would find it difficult to concentrate when anyone is speaking any language. Call me a mono-tasker, but when I'm trying to work, I don't like to listen to music, to radio banter, or to others' private conversations. If anything, I'd find it harder to concentrate when someone's speaking English because the meaning would drift into my consciousness. At least with Tagalog (for example), I'd just hear it as background babble.
Several posters have addressed the issue of whether or not it is ok to speak a foreign language while on break. Our policy is that English is to be spoken while on the facility's property. We have assigned break times for dinner, and a small break room with one long table where everyone sits to eat. I believe that if I am sitting with 6 other employees-- and all of them are speaking Filipino-- it really doesn't help to build cohesiveness and positive work relationships.
Last night I spoke with one other non-Filipino nurse and a non-Filipino CNA, and they both agreed that it makes them feel uncomfortable and excluded from the conversation. All of the Filipino aides are fluent in English, and I see no reason why they cannot speak in English while they are at work, per facility policy. It creates a hostile work environment, in my opinion. If 90% of the employees are Filipino, wouldn't it make more sense for them to make sure that the non-Filipinos don't feel unwelcome?
I'm not new to working in a multi-racial setting. At my last job, my co-workers were predominently African-American---> and I never felt the same sense of being excluded as I do at this job...
Specializes in Emergency, Case Management, Informatics.
If 90% of the employees are Filipino, wouldn't it make more sense for them to make sure that the non-Filipinos don't feel unwelcome?
If you're going to put that scenario out there, consider this one:
You are working at a facility in the Philippines. For whatever reason, 90% of the workforce are Americans whose primary language is English, but you all speak Tagalog at a conversational level (not 100% fluent, but you can understand and convey most things). 10% of the population are Filipinos with little or no understanding of English (remember, this is just a hypothetical).
Are you going to go out of your way to speak Tagalog at all times, including your personal breaks in the break room, even though English is your native tongue and 90% of your coworkers understand you with no problem?
If you're going to put that scenario out there, consider this one:
You are working at a facility in the Philippines. For whatever reason, 90% of the workforce are Americans whose primary language is English, but you all speak Tagalog at a conversational level (not 100% fluent, but you can understand and convey most things). 10% of the population are Filipinos with little or no understanding of English (remember, this is just a hypothetical).
Are you going to go out of your way to speak Tagalog at all times, including your personal breaks in the break room, even though English is your native tongue and 90% of your coworkers understand you with no problem?
Say what you want, but I highly doubt you would.
I would say as the "visitor/worker" to the country, I'd speak what everyone was speaking. Obviously, I would have to speak "Tagalog" well enough to be hired and function appropriately as a nurse in the Phillipines....ergo, speaking Tagalog. Now if my colleagues wanted to practice English, no problem there either.
I just don't understand why this is a difficult concept to comprehend. No one is saying everyone has to assimilate to our, or any other culture....however, if you are hired for a position in whatever country-you'd better be able to speak the language comfortably, and adopt whatever rules and practices for work that are acceptable THERE!
Here it is frowned upon to be exclusionary in our workplaces.....let's face it no one wants to be left out. Personally, I don't believe anyone should be hired that cannot function fluently in the language of the country they will be working. This includes ancillary staff.....I should not need an interpreter to ask housekeeping to perform tasks, have a cna take vitals, or whatever else. It is too time consuming to find someone who may speak Creole, Spanish(as I may not have the words) or whatever else. The one thing I can say about all Phillipinos I have encountered is that regardless of their position in our hospitals...their command of English is excellent.
While I believe we all need to be welcoming of others, and appreciate individuality.....we need a commonality and camraderie....not just with people like us, but all of our coworkers.
This is the USA and we speak English so people need to conform to our language not expect us to learn theirs. What are we supposed to do?? Learn 10 languages in school?? I say the rule should be enforced and violators should get the companies policy for insubordination if they don't comply and if after all avenues of the policy have been enforced then send them packing. Maybe then they will understand something more than "ninguÌn hable inglés"!! Can you say,"Necesito el dinero que no tengo ninguÌn trabajo"??!!!
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Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
i agree with you! my mother-in-law (who came to the us 56 years ago) bragged incessently that she never had to speak english. she married a german who also spoke spanish, she had a spanish doctor, grocer, butcher, dry cleaner and 13 spanish siblings. while she seemed to speak and comprehend english quite well when it suited her, she could be pretty darned manipulative about claiming not to understand english when she didn't like what she was hearing.
i too have had patients who have been in the us on vacation when an mi landed them in our ccu. i sympathize with them and will do my best to get them interpreters, get instructions translated, etc. but when someone has been living here for more than a few years and claims not to understand concepts such as "don't urinate on the floor", "you cannot eat or drink until after your surgery" or "keep your right leg straight" it burns me. in some of the places i've worked, interpreters come out of the unit's budget. personally, i think they should be added to the patient's bill when they're citizens and claim not to speak any english. i understand the need for an interpreter to translate such concepts as "there's an aneurysm in your aorta and you need emergency surgery", "mamma's brain isn't functioning anymore and even though you see her breathing, it's just the machine doing it for her" or "the risks of surgery are . . . ". but anyone who's lived here ought to be able to understand things like "no, your son and his 7 children cannot have sodas. those are for patients" and "do you need to use the toilet?"
i believe in respecting other cultures, but we're living in the us or uk, and perhaps all those immigrants who wanted to live in our country should begin respecting ours. this is an english-speaking country. we speak english here. so unless everyone in the tiny little break room understands your language, please conduct your conversation in english. if you need to have a private conversation, take it someplace private.