OT - An excellent article on immigrants (legal and non) learning English

[Thomas Rogers]

I am thinking about learning Japanese. Was on a conf call last night with a Japanese customer. I would like to be able to understand SOME of what they are saying when the translator isn't speaking.



TJR

 

[Fer Echegaray]

Americans aren't as forgiving, because they seem to get irritated when someone doesn't speak fluently in English.

That does not seem to be the case around here, at least for what I can see in the Silicon Valley, people is used to it with all the diversity hiring.

I truely loathe forigen tech support it's more of a pain in the ass than a help.

I get to talk with customers not only from the US, but Canada, Europe, Latin America and Australia. Then again, I got a job that more than a couple Americans could not get because I speak not only English, but 3 other languages, and nope, I don't work at the retail or food industry... What I mean is thay have not complained about my accent while speaking their language...

I am thinking about learning Japanese

Man those Japanese are jealous of their language, but I bet he understood almost everything you said, but insisted in a translator to get a good understanding.



Truth is, for what I've seen, most foreign people that has certain level of education is, or has been, exposed to the use of English, I know because it was <b>mandatory</b> to learn english for me to be able to graduate from engineering school in Mexico.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

What Fer said.!



There seems to be much more of a "blue collar" bias against foreigners that don't speak or have difficulty speaking English than there is from "white collar".



Case in point, Geno's here in Philadelphia is telling its customers via a small sign in their restaurant:

This Is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING ‘SPEAK ENGLISH’

You can't get much more blue collar than Philly Cheesesteaks. I support their right to put up the sign.



As Fer said, it's very common for professionals to have to deal with this, because, frankly, there is an influx of very smart, foreign nationals in almost all the professional sectors. That influx fills a void. Seems not only can white men not jump, but they also have difficulty reading, writing and going on to higher education. (don't shoot the messenger).



TJR