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by meganc on December 22nd, 2006

meganc

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If you immigrate to the united states and want to get a job,shouldnt it be a requirement to speak english?and why should i as a boss have to learn spanish to understand a fellow employee who has no intention of learning english in the us

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Answers. 21 helpful answers below.

  • by Schatzi on January 18th, 2007

    Schatzi

    Actually, speaking and/or understanding English is not a requirement for US citizenship. Also, American society has a habit of re-structuring itself in order to placate the rest of the "civilized" world. In some countries, English is actually a mandatory class (although some of us weren't the best students...lol) I have noticed that many Americans will support any new type of societal referendum in hopes of not being classified as bigoted, racist, or an "oppressor of the downtrodden".

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  • by glamorgirli on December 22nd, 2006

    glamorgirli

    I think in order to become a US citizen you at least need to speak english decently and comprehend it.

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  • by Oppnato-tal on October 24th, 2007

    Oppnato-tal

    God that pisses me off. Why the hell should you learn spanish? If that employee wants the job bad enough, they'll learn ENGLISH. By the way, who told you that you need to learn spanish? Do they have a legal green card?

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  • by Anonymous on October 10th, 2007

    Anonymous

    I think that you may want to hire someone speaking Spanish due to business reasons, for example because you noticed that a significant percentage of your customers are hispanic and they feel confortable being care by a Spanish-speaking customer service agent.

    And if you have several customers willing to be served in Spanish, you better learn a little of it. But the driving force should be customers, not employees. You shouldn´t have to hire an employee not willing to learn English in a regular anglo environment... unless the payment difference worth giving the guy a chance, and provided that the person is willing to learn English asap.

    But bottom line, you as a boss don't have to learn Spanish to communicate with an employee, but it should be seriously considered if a protion of your customers do.

    IMHO.
    A hispanic guy :-)

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  • by Nitroduck on September 29th, 2007

    Nitroduck

    I think that an officially "Bilingual" country (Like Canada) is a bad Idea... It is yet another cause of division. (look at Quebec, they've been wanting to secede from Canada for a long time.) French is required everywhere in Canada, and on all signs... English, however does not seem to be required in Quebec.

    In Europe there seems to be a push to teach English, which is an entirely different situation. This bilingual push is a tool for participation in the global economy.

    To answer your question more to the point... I am not going to hire someone that does not speak my language, and I am not going to learn to speak another language to accomodate.

    If I were to move to Burundi (for example) tomorrow, I would not expect them to accomodate me, if I was not willing to help myself.

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  • by calypso on October 24th, 2007

    calypso

    I don't think the first part of your question is fair. If I were to agree with that it would mean that my parents would have never come to this country because they were too old when they came to the US to begin learning a new language. Their priority was to put food on the table for their children, not to learn to speak the english language.
    However, I do agree with the fact that employers shouldn't have to learn to speak spanish or any other language to accomodate their employees. But at the same time if you have an employee that you can't communicate properly with then why did you hire them to begin with?

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  • by Little_Piggy on October 24th, 2007

    Little_Piggy

    although I agree that your employee should learn to speak english, you also have duties under health and safety law to ensure that your employee is given the necessary health and safety instructions and that they understand them. One way of doing so is if you learned very basic spanish then you could communicate the information easier, or alternatively, you may want to consider using pictoral images to get the message through to the employee.

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  • by popeye on September 29th, 2007

    popeye

    Gee, when I went through school I don't remember being taught subjects in any other language but ENGLISH. Am I alone on this, or is my memory slipping?

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  • by Carmella on October 24th, 2007

    Carmella

    No. I don't think so. The USA does not have an official language as far as I know, and there is a large population of Spanish speakers here too. Maybe it should be a requirement to speak Spanish? Yes, the majority speak English, but so what? It isn't an official language and the chances are those who don't learn English are probably just disadvantaging themselves in the long run.

    Personally, I would welcome learning Spanish. I wouldn't be too happy if the Spanish speaker didn't learn some English too, but at the end of the day, it wouldn't kill me. I might even enjoy it!

    Or... maybe Americans should all go back in time and learn the languages of the Native Americans? After all, everyone else ended up here because of immigration many years ago.

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  • by Arisztid on October 24th, 2007

    Arisztid

    I concur with you. I do not understand this new movement, other than liberalism.

    My parents learned English before they moved to Canada (then my father and myself to America after my mother passed).

    I believe that being bilingual is fantastic and having bilingual employees would be a boon to you but you, as a boss, should not need to speak any language but English.

    I lived in an area where, unless you were bilingual, you could not get most of the jobs available.

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  • by ThedoctorKing on July 26th, 2008

    ThedoctorKing

    If you want to be a citizen you need to learn English. Here's the web page <http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=12e596981298d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD> explaining the language requirement. You don't have to know English to get a visa. As an employer, you presumably have the right to decide if English proficiency is a job requirement. If you don't speak the employee's language and he doesn't speak yours it sounds like it might be difficult to get any work done.

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  • by Azraff on October 24th, 2007

    Azraff

    Doesn't make sense. There must be some reason
    they hired this person. If you can tell me why
    then I can be more objective. If the persons'
    Spanish language skills are not needed for his
    work and your boss isn't hispanic, I would go to
    the boss and tell them (in a non-accustory way) that
    in order for this person to understand their job,
    you will need a translator and you don't want to look
    bad when tasks are not performed properly. Perhaps,
    he bluffed his way thru the interview. If you don't
    want to learn a few words of Spanish, I think that is
    entirely your perogative.

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  • by Little_Piggy on October 24th, 2007

    Little_Piggy

    although I agree that your employee should learn to speak english, you also have duties under health and safety law to ensure that your employee is given the necessary health and safety instructions and that they understand them. One way of doing so is if you learned very basic spanish then you could communicate the information easier, or alternatively, you may want to consider using pictoral images to get the message through to the employee.

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  • by Lady Alathia of Vulcan on October 10th, 2007

    Lady Alathia of Vulcan

    The citizenship test is in English.

    It includes a verbal test. If one cannot comprehend English, they cannot become a naturalized citizen.

    Personally, I don't see why anyone would hire a green card holder that showed no intention of learning English.

    And if you're hiring immigrants that DON'T hold valid working visas, that's a whole different problem...

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  • by Anonomous on September 30th, 2007

    Anonomous

    .

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  • by Chaysgirl24 on October 24th, 2007

    Chaysgirl24

    I think that anyone who comes into the US should have to know English and speak English before they come here

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  • by xhepera on October 24th, 2007

    xhepera

    Has this actually happened to you or is this a hypothetical troll? If learning Spanish to accommodate a subordinate employee has become a requirement for you to keep your job, I think you're looking at an illegal act and should probably take the matter up with legal counsel.

    On the other hand, I'm reminded of a maintenance employee at my workplace, who went around telling everyone that his boss told him that he was just going to "have to learn their language" when he complained that he couldn't understand the custodial staff (most of whom are from Ghana). Of course the boss never told him any such thing. And frankly, their accurate though accented English proficiency is superior to his standard Redneckese.

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  • by Costantinus on December 10th, 2007

    Costantinus

    It does work both ways.99% of Americans that work in Italian army bases don't speak a word of Italian after many many years of living here.
    In fact they have their own english-only schools/shops etc etc where their wifes and children go to, they are like small microcosms of the USA and these people just live confined within them, sometimes for 20 years.

    Having said all this, I can't really blame them. I wouldn't want to learn a relatively difficult language that's spoken only by a fairly small minority of humans.
    Learning English would be better spent time for someone who can't speak it and it is a very easy language to learn, I feel I can say this as I speak a few languages myself, English being my second language.
    Perhaps it should be a requirement that simple English be spoken since it would take about 2 weeks when learning via the Callan method.

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  • by Michie on December 10th, 2007

    Michie

    I am of the opinion that regardless of what language you speak now, if you intend to move to another country and make a life for yourself there, you should either already speak the language passably (not necessarily fluently) or do your damnedest to learn it as soon after getting there as possible. I personally would not THINK of starting a life in, say, Italy, without either knowing basic conversational Italian or taking classes once I got there. Not to mention that being bilingual can open doors for you, depending on your occupation.

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  • by tomsims on October 24th, 2007

    tomsims

    Who should require this? I don't think the government should pass one more restriction on who employers can hire. Beyond that, it is a business decision for someone who runs a company whether he or she needs to learn Spanish in order to communicate with his or her employees. He or she certainly has the right to recruit bilingual supervisors if it meets the company's business objectives.

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  • by Arctico-The-Wolf Supports Leonard Peltier on November 29th, 2011

    Arctico-The-Wolf Supports Leonard Peltier

    Try being the person the boss ALWAYS calls into the office to translate for the immigrants because they can't speak English, just cuz you *happen* to know Spanish because you lived in Puerto Rico for part of your childhood...

    It should be required! I mean, I speak Spanish with most of my family and friends, and French with one of my good friends and my Aunt, but at work I speak ENGLISH and I speak about work topics in ENGLISH!

    And if people try and label me racist Republican...my Fiancee is an Afro-Caribbean Spanish-speaker, my daughter will be Mullato when she is born and I'm a Democrat (though a moderate one), so don't even try!

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