Working for a software company, I come across people from different parts of the country and I do interact with people from different parts of the world as well. One of the common issues that I observed at work is "language".
One of the most common complaints that I hear from my friends (from other states) is that locals tend to switch to their mother tongue, ignoring the presence of friends who cannot understand the native language !! And believe me, this was a complaint from one of my clients too (a couple of years ago).
To me, there is an issue and there isn't one really !! Okay, let me explain .. there is an issue to those who are curious to know what one is talkin' about (irrespective of relevance) and due to this curiosity, one might complain that something fishy is going on ... On the other hand, one is very comfortable as well as expressive in his/her own mother tongue than any other language so I don't see an issue in discussing something in the local language.
One has to act according to the situation and keep in mind the participants of the discussion. If someone gets upset using local language, then better discuss things in a language that everyone can understand.
On the flip side, I see people staying for years but still can't understand native language.I feel that if you are gonna stay for long, then better learn the local language as it helps alot.. 'coz not everyone (esp. small shop keepers, etc) is comfortable in national or international languages and you might have to interact with them quite often ;-)
Views in this post are subjective, so please excuse me if I hurt your feelings by accident :-(
Okay, now don't ask me "How many languages do you know?" (Besides Telugu (my mother tongue), Hindi and English, I know a bit of Tamil, one or two words in German and Chinese ;-) ) xie xie (thanks) for reading my post :-)
2 comments:
Voila!! that is a sort of post where I would like to argue with a person. We have something called "Official" language which means that this language is given a unique legal status in the countries, states and other territories. One cannot expect big meetings or negotiations to be successful if one starts speaking in their own respective languages. For that matter one can always see translators/interpreters when there is a dialogue going on between two big nations.
I do agree - if someone is staying at a place for longer he/she should learn the language of that state or country but as far as organizations is concerned I guess speaking in one language which is understood by one and all make an essence.
An excellent post – indeed.
The key point here is observe who is present in the discussion and ensure everyone understands the language being spoken.
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