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I see many jobs, general office, clerical, etc. I'm qualified for but they list Spanish speaking preferred or required. Sorry, but I highly resent this requirement. I don't see jobs listing any other language preference except Spanish. I feel this is a form of discrimination since we're not officially a dual language country, we're not even "officially" an English speaking country. I've always been a very open minded person, but this has always been my only bone of contention. Americans should learn other languages, but they should start to be taught a language at a much earlier age in school then we do now, that's how other countries do it. European countries start teaching their students English starting in the very early grades, when our minds are more adaptable and are like sponges, and English is the #1 2nd language taught. You live here, learn English. If I go to a different country, I would learn their language and it would probably be expected.
if speaking spanish is a useful skill for communicating with your customers, etc, it is going to be a requirement or preferred skill for the job. sorry, that's capitalism for you. the invisible hand of the market doesn't care what you think about what languages people speak (and as you pointed out, english is not our official language either), it cares about how to get money from all those spanish-speaking people.
Yes, it is a form of discrimination but it is a legal form of discrimination. If I was marketing a product or service and I had a lot of Spanish speaking customers, I would like the person answering my phones to have some familiarity with the language.
Speaking a language is a skill -- like knowing how to use MS Word or Excel.
If you're disqualified as a candidate for not knowing how to use Excel, you can be disqualified for not knowing Spanish.
You can get Rosetta Stone at the library ... hurry!
yeah, if it's discrimination to disqualify people who don't know spanish, it's the same kind of discrimination as disqualifying people who don't have a degree, or x years' experience with access, or any qualification. a language is something you can learn. being monolingual is not an unchangeable part of who you are like protected classes are.
when i decided to move back to the northeast from pittsburgh and mostly apply to nonprofits, i found that many human services type nonprofits have speaking spanish as a requirement for most or all positions. so i started learning spanish. whoop de doo.
Yes, it is a form of discrimination, legal disrimination as another poster stated.
Are there abuses of it? Of course, just as there are abuses of a lot of things; look at the managers who fear anyone with an accent cannot speak English well for example. But if the employer thinks he need a certain job skill, he is allowed to seek out that job skill.
If the jobs requires Spanish, and you don't speak Spanish, you aren't qualified for the job. It's no different than a job requiring math skills, typing skills, or anything other knowledge/learned skill. You can whine and complain about it while others get those jobs, or you can learn a new language (skill) and get the job yourself. Your choice. I live in a town with a considerable Spanish speaking population, and also a significant Mandarin speaking population. I completely expect businesses serving those groups would have employees who speak those languages.
There is language discrimination, usually brought up under national origin discrimination.
Religion is changeable, it is protected.
good point about religion, but you can't change your religion for a job and still maintain your original religion. you don't lose anything by learning a new language for a job.
I see many jobs, general office, clerical, etc. I'm qualified for but they list Spanish speaking preferred or required. Sorry, but I highly resent this requirement.
Then I guess you won't be working for them.
An employer has the right to determine what qualifications they want from employees. In many parts of the country, being multilingual -- especially with the ability to speak both Spanish and English -- is a huge competitive advantage for a business to have. If you can't deliver what they're looking for, then either make yourself more attractive to them by learning the language, or find somewhere else to work.
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