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It's an opportunity to learn another language. Listen for some words that sound distinctive, and ask what they mean. The Vietnamese speakers will probably laugh the first time you try to pronounce those words, but don't be offended. Just keep doing it, learning more and more words. Never ask, "what does that mean?" Instead, repeat the words when asking what they mean. Your attempt at repetition will amuse them and make them want to help you learn.
When learning a new language, repeating the words is critically important. Never try to learn to understand a language without trying to learn to speak it. Speaking it makes you learn it many times faster.
That's what I did...Worked at a major AMP maker (Car bumper is hint) many Vietnamese, Russian and smattering of others.
Was stunned to find out many Vietnamese had been "In country" for 5+ years and couldn't even ask for water in English....I did learn to say "I love you woman" and other sayings...Left after a disagreement with manager..temp work, oh well
I once worked in a place where the coworkers spoke a foreign language around me 24/7. The clients were mostly English speaking and so was upper management. It created a wall between the coworkers and myself. There was definitely no team spirit. It was THEM and ME. And no, I wasn't interested in learning their language. I already speak a foreign language myself. I left after 9 months. I didn't like that type of atmosphere. And of course, these same coworkers all spoke decent English. Never again will I work in a place like this. I keep an eye out for this type of thing when in job interviews. I like to see the area and the people where I'd be working 40 hours or more. ENGLISH. IN THE WORKPLACE. Non negotiable.
It's very difficult. You can't go to HR because everyone knows they're not your friend. There is this "foreign clique" there. You're not a part of it. And you're NOT GOING to be a part of it. Either resign yourself to that or find another place that definitely won't have this issue. If the clique chooses to talk about you behind your back, you'll never hear it or know about it. They'll help each other get ahead, not you.
Here is an interesting situation. I recently started a new job, and all of my immediate co-workers are from Vietnam.
Naturally, they speak Vietnamese within each other, but I do hear the occasional work-related word mixed in and being a new employee in an IT-related field, I'd like to jump in on these projects to help out and be a part of the team.
When they all joke around and casually talk with each other in their native language, I end up feeling left out.
Is there a way I could politely address this (specifically the work-related portion) with the team without offending them?
Opportunity for you. Why not learn some Vietnamese and then use it with them. Get them to teach you the language.
Learn Vietnamese. Ask them to help you improve in your new language and speak Vietnamese with you. It is likely they will be pleased at your interest in learning their language and spend more time talking to you. Since you will be in the novice learner stage, you can legitimately ask for clarification in English when they say things you don't understand so you can improve your comprehension. This will serve to get you involved in their conversations, have the pertinent material explained in English, and help you learn Vietnamese.
Nice suggestion.
And if next year he moves to another company where majority of employees are from China, he will have to learn Chinese, right?
And the OP is not an expat working in Vietnam or China, he is person living in his home country...
Well my company has only English policy and I totally support it. My native language is not English though
But we are living in the USA, so wtf we should learn Vietnamese?
PS: OP, are you living in Texas? This is the most Vietnamese state in the US. And your 'howdy' greeting also suggested to me that you are probably from here.
Nice suggestion.
And if next year he moves to another company where majority of employees are from China, he will have to learn Chinese, right?
And the OP is not an expat working in Vietnam or China, he is person living in his home country...
Well my company has only English policy and I totally support it. My native language is not English though
But we are living in the USA, so wtf we should learn Vietnamese?
PS: OP, are you living in Texas? This is the most Vietnamese state in the US. And your 'howdy' greeting also suggested to me that you are probably from here.
EXACTLY. He's not in Vietnam. My native language is not English as well and I have ALWAYS worked in places with the English only policy, except that one time. I absolutely despised it.I left
I work in a German dominated workplace. Our IT guy has a hard time because most people are ignorant and speak German to each other even if he is in the room. It is just rude but there is nothing you can do.
Easier said than done... While Vietnam uses the latin alphabet -unlike most countries in that part of the world- Vietnamese is a tonal language; a word will have completely different meanings depending on how it's pronounced. For example, the simple 2-letter word "TA" can mean: we, ghost, a dozen, left, diaper, a tenth of a ton. The inflections are very subtle to tell apart, for a non-native.
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