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Burns me up!!!I see some good jobs---then I get shot down because the position states Bilingual a must! not "preferred"...
This is AMERICA! Why should I HAVE to speak Spanish in MY country?!!
Discriminatory in my opinion!
I had to laugh...I saw a position yesterday that said you must be TRI-lingual!(mandarin chinese was one of them!) ay ay ay!
Anyone else think is crazy??? when this is AMERICA!??
DO I press 1 for French and 2 for English in France?? Hell no!! We make it easy for Spanish (who don't speak ANY English )
I remember someone coming into the place I worked (in Human Resources)and they filled the app out, didn't speak an iota of English and asked them who FILLED this out for you??? He said his mother!!!!!!!!!!!!ugh!
Why not apply for them and make part of your salary a tutor to teach you the second language? In today's world speaking multiple languages is a huge asset.
I completely agree with you njsocks! I don't understand how people can live here and NOT speak ANY English! It gets me very frustrated trying to talk to them and I have no sympathy for them. If you are living in America, you need to learn to speak ENGLISH!! If I wanted to live in Spain, I'd learn Spanish first! I wouldn't just mosey on over there and talk to everybody in English and get mad when they don't understand me!
Dont quote me or anything but I think this problem came about when the number of illegals increased. But I think when comapnies realized how much $$$$$$ they were missing out on by not having bilingual employees they quickly jumped on it. Its the same now with Mandarin. At one of my previous jobs there was alot of illegals that worked there thru temp agencies for alot less than non hispanic workers. Most of course didnt speak english so I always need a translator to find out about my work. But thats just my opinion.
I agree it is frustrating! I wonder the same thing if in other countries do they say must speak English as much as we see must speak spanish here in the USA. If you come here to better yourself and have a better life for la familia then why not better yourself by learning the language. But like stated above businesses see that it is big money now and they have to satisfy their customers. Illegal immigrants want cable too.
As former posters said, businesses - American owned businesses, want to tap into the ethnic market. Some of the ethnic customers don't know English. Others know English, but are more comfortable using their native language in commerce. My grandmother for instance learned English. But if she was doing her banking, applying for a loan, buying health insurance, etc. she would not feel comfortable doing that transaction in English and would have my dad with her to translate. I think this is the case for many foreigners. I'd say 25% of the residents in the building that I live in are foreign born, primarily from Europe. They all speak conversational English and hold down jobs. They all own condos in this building. But at the same time, they seek out doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc. who speak their first language. Many Americans say that if they moved to another country, that they would have a self expectation to learn the language of that country. But as an adult, it's difficult to learn a new language. Possible, yes. But difficult. And if you travel to places in Europe, for instance, you'll find that many Europeans know English. It seems to be the language to know in order to do business with the US since we tend to not speak any other languages. I find people jobs for a living and will say that I have no difficulty filling professional level bilingual positions. I've filled jobs that have required Mandarin Chinese, French, Polish, Spanish and Portugese for large companies such as Motorola. The jobs are based here but the companies are global. Anyone in grammar school now should seriously consider learning a foreign language, ideally Chinese or Spanish. A friend of mine, born here, learned 2 foreign languages and got an awesome job out of college with the US Government. There is an upside to being bilingual and we should be more open minded to it. There are still many, many jobs that don't require it, but in time, that will slowly change, as it is now.
I have been on a crusade about this for a while. I think the word "bilingual" is intended to eliminate anyone that did not grow up in a two language home. I know people who are "fluent" in more than one language and I ask them if they would respond to an ad that says "bilingual" and they say no. I think it's ethnic discrimination and eventually there will be a lawsuit. In the meantime, though, there is at least one attorney general opinion or city attorney opinion (from California) on the web that disagrees with me.
I have been on a crusade about this for a while. I think the word "bilingual" is intended to eliminate anyone that did not grow up in a two language home. I know people who are "fluent" in more than one language and I ask them if they would respond to an ad that says "bilingual" and they say no. I think it's ethnic discrimination and eventually there will be a lawsuit. In the meantime, though, there is at least one attorney general opinion or city attorney opinion (from California) on the web that disagrees with me.
I completely disagree with you. I think it's intended to recruit applicants that speak 2 or more languages, regardless of where they were born. Obviously those born in a dual language household have an advantage, but some US born people learn languages in high school and college or via private lessons. At one time, getting a high school diploma was the key to employment. Then in the 70's and 80's, it was all about getting a college degree. Now the slant is on language skills. People have to adjust to remain competitive in the workplace.
Like it or not, society is global any more. I used to work with someone from Slovakia and she was fluent in five languages. This is the norm in every modern society except America.
My company is just getting into the Chinese market, and I really wish I knew the language. While other people have the chance to travel and see the world, I have no chance to jump on these trips out there to help out. I agree that people should know English to live in America, but us Americans should know more than just English simply to keep up.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,700 posts, read 41,737,988 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by njsocks
Burns me up!!!I see some good jobs---then I get shot down because the position states Bilingual a must! not "preferred"...
This is AMERICA! Why should I HAVE to speak Spanish in MY country?!!
Discriminatory in my opinion!
I had to laugh...I saw a position yesterday that said you must be TRI-lingual!(mandarin chinese was one of them!) ay ay ay!
Anyone else think is crazy??? when this is AMERICA!??
DO I press 1 for French and 2 for English in France?? Hell no!! We make it easy for Spanish (who don't speak ANY English )
I remember someone coming into the place I worked (in Human Resources)and they filled the app out, didn't speak an iota of English and asked them who FILLED this out for you??? He said his mother!!!!!!!!!!!!ugh!
I'm with TOTALLY with you. Suprisingly, i was able to get a bank teller job without speaking any spanish. I can think of one branch in my city where i would be nearly useless b/c i dont speak spanish (and wont.) I think that it is unfair for people to be excluded from jobs b/c they cant speak spanish.
Another thing, why cant businesses be honest and instead of saying "bi-lingual" just say must speak spanish? I mean i took french in HS so technically i'm "bi-lingual."
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