Workforce Language Services

As workplaces become more linguistically diverse, this question often comes up.  Diversityinc.com’s answer highlights using respect and commensense when decided when and where workers should use their native language:

“When you’re having a personal conversation with a colleague in a hallway or over lunch or at their desk, and you’re speaking in Spanish–as long as you’re doing it in a tone and in a way that’s professional, I think that’s fine,” advises Mims. “[It will be less offensive] when it’s done in the right time, in the right place and in the right way.”

It just seems strange that monolingual English speakers always automatically assume that people speaking another language are talking about them.  In most instances, people just revert to the language that they feel most comfortable with and as long as it’s not disrupting business or alienating potential customers, what’s the harm?

The reality of today’s workplace is that there will be many people with different native languages, and being inclusive of people who speak another native language is an important part of moving toward a diverse, culturally competent workplace.