What is the etiquitte around this?

[Anonymous]

If you are interested in joining a conversation, do whateer you would do if they were speaking english- sit at the table and smile, i'm sure they would switch if they knew you were trying to be friendly. You can't dictate the terms of others' social interactions. Perhaps you should try to learn a little spanish, so you can chime in.

[Anonymous]

Who cares?
Everything is not for you or about you.
If they are not discussing business(i.e, in a meeting, or interrupting a conversation already taking place)
THEN WHO CARES?
I think it's cool people are multi-lingual!
And guess what..if people are going to talk about you they can do that in English too -- does it make it LESS RUDE?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they sharing information that you are required to know for business purposes? If not, MYOB. If they are, ask that they speak English. Done.

Wrong. They are on the business's premises, and the language of the business is the shared language, in this case, English.

OP, I used to work in a large international organization. We had people from dozens of countries in and out of the office all the time. No one would ever dream of speaking their native language in the office, even if they were speaking to another person from the same country. It would be considered the height of bad manners. If it HAD to be done, it was done with apologies all around, and very briefly. I once saw a Tanzanian gentleman gently correct an intern who tried to practice her Swahili with him, saying he would love to talk with her, but it would be inappropriate to speak Swahili in the company of so many colleagues whose foreign language skills (and we all have them) didn't include it.

I worked at a large international organization too, and people would speak native languages at the office but switch to English if a non-native speaker came in the room. There never seemed to be any conflict around this. Conversely, I worked very hard to learn Spanish when I was there and people bent over backwards to help me. I am still grateful to my former colleagues for their kindness.

[Anonymous]

This is the OP. Yes, the Spanish speakers are doing this during meetings. It happened again today and I was not the only one who noticed and left the room. It is getting to the point, as a few posters noted, of clique-like behavior and it is a drag.

[Anonymous]

I work at an international organization so this happens to me often and we do have a larger group of Spanish speakers in my office. In fact, they will often start in English, move to Spanish and finish the conversation in Spanish. I once asked my close friend at work if she didn't know it was rude to do this when all the other speakers in the room don't speak Spanish and she said she did but that basically it's sometimes easier for her as a Spanish speaker to more quickly think of the phrases and words she wants to express in Spanish than in English.

[Anonymous]

Seems similar to whispering in front of others, and I'm working on making sure my 5 YO doesn't do it. Yes, if they are excluding others from a conversation in a groups setting, like a business meeting, it is rude and inappropriate.

You could play Kindergarten teacher and ask if they want to share their conversation with the group.

[Anonymous]

just start speaking in pig latin with the other non-Spanish speakers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:just start speaking in pig latin with the other non-Spanish speakers.

That would be hilarious! I can imagine the Spanish speakers speaking in their native tongue and then all of a sudden you and your group start speaking in what might sound like gibberish to them. They might be insulted at first, thinking you guys are making fun of them. But then realize you seem to understand each other. It would bring home the point about excluding others. But I think they would still be pissed.

[Anonymous]

Really? Spanish is romance language rooted in Latin? English has alot of Latin. Add this to the non erval communication and you should understand. Si?

[Anonymous]

This is fucking america. Fucking speak english people.

[Anonymous]

Oops here. Isthay is uckingfay mericaAy eakspay glishEay