Spanish in the Workplace

[The Mean Lady 604]

I just wanted to get some input from those that immigrated from Canada.

Hubby has been having a REALLY hard time adjusting to the spanish speaking culture here.

Obviously it's frustrating when someone doesn't speak english at all.

I know that frustration myself.

But he can't understand anything someone with a mexican-american accent says when they ARE speaking english.

Hubby does warehouse work too, so it's especially frustrating because those are the typical positions they fill.

Just wondering if anyone else (or your SO from Canada) has been having this issue as well.

I don't know how to fix the issue short of moving to northern WI or MI or MN... or back to CAN

[Udella&Wiz 325]

To help us understand - where exactly does he find himself frustrated?

- can't understand someone with a pronounced accent? It just takes time to adjust in my experience

- is he finding it difficult to find work and is frustrated that other immigrants are filling those jobs?

- is it really that he's just missing home and it's familiarity and is finding something to pick at? That could be the crux of it.

There are very few places in Canada that don;t have immigrant populations - where was your hubs from? In fact many of us trace back to immigrants of some kind, it just feels different when it's not your own. My family were German immigrants before WWII to Ontario. Back then it obviously was not cool to be German, but now has several generations well established in our city.

I find immigrants different here than in Canada - I believe that the Canadian government does a better job of helping immigrants find their place in Canadian society and 'assimilate' for lack of a better word. We live around DC and here it seems that immigrants carve their own little pockets out and tend to live within them for the first generation to the point that some never learn to speak english and never embrace their new country very well.

Just my 2 cents...others may agree or disagree

[mngoalie 10]

My husband worked in warehouses in Canada and he had the same thing, just with Pakistani people. Everywhere you go, the warehouse industry has quite afew minorities working in it. Eventually you pick up on the accent and maybe even get some to teach you afew basic phrases.

Give it some time and it'll come. Another option would be to maybe pick up a copy of Rosetta Stone or something like that to learn some basic phrases. Sometimes showing that you're trying to learn their language will help them slow down when they speak some, or try to learn your language a bit more

[The Mean Lady 604]

Has nothing to do with immigrants as a whole.

My husband is an immigrant.

The problem is that he literally can't understand people with a mexican accent speaking english.

He literally just CANT understand it.

They might as well just be speaking spanish to him.

Hubby prefers work that is typically done by immigrants so he can't communicate with anyone in his workplace.

He couldn't go to the bathroom his first 3 days of work because he couldn't communicate with anyone to find it.

Short of forcing him to continue to work there until he figures out how to understand them, I don't see a fix to the problem.

I was just curious mostly if anyone else felt this way when they moved down here.

And if they did, were they ever able to overcome the issue?

Because I've been living here nearly 30 years, so that's a lot of time to figure out how to interpret mexican-american speech.

I don't know how fast I could expect the same from him lol

My husband worked in warehouses in Canada and he had the same thing, just with Pakistani people. Everywhere you go, the warehouse industry has quite afew minorities working in it. Eventually you pick up on the accent and maybe even get some to teach you afew basic phrases.

Give it some time and it'll come. Another option would be to maybe pick up a copy of Rosetta Stone or something like that to learn some basic phrases. Sometimes showing that you're trying to learn their language will help them slow down when they speak some, or try to learn your language a bit more

Lots of pakistani where he's from, so he has no issues with that accent.

Or nigerian accents.

Or asian accents.

Or french accents.

Dammit canada, you need some mexicans!

[Udella&Wiz 325]

This is going to sound harsh and I'm sorry......He needs to look at it from a different angle and stop being stubborn. The Spanish accent is not that hard...if he can understand Asian and African accents, spanish will be a breeze. If he feels a different job would be better than that may be a better solution. I understand you want to help him fix it of course

It is what it is and he needs to find a way to work with the situation and not against it. If this is his area of work and that is who works those jobs he will need to find a way. I love the Rosetta stone idea or getting someone to help him learn some phrases.

He could really be an asset to the company as someone who speaks fluent english and can communicate with the folks who don't speak English well.

[Ontarkie 14,467]

I didn't have a problem with the mexican accent if they spoke clearly, but I only been around ones who worked in restaurants, not sure if that made a differences. I think he will pick it up more if he keeps trying to talk with them, it's still pretty foreign to his ears, he just got here. If he is used to french he may be able to pick up some of what they are saying if he tries to used the french background, that has helped me a lot. I still can't understand a lot of ppl here, southern drawl and some other ####### thrown in.

[Flames9_RN 358]

At the last hospital I worked it was Filipinos,lol They enjoyed speaking in their own language. If one stays in his line of work and where you reside, well I guess it is a good chance that's the norm and he is going to have to adjust...or try a new line of work!

I live in Nicaragua and I find Spanish difficult, so I feel his pain, many speak Spanish very fast!! One can always ask them to slow down!

[ricnally 259]

This is a joke, right? He didn't go to the bathroom for 3 days? lol.

[Flames9_RN 358]

This is a joke, right? He didn't go to the bathroom for 3 days? lol.

Ya that's a bit weird! I speak very little Spanish, but yet can make my way around Nicaragua! I guess next time learn Donde esta la bano? lol or just Donde Bano will do the job!! To get along with fellow workers, one has to be flexible, especially if you are in the minority

[Ontarkie 14,467]

This is a joke, right? He didn't go to the bathroom for 3 days? lol.

I'm pretty sure she meant while he was at work.

[ricnally 259]

I'm pretty sure she meant while he was at work.

umm, yeah, I got that. Still ridiculous.

[The Mean Lady 604]

He works in a very large factory.

Not that ridiculous when you get about 10 minutes of a break and have no idea where to go.

[Lemonslice 4,968]

Well, I do have trouble with the Boston (and other) accent at times; I just ask them to slow down a bit or ask them to repeat as I didn't get it - same as I would do with anyone I didn't understand properly. Nothing wrong with asking politely to repeat what was said. Maybe your husband could just ask them to repeat slowly? Or to write it down if it gets really complicated? Not to go to the bathroom during three days is a bit much... couldn't he ask someone before/after work?

Just curious, what does he think he can do to help solve the situation?

[The Mean Lady 604]

Quit. Because he probably will.

Because he was just injured for a second time.

Again, just asking if others had the same issues.

[NikLR 13,232]

To be honest if I was a quiet person who was introverted I would likely have trouble as well, but I'm not thankfully.

I really do just ask people to repeat slowly and most often they do because they want to be understood as much as I want to understand.