Language Barrier?????
ray a
5,703 Posts
I just got off the phone with an UI judge from Syracuse. He was conducting a hearing for a former employee who had been disqualified from UI for lying about his reason for separation.
The former ee had requested vacation and additional leave of absense last November. He would not tell his supervisor why he needed the time off. The super granted his vacation time, but said he needed to see me for the LOA. He never did contact me. When his vacation was up and he did not return, I called him. His wife answered and would not give me any information, but said she would let him know I needed to talk to him. He called me 3 days later. When asked why he needed a LOA, he hesitated and said personal family reasons. I told him he had to request in writing a LOA using the correct form. I offered to send it to him and asked for an address. He hesitated and I offered to send it to a family member in Boston where he was staying. He said he didn't know anybody up there. So, I asked him why he said he was there on family business if he didn't have family there. He just stuttered and would not answer. I faxed and mailed a hard copy to the hotel he was staying in and told him he had until Friday of the next week to return it. It finally arrived the following Monday. By then, we terminated his employment for failure to appear or call. Automatic resignation.
When he applied for UI he told them he was laid off due to lack of work. After they talked to me, he was denied UI.
When the judge had us both on the phone, the former ee acted dumb - didn't understand the language. He has been in the country for at least 10 years or more, we used him to help translate to other Laotians, he had excellent command of English. He did not understand when the judge said he would be under oath and have to answer some questions. He played the "I don't understand" card. he now must get a translator and reapply. If he does, he will argue that he never understood me, either. This should be interesting.
I hung up and shouted "Argh!!!!" Or something like that.
The former ee had requested vacation and additional leave of absense last November. He would not tell his supervisor why he needed the time off. The super granted his vacation time, but said he needed to see me for the LOA. He never did contact me. When his vacation was up and he did not return, I called him. His wife answered and would not give me any information, but said she would let him know I needed to talk to him. He called me 3 days later. When asked why he needed a LOA, he hesitated and said personal family reasons. I told him he had to request in writing a LOA using the correct form. I offered to send it to him and asked for an address. He hesitated and I offered to send it to a family member in Boston where he was staying. He said he didn't know anybody up there. So, I asked him why he said he was there on family business if he didn't have family there. He just stuttered and would not answer. I faxed and mailed a hard copy to the hotel he was staying in and told him he had until Friday of the next week to return it. It finally arrived the following Monday. By then, we terminated his employment for failure to appear or call. Automatic resignation.
When he applied for UI he told them he was laid off due to lack of work. After they talked to me, he was denied UI.
When the judge had us both on the phone, the former ee acted dumb - didn't understand the language. He has been in the country for at least 10 years or more, we used him to help translate to other Laotians, he had excellent command of English. He did not understand when the judge said he would be under oath and have to answer some questions. He played the "I don't understand" card. he now must get a translator and reapply. If he does, he will argue that he never understood me, either. This should be interesting.
I hung up and shouted "Argh!!!!" Or something like that.
Comments
One of my pet peeves is just as Jimlegal said, we go to another country and are forced to learn their language - but, don't require the same for people who come here. I have all the respect in the world for immigrants who make an honest effort to communicate with me.
Several Southeast Asian families have moved into my neighborhood. And before I'm accused of being racist, many are excellent neighbors - but I get a little angry with the teens that like to cut through my backyard running through my gardens. I enjoy just watching how they live. The kids sound and act like any other normal red-blooded Americans. They can toggle between languages with ease. The parents speak mostly their primary language and use English only with those who do not speak their native language. It is almost like reliving history. I imagine that when the Polish and the Chinese/Japanese, and the Irish immigrated at the end of the 19th and in the early 20th centuries, it was much the same. When these neighbor kids grow up and have kids of their own, much of their parent's native language will be forgotten.
Many years ago in the early 80's when many Asian boat people were arriving, our company executives got the brilliant idea that we should hire the Asians because of their work ethic and they work cheap - we could pay them less than the "Mericun's". Only problem... well several problems... it was hard to communicate, we hired interpreters and then 2nd level interpreters so some instructions went through 2 interpretations - English to Vietnamese to Laotian. The Asians soon found out they were paid less for the same work - that made them feel sooooo good already being in a strange land. The Asians had the same work ethic as us red-blooded Americans - they learned the shortcuts and the tricks like everyone else so their performance was equal (but less pay). They would pool their money and rent a cheap apartment - multiple families in one apartment. Then buy expensive muscle cars - Firebirds, mostly. Then the government subsidized their college education, classes paid for and a living stipend on top of that. Guess how the natives felt about that one? Big fiasco.
When I told a couple of supervisors of the story I orginally posted, they laughed incredulously. They knew this guy had excellent command of English.
Wow, guess I got carried away. Sorry about that.
But, immigrants claiming ignorance is frustrating. And often these people who have immigrated were some of the more educated people, the cream of the crop, in their home country. So, their ability to learn is probably higher than many others.
Whatever, we build voting machines at my place of employment and we are campaigning to get the contract for NY state - 30,000 new machines. All the new electronic voting machines are programmed for English or Spanish. So, at the touch of a button you can vote either way.
I agree, that many American people do not make the effort to speak the language when visiting a foreign country. My step-son is in the Air Force and he is just one example of that while stationed in Germany. I have worked with large corporations throughout the world and found that there is a joke out there in the world, especially in Europe. 'If you speak three languages you're tri-lingual, if you speak two then you're bilingual, if you only speak one then you're American.'
As far as Americans not learning other languages goes, I think we are in a slightly different position then those in Europe. If you live in England then it is very likely that you will visit France in your lifetime, and probably you will make many trips there. You will also probably meet many French people visiting your own country. It makes it easier to learn and remember your language training. Also, you might well be in the way to learn other languages and have a lot of exposure to them.
Speaking for myself, I have only met one french person in my entire life. If I go 1,000 miles on my vacation, I am still probably going to be in the US. Percentage-wise, I really don't believe that as many Americans are going to visit foreign countries as those in Europe do. Thus we have less reason to be fluent in other languages. Which is probably why it is not a requirement in many schools (I never went to one that required it anyway.) Still, I think it is only polite to at least try to learn a few basic phrases before visiting somewhere. And if you can't find someone who speaks English where you are going, you have only yourself to blame.
BTW, I think it is interesting that pilots all over the world are required to be able to speak English. I saw a program on it once, and a French pilot flying for a French airline landing in a city in France was still required to do all his communicating with ground control in English. I have always wondered how that came about.
Good luck!
Not to be pedantic, but it is spelled keister. I mention that only because there was a guy working for me nearly 20 years ago whose last name was Keister. He pronounced it with a long "i" as in kite. Some of his family pronounced it "Keester". He is now a State Trooper. "Why Officer Keester, of course I wasn't speeding." x:=|
Arizona is a border state. The Mexican population is huge. How many are legal is another thing entirely. However, there are positions that only they seem willing to work. So we have Spanish-speaking supervisors, and offer ESL classes.
Frankly, they've not been very well attended. Would love to make them a requirement of employement.
As far as some of the other thoughts on this topic, being a Native American (American Indian, Indigenous, whatever) I always laugh at people when they complain around me that people should learn the language when they come to a country. I then ask them if they speak ______(insert local Native language)___? But that's just to be a pain. I personally think that everyone should be required to take a test for English to get a work authorization or be denied the ability to work in the US.
BTW, this guy's first name is Deth, pronounced "death". I called the judge's office today, and the clerk told me they are all laughing about his name. At least they have a little humor.