Language and Cultural Barriers

If you have a company in the United States, many people from other countries would like to collaborate with you and do business. Therefore, having one language will limit your chances of growing your business and contacts. Currently, many workers in small and medium size stores in the United States do not speak English, and that is doing more harm to the business than good. Moreover, knowing more languages will significantly assist you when traveling international(something is wrong) for business or vacation, and will open the doors for your to learn about other nations and

“No Habla English”. “21 million people living in the United States cannot speak English. Citizens are not just speaking Spanish, but Chinese and Russian are rising fast.” (U.S. Bureau of Census, 2009) To force a citizen to speak a new language is discrimination. Non-English speaking citizens and immigrants that are without good English skills will fall academically, in the judicial system and when receiving proper medical care.

In order to break language barriers and encourage career potential, the bordering state of Texas, Tamaulipas, is requiring the public school students to learn conversational English. The state has declared itself the first bilingual state and believes that new opportunities in Texas will become more available to the students of Tamaulipas if they learn English from elementary school through high school. Considering "more than 50% US-Mexico trade comes through Tamaulipas and Texas", I believe the state is making a wise decision by implementing the bilingual program. Furthermore, Governor Eugenio Hernandez suggests that Tamaulipas intends on turning the stretch of land by the Gulf Coast into a beach getaway. In order to serve tourists that may be brought into the area, Hernandez believes that learning English is an essential component to their success. Since Texas and Tamaulipas are neighbors, Tony Garza suggests that Texas should emphasize the importance of Texan students learning Spanish as well.

The language barrier in organizations can be a hurdle to get over. There are those that speak many languages and there are those that can only read and write in English. Those that are more comfortable speaking in their native language may do so with others that speak the same language due to the ease of understanding. There can be employee concerns for everyone in the organization. There are those that do not speak the language that may feel as if the employees are speaking about them or speaking about something that they do not want others to know. There are organizations like the case of EEOC v. Mesa Sys., Inc., D. Utah, No. 11-1201 where the organization goes too far. Employee concerns such as harassment, mistreatment, and being singled out for speaking their national origin, language for a reason to fire them.

It’s a fair assumption that in many cases this is a possibility. Consider closing the communication gap by breaking down the barriers of language by learning a new language. Go beyond learning just the basics; learn the etiquette that goes with the language. Impress your hosts by showing off your newfound skills when ordering at the restaurant or greeting them in their native tongue. It may prove helpful in situations beyond the boardroom. There are many in the International Corporate world who understand English, considering the efforts you make it will not go unappreciated. Create a lasting impression and go the extra mile when dealing with your International clients. You can never do too much for

Those who speak English have a higher chance of obtaining a job. Due to their background many employers will discriminate against them but by law they are not allowed to unless their accent gets in the way of business and profit. Having a foreigner on a oral communication position can interfere in many different ways, the customer may not understand what the person is speaking to them creating less business and therefore the employer may do whatever they please with the employee. Some businesses create an “English-only” rule, making every employee to only speak English while on the job. The employer cannot fire the employee who speaks another language while on the job if the employee is not informed of it (“Employment Rights Of”). Various jobs will allow immigrants to speak English just in case someone

After reading your post, I went ahead to find out the definition for Latina and Hispanic. It seems like they both have the same definition with the only difference of Hispanic being Spanish-speaking. I never thought about those terms before either, so thank you for sharing your experience.

There are about 43 million immigrants in the US today, many of which do not speak English. Many people in the Midwest and South, are hispanics, and in some cases this may cause language barriers(Bootie Cosgrove-Mather 2002). Many people legally and illegally have come from Mexico and Central America. Some of these people who don’t know English, are causing language barriers, but if we have a national language, this gets rid of the diversity we have in our communities. These immigrants in many cases will pass down their language to their children, but this isn’t a real problem, because many schools have speech counselors, or the child can go to a school with other kids that speak Spanish or any other languages. Immigrants can also face issues

Immigrants and refugees seeking services seem to lack knowledge and understanding of American culture. This may lead to legal issues and barriers that can ultimately impact their health and well-being. Language barriers are a huge problem among the immigrant and refugee community which leads to laws being broken without immigrants and refugees realizing that they are breaking the law. For example, in one’s native country, bribing law enforcement may be acceptable, while in the United States, it is an offense which will result in arrest. Immigrants and refugees need to be taught this in a way that they can understand.

At the age of 5, I returned to the U.S from China. Like many Chinese-American children, I was a kid sent by my parents to another country to live with my grandparents in the countryside of China. By the time I came back to the U.S, I already had a difficult time catching up with my peers due to my language barrier. Those days were the harshest. Not being able to communicate with other kids, I became extremely outcasted as an individual. Eventually, this lead to countless hours of doodling flowers and sunsets on my own. As Ive gotten older, I realized that art was my outlet. It became a way for me to express a language without having to understand the rules and reasons behind a language. Although I struggled with this language barrier for a

GE has numerous expatriate employees in overseas positions. Catalanello and Redding (1989) argued that GE’s success with their human capital is based on the training they provide to them (as cited in Jain and Agrawal, 2005, P. 83). The training provided to its expatriate employees helps to build competitive advantages at GE. Expatriates, when visiting a foreign country on business would need a basic understanding of that nation’s culture, as it relates to business. Being able to say please and thank you in the native language can go a long way to building productive relationships with foreign nationals. Although, as business has become more global, business people understand there are cultural differences and are generally tolerant of visitors that do not understand, or have a working knowledge of their

Many of the refugees have a tough time paying rent, their internet bill, utilities, and a car payment. Additionally, low income leads many people to live in cheaper and more dangerous neighborhoods, where a high crime rate already exists, and this puts them in danger. This causes them tremendous stress and, in some cases, depression. Often, refugee immigrants cannot find decent jobs, and they lack the skills to compete with the local labor forces. Instead, immigrants usually tend to start with low or semi-qualified jobs, but the language barrier is not the only problem in this regard. It is necessary to understand that such a lower position of immigrants is basically predetermined by their low educational level. This means that immigrants simply

The language barrier is one of the biggest problems people face when they move to another country. Many immigrants who come from other countries are met with many linguistic challenges that not only impede their control of daily life tasks but also their ability to survive. I believe that it is important for immigrants to speak a national language. If they are unable to speak a national language, they will be unable to function to the fullest and therefore become isolated and disempowered from the community.

Nobody’s born with the language they speak today. Everyone is born with a clean tongue that is transformed to make sounds and words that are native to their homeland and people they were raised by. Language can’t be described as a trait, like the color of your skin or the width of your shoulders. When society discriminates against individuals that speak differently, they are judging them based on how they were raised and how they were taught to speak, people don’t see them as just a person that didn’t have a choice of how they wanted to communicate, and conformed to fit into a puzzle of a whole area of people that sound the same way. I believe that people are molded by experience and adapt to the environment they were placed in. Life is

Many corporate are now conducting training on cross-cultural communication for their workforce. In the US, opinions of cultural experts are invited before taking a judicial decision. In short, every person or organization can make small steps to minimize this