Construction

SamSpade

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
(sigh) I have a large crew working on my house today. I really hope this doesn't sound bigoted - but would it be too much to ask for at least one of these guys to speak English well enough to understand me? This morning when they started, they knocked my door, asked me if I would move my car, but upon answering "yes" to questions like, where do you want it? or where is a good place to move it to? I realized that he had no idea what I was saying. I quickly grasped he understood "move" and "car" but it was clearly pointless to query further.

Generally, this is why I get concerned about people coming here and NOT learning the language - I worked construction briefly in New England and I met MANY who could barely converse in English - and they had been here almost since BIRTH. (And no, these were not Hispanic, they were Italian, although a few were Portuguese or Brazilian). How can you move to a country and expect to flourish there - and never learn the language? I had a friend of mine who went to Indonesia - and learned the language of a group of people who had NO WRITTEN LANGUAGE. Why would anyone decide to move to, say, France, Spain or Germany - and never even bother?
 
GURPS

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
SamSpade said:
(sigh) I have a large crew working on my house today. I really hope this doesn't sound bigoted - but would it be too much to ask for at least one of these guys to speak English well enough to understand me?
Click to expand...


It's Not ....... but the left will claim it is
 
RareBreed

RareBreed

Throwing the deuces
Normally for a work crew/delivery crew, they have one person that can speak/understand English. At least all that I've dealt with. I agree with the moving to another country and not learning the language. Work with a lady that has lived here 20+ years and will only engage people who speak Spanish to her. If you speak English, she ignores you.
 
SamSpade

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
RareBreed said:
Normally for a work crew/delivery crew, they have one person that can speak/understand English. At least all that I've dealt with. I agree with the moving to another country and not learning the language. Work with a lady that has lived here 20+ years and will only engage people who speak Spanish to her. If you speak English, she ignores you.
Click to expand...
During my adoption travels - I went to three countries, sometimes more than once. In EVERY instance, I sought to learn as much of the language as possible (unlike many of my fellow travelers, who all too often just wanted to get home). Especially Russia - where we stayed for almost a month - I really wanted to learn enough to let people know what I wanted (although - in China - I was amazed at how often the Chinese citizens wanted to speak ENGLISH). My scariest experience was whenever I was in a small environment, say like a small shop or on the street where I would try to speak the native language and try NOT to look like an idiot (which happened OFTEN when you speak a language that has male and female versions of things like objects).

I cannot imagine moving or spending any time in a country where - at MINIMUM - you don't bother to learn language. I have a father-in-law who learned Spanish because while stationed in Spain, he chose to locate himself in a village where he had to learn Spanish just to order in a local restaurant. I used to work with a woman whose Chinese father insisted that ENGLISH be spoken at home - because he wanted his children to excel in their new country (and she did). Why would you MOVE to a new country - if you didn't want to be part of it? If I moved to say - Scotland or Costa Rica - two places I've considered retiring to - why NOT learn?
 
Gilligan

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
SamSpade said:
If I moved to say - Scotland or Costa Rica - two places I've considered retiring to - why NOT learn?
Click to expand...

Speaking as someone who routinely tries to to communicate with our Scottish vessel operators....that has got to be the hardest foreign language to learn that I've yet encountered. Except for one small but crucial detail: The word "eff you see kay" must be inserted at least once somewhere in every sentence uttered. SGI will back me up on this one.
 
Grumpy

Grumpy

Well-Known Member
Gilligan said:
Speaking as someone who routinely tries to to communicate with our Scottish vessel operators....that has got to be the hardest foreign language to learn that I've yet encountered. Except for one small but crucial detail: The word "eff you see kay" must be inserted at least once somewhere in every sentence uttered. SGI will back me up on this one.
Click to expand...
Thats because golf was invented there.
 
Kyle

Kyle

Beloved Misanthrope
PREMO Member
Gilligan said:
Speaking as someone who routinely tries to to communicate with our Scottish vessel operators....that has got to be the hardest foreign language to learn that I've yet encountered. Except for one small but crucial detail: The word "eff you see kay" must be inserted at least once somewhere in every sentence uttered. SGI will back me up on this one.
Click to expand...
Is that what "Fook" means?
 
stgislander

stgislander

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
CPUSA said:
The British language or the many different Arabic versions?
Click to expand...
Oh, just the standard Brit version. Throw in an occasional Scot and it was worse.

The only middle easterners I noticed were all the Turkish barber shops.
 
CRHS89

CRHS89

Well-Known Member
One reason as to why someone doesn't learn the language when they come here...they are not expected to. Anytime they deal with a government agency (including the public school system) or medical provider, it is the agency/provider's responsibility to provide an interpreter.
 
S

sewabils

New Member
I have the same issue. I always wanted to have my own house because I lived in an apartment all my life. When I was making the plan, I made sure that there is enough space for everything I want. When laborers started to build it, I realized that t is too big. I was thinking that maybe making it smaller would be better, but it was already too late. We even needed a scaffold tower for painting the walls outside the house. Luckily I found petesuen.com, which deals with renting scaffold towers, and I didn't need to buy one.
 
vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
When I had my patio poured at the house the crew was 100% non-English speaking Mexicans. They knocked that bad boy out in two days at a reasonable price, probably getting paid $100 each or some pittance. Did a great job.

If the crew had been Americans I doubt the work would have been as good, and I know the price would have been much higher.

Sam, the work crew should have a supervisor who can communicate with both you and the them. Hit him up and explain the problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top