SINGAPORE: A man who often went for lunch with his colleagues found that he felt rather left out when they always spoke in their own language.
In an anonymous post to popular confessions page NUSWhispers, the man wrote: “I go lunch with my colleagues. Initially, all of them were speaking English. However, after a while, they start talking in their own language. The worst part was that I was the odd one out. Well, to be fair, I learned the language when I was really young so I can catch the drift. I am a junior so I dont dare to say anything. They do know that I can understand bits here and there but they still continue. Sometimes, I totally get lost and lose interest to the point, I just scroll my phone”. He added that he knew all four of Singapore’s main languages in bits and pieces, but English was the only language he had mastered.
He said that while he sometimes spoke to some colleagues in a common mother tongue, if there were others around who did not understand it, he would ensure that they all switched to English immediately. “I have experienced or seen other people experiencing similar things since young with every single group except English. It is kind of annoying. When I am part of the majority, I would ask everyone to speak in English. I feel powerless to do the same when I am a minority in the group”, the man wrote.
In order to resolve this issue, he decided to take classes to learn the language he was weak in. “However, inside me, I dont feel comfortable trying to learn now. On one hand, yes, it is a skill and will let me converse with my friends better or better understand them or they might feel at ease conversing their mother tongue. However, on the other hand, I feel like that it is just an excuse for them to continue this. I dont see them trying to learn about my culture or language the way I do. If I dont learn, I cannot understand what they are talking and it can affect my work as there are discussions which affects. If they dont learn any of the other languages, no loss to them. I dont know if I am doing the right thing”. He added that while not everyone was bad, there were a select few who were inconsiderate. /TISG