Someone who talks to you in another language

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

Do you ever get customers when working in retail who talks to you in another language and you don't know what to do? Can't speak English I'm not going to help you but if you know some I will assist you..

[bigjimaz]

I got fired because of this when I lived in Tucson. I posted about it in a long dead thread.

Customer asks for something in Spanish. I told him I didn't speak Spanish. Customer asks why I don't speak Spanish. I tell customer that I'm in America, not Mexico. Owner hears me say this. I get Friday night off! No big loss. I got another job on Monday.

[Shironu-Akaineko]

Me I get butchered french from the english people here.
I speak french and english fluently and the french don't force a mangled english on me, but the english people oh my god. They mean well at first but gets pissed if you dare ask them to repeat, or if it would be easier for them to speak in english.
Well excuse me for trying to give you adapted service.
Next time I'll blabber in the same moronese.

[CSR Kim]

I had to deal with this a lot at the jewelry store. It annoyed me, but at the same time...our Spanish speaking customers tended to spend a ridiculous amount of money. You'd be amazed what can be accomplished by simply pointing and nodding.

There was this one guy who always seemed to stop by when I was working though. He spoke Spanish, but he did speak English as well. He creeped me out, because he would constantly ask if I spoke Spanish, and when I said no, he would say stuff in Spanish to me anyway. All the while he would look straight at my face, and if his "wife" was with him, sometimes she would laugh when he said whatever it was he was saying. A coworker of mine spoke a bit of Spanish, and she encountered this guy a couple times too. One time she swears that he looked straight at her and said "I love you" in Spanish. He was also bizarre, because he would always start random conversations with me. Such as...

Him: "I know...I think I saw you in Wal-Mart the other night. Do you go to Wal-Mart?"
Me: "Uh, sometimes."
Him: "Yeah, you waved and said hi."
Me: "Oh I don't think that was me..."
Him: "You sure? It looked like you."
Me: "Sorry...I think I'd remember something like that."

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Interestingly, I had a deaf mute couple that apparently were only barely literate come in. They were able to make themselves understood better than many of the customers who could hear, could write, and could supposedly speak English as their first language.

And I had a regular who was suffering some sort of severe disablity...I am not sure what. He shook violently, had trouble controlling his muscles, and slurred very, very badly. Again, not so much trouble to understand as some of the "English speakers."

[Boozy]

Me I get butchered french from the english people here.

Whenever I travel to a French-speaking part of Canada, I'm always too self-conscious to use my French, even though I'm fluent. I know I have a fairly strong English accent, and I'm so worried that native French speakers will make fun of me.
Its too bad, because I'd love to practice more. At least some people are trying.

[AirHostess]

Oh yes. A lot of my passengers don't speak English. Lots of sign language gets used or other passengers help me out! A lot of crew speak other languages, I can get by in French, Spanish and Arabic though which helps.

[shelly2jn]

The UK has recently opened up to a lot of countries in the eastern bloc, Poland etc. I don't mind someone who attempts to speak english (even if they get it horribly wrong) but the ones who give me a whole load of their native tongue and expect me to understand really make me mad. I'm in Ireland.....I don't speak polish, never will speak polish and no amount of yelling at me in polish will make me understand! However, as said before, polite nods, pointing and smiling works wonders!

[BookstoreEscapee]

I've had my share of people with limited English and/or heavy accents that were difficult to understand, but never someone who expected me to speak their language. Sometimes people would write down what they were looking for rather than try to get me to understand their accent. I had a deaf woman once and I had to write down her total for her on a piece of paper. At least I was just ringing her up and not trying to help her find something.

[Casino Jockey]

The UK has recently opened up to a lot of countries in the eastern bloc, Poland etc. I don't mind someone who attempts to speak english (even if they get it horribly wrong) but the ones who give me a whole load of their native tongue and expect me to understand really make me mad. I'm in Ireland.....I don't speak polish, never will speak polish and no amount of yelling at me in polish will make me understand! However, as said before, polite nods, pointing and smiling works wonders!

Shelly - i'm a russian speaker by background. when i am excited, or tired russian comes out and i have to concerntrate hard for english. recently i travelled from australia to america and when i went through US customs i didn't even notice i was speaking russian til he got an interpreter over.

[petslave]

My Dad and I have started doing photography for speedskating meets, and you would be amazed at how many Korean kids live in this small town. Many times the kids are acting as translators between their parents and us.

We also have alot of French families at the meets, but by mid day they all knew that I understand their language. My French has gotten rather rusty though, so they would mainly speak to me in French and I would answer in English. Made for an interesting site for anyone who didn't speak both .

[Shironu-Akaineko]

Whenever I travel to a French-speaking part of Canada, I'm always too self-conscious to use my French, even though I'm fluent. I know I have a fairly strong English accent, and I'm so worried that native French speakers will make fun of me.
Its too bad, because I'd love to practice more. At least some people are trying.

Oh, believe me I don't mind the ones that try real hard. spanish speakers are probably roflcoptering in their head at my very limited Spanish.

It's the ones that mangle the tongue of molière and gets pissed at you for not understanding their perfect french.

Mangled French sounds different than English-speaking trying to talk french.

Mangled French ends up in a lot of swearing and namecalling, none of it from me.

The other category talks slowly so they pronounce as best they can and I understand right away.

It's not the tongue that seperates these two, it's the personality.

[Ciarrai]

We get a lot of Chinese speakers in my store. I cannot understand a word of Chinese. In fact, I have an Irish accent to add to my English, which I speak fluently along with French.
Anyway, I cannot count the number of times someone has come up to me and spoken Mandarin or Cantonese to me, expecting me to understand. When I don't, they repeat themselves louder. Speaking louder does not help me understand you at all!

[DesignFox]

I don't mind when a person does not speak English as their FIRST language- and mangles it- but I DO take offense to the people who don't even try- and make me translate through their kids- or WORSE ask me if I speak THEIR language, and get OFFENDED when I do not. To those idiots- I probably would have said something along the lines of what BigJimaz did.

To the people who try, or just ask if I can speak their language, and politely accept that I do not- Smiling and gesturing seem to work out well enough for the both of us.

[Rubystars]

On the Fratching site I posted a story about how a couple got really aggressive with me when I wouldn't speak their language which I didn't know. Besides them the most frustrating situation like that I've had to deal with is when the customer doesn't speak English or Spanish. We don't have any employees that speak Vietnamese or Arabic or any Indian dialects.

When I first started working there, a man came in who could apparently only speak Vietnamese. He kept making a box with his fingers in the air and saying "TV?" "TV!" "TV!" We may be a Wal-Mart, but ours is only a grocery store, not a supercenter, so we don't have tvs. He didn't understand when we tried to tell him that, and kept making the gesture and saying TV. After a while he gave up and left. I felt sorry for him.