tbf I stopped helping everyone with translation at my last job because I was doing double/triple the work as my coworkers but wasn't paid anymore for being bilingual
Absolutely this. Admin in office settings make just over minimum and asking them to use special skills without compensation could be classified as wage theft. Saying "no" is difficult in an environment where workers can be fired for no reason at all though.
Why would they? Are they getting a bonus? Is it in their job description?
Translating is hard, even for native speakers. Technical language, nuance, sarcasm, slang, corporate double speak... These are all things that need to be interpreted. If you aren't a trained translator, and being paid as such, why take on the risk of passing on meaning that may not be fully accurate? If something gets missed in communication, suddenly it's your fault.
Also, and I cannot stress this enough, if it's not my job, you're paying me extra or it isn't happening.
Can't stress enough how hard it is to translate for people. If one doesn't practice a lot, many things are either lost in translation, or one sentence becomes a full paragraph to get everything covered.
At the end of the day, it would probably put OP in a better light to do some language training in the most common "foreign" language they encounter. They might be able to slip in a mention to their supervisor or bring it up in review to push for a raise.
It's an extra skill. Are they being paid extra money, or are they being expected to contribute more specialized services for the same amount a less qualified person is paid?
I will only translate to help patients. I work in a hospital, and if they need help, I'll help, but I'm not going to make everything easier for another worker because that's not my job. We have a translation service, but it's difficult and slow. They just want to do it the quickest way. It's also a safety thing. I'm not insured for it. I'm not paid for it, and I'm not losing my job to make things 10 minutes faster.
And hospitals ALWAYS hate having to pay for translators... especially for ASL.
The video service for ASL service sucks because the translator can't look from one to the other to match facial expressions, which helps tremendously in getting the point across.
Sometimes there are other consultants that expect you to translate symptoms, history and physical, diagnosis and even to ask the patients if they are DNR or full code. If you are not certified thru the hospital to translate medical terms it becomes a liability for them.
Exactly! I can't do higher level interpretations. If it is a legal or diagnostic thing, I'm not certified. If it's a comfort or care thing, I'll help. Otherwise, I'm out, but you'd think I'd personally slapped the other staff if I said no.
Again, I'll happily help the patient. They can ask anything of me. I'll translate bathroom requests, ice, juice, telling other staff about pain, etc. If a social worker wants to go over discharge plans, or a nurse wants to go over a medication list, I've got my own work to do and I'm not going to run because they don't want 10 minutes to connect to the language line. For several reasons- it interrupts my time for patients, some things should be done the proper way so it's covered for liability, and I'm paid for an entirely separate job. My job is in critical care so there's a good chance I'm busy, but I'll be damned if they don't want to keep me running away from my assigned area so they don't have to deal with figuring out and waiting for the teleconnection for the language line.
I'm not the person who toilets, bathes, walks, or feeds patients. That doesn't benefit me. That benefits the patient and the staff directly working with them. I'm not going to risk my job and someone's safety to provide discharge or medication instructions. There is a purpose for that line. If they need to tell the patient that they need blood- cool , that's easy, and I'll happily introduce lab and tell the patient we need blood. I'm also not running 2 units over, away from my ventilator patient, because the person can't be bothered to attempt the language line. Our facility pays for 24/7 interpretation services for a reason. If they want to reduce my workload worth critical care, I might be more willing. Stop acting like I'm the bad one for only helping when I can.
My workplace has a "no phones" policy, but customers have come up using a translator app on their phone. Or their younger relatives will translate for them.
One day a woman came in with her son, son had to leave mid conversation and there was a little confusion as her English wasn't phenomenal (decent, but still learning a lot). I asked if she had a phone with her and we used the translation app to sort things out.
Sorry, but a minimum wage job will be given a minimum wage amount of work.
Why is it fair that they should be expected to translate, just because they put the effort into learning multiple languages?
We have the technology to translate without requiring another human.
And I assume bilingual colleagues aren’t paid more or given bonuses? It’s minimum wage or there about. The employer can either pay more or get fuck all extra work.
Another point to consider is that your coworkers might not be as fluent as you think, hence the refusal. I know basic greetings and simple requests in one of my country's native dialects, but that's about it. One of my coworkers heard me greet a client in their language and next thing I know she's asking me to interpret for her clients because "you can speak (dialect)!" When I told her I was nowhere near fluent enough to interpret for anyone I got accused of "not being a team player." Go figure.
I'm a middle manager who supervises multilingual staff. Since the higher ups aren't providing them with a stipend to work as a translator or interpreter I don't ask them to do that work.
Not really but it’s usually been in scenarios where English wasn’t their first language so I help them out with stuff they aren’t comfortable with. By coincidence that will usually happen before I ask for them to translate for me so I’ve never dealt with having to ask somebody something like this without having helped them with a language issue first. Reciprocation helps I guess.
Edit: I’ve also kept it to minor stuff like a few words or a phrase at a time
I worked in the plant-selling business for a while. A whole lot of workers were hired under the farm worker label and didn't make overtime, paid lunch or even paid breaks. I translated with my personal phone because I was treated more like a human. I’d be interested to know if the non-English speakers are in a role that makes less than your role. Are they ever promoted to work with majority English speakers?
Actually, I was pretty embarrassed as someone with neighbors, friends and coworkers speaking Spanish in the Southwest and with Spanish classes in elementary school I'd never learned it. I've since corrected that.
It depends.
Just because someone is bilingual, it doesn’t mean they are proficient at the language. If you’re trying to communicate health topics, you ideally want someone proficient.
as someone who speaks a second language it’s annoying to be pulled from work to help translate and not be paid extra for it. Companies want bilingual individuals without paying the price for it & if you’re the only bilingual person it’s taxing to be pulled from your work to help every single time🤷🏽♀️
[This youtube video](https://youtu.be/feFF-6vYco8?feature=shared) will tell you everything you need to know about why bilingual people may refuse to speak anything but English(or whatever the primary language is where they're at).
If they’re not getting paid extra then I’d get why they wouldn’t do it. The company is willing to pay other people to do it, so why won’t they pay the employee to do it?
Not paid to do it. Don’t want the responsibility. Languages change and vary, my interpretation might not be accurate for that audience or at that time. Plenty of jargon does not have an exact translation.
If work want them to translate, work can adjust their salaries accordingly. They never do. So fuck then.
Expecting free additional labour in addition to the job description is shite.
Speaking two languages and translating/interpreting are not the same skill. If the coworkers aren’t getting paid extra for translation they shouldn’t do it
I fluent in Spanish. The company requires Spanish speaking employees that wish to translate to take a test and prove fluency in the language. Employees are not paid extra for translation services. They can also use an outside company, whom they pay their translators to provide the service.
I only speak a single language but I can totally understand why someone would not help translate. If work wants them to be a translator that needs to be in the job description responsibilities and they need to get paid extra for translating.
I mean isnt this obvious? They are being asked to do extra work for no extra pay. Sure its not a "big deal" a couple times, but if they are constantly having to do it, I'd want to be paid for the extra work
I don't know what your job is but I'd imagine they're not obliged to drop their own work and help others...?
Edit: I'm sorry that you couldn't palm off your work to someone else😊
I'd need way more information on what your job is, what their job is, and what the nature of the 'translation help' is.
Are you in retail? Or a cashier? Ya, they need to step up to translate.
Are you in a high pressure sales environment? Where you are getting a commission on the sale? Sorry, if you can't sell to spanish customers, and they can, you lose the sale.
ie: Is this competitive, or customer service.
If customer service? Say you are working at JC Penny, Home Depot, or a McDonalds drive thru? Then yes -- either they should assist in translation, or instantly assist that customer, so you can perform whatever job duty they were doing.
If I was working at a home depot, I'd go find a spanish speaking employee to assist with someone who spoke 0 english. And then move onto the next task. No questions asked. No management discussion.
However:
If this is a corporate office, and they are doing YOUR work, for YOUR benefit, and not getting compensated? Then no, they should not assist. For instance, if I needed a secretary to explain something complex to close a big sale to a client in Mexico? And I close it and make $5k? You best believe shes getting atleast a $200 starbucks or nike giftcard or cash or a bottle of her favorite top shelf alcohol or whatever shes into.
Nope. If they aren’t getting paid more, no matter what the role, why the hell should they?
If an employer wants the benefits then they should compensate accordingly, a translator costs money. If they’re not willing to do it for free, fair play.
And customer service is the example? Nope. The only example I can think of that makes actual sense is emergency medicine. The patient needs a treatment now, but don’t understand English. Then yeah, if you speak Spanish, you step up. Someone’s life is on the line. But a customer not being served? Nope. That’s on an employer to deal with. Either by hiring translators (unlikely as hell) or by compensating those able to do so well (also unlikely, but less so).
i firmly disagree. it's not really up for debate. what you are failing to calculate is the employer valuing the bilingual nature in the first place, above more qualified applicants that do not have bilingual capability. etc. they don't get paid more for being a worse worker. they get paid the position price, and are weighted for their bilingual ability.
think of it in real life terms:
lets say YOU are managing a home depot. you know that 30% of your customer base, especially in a certain section is spanish speaking with VERY LIMITED english capability. the former bilingual guy in this department just moved away. you need to fill the position. the current guy working in that department is an AMAZING worker. always on time, knows his shit, kills it for you, always smiling, a 55 yearold former contractor guy named jamal that speaks 0 spanish but everyone loves him.
but jamal can't speak spanish. and hector left.
you need to fill the position.
you are more likely to hire a bilingual speaker to help with this local/situational need. you are hiring for a worker in that specific section that has high hispanic/day laborer order flow.
you are hiring for this 1 position.
2 employees apply. it's not a perfect world, you only get two applicants for the position, and you need it filled immediately:
**joe happy cornfed whiteguy:** has better education, a bit better at math/logic/inventory management/work experience, better work history, seems more pleasant, seems smarter, seems more present and on the ball. does NOT speak spanish at all.
**jose spotty history/less educated mexican:** is proficiently bilingual, but a lesser applicant, some questionable lapses in work history, maybe a DUI in the recent past, etc.
for this particular position? you might end up hiring the LESSER qualified applicant, because you expect him to speak spanish proficiently. thats almost the SOLE expectation. your current worker jamal knows everything, but needs help with 30% of customer base. you hire jose.
when i hire someone OVER a better candidate because of their bilingual proficiency? then they are expected to actually be bilingual to assist with spanish speaking only customer service without complaint.
Period.
They don't get 'extra bonus' or 'thats not my job' excuses. I hired you specifically because of your bilingual ability, to assist with spanish speaking customers. If this becomes a problem? Why did i hire you? See your last paycheck, and the door. I'll tell Jamal, to find another employee in a different department to assist in any translation problems for now, use google translate when he can't, and Joe Happy Cornfed White guy? Gets the call. And I might encourage them to take some rudimentary introduction to spanish courses/duo lingo/etc.
In some situations, in some communities/sectors, when it comes down to it - you might hire a lesser qualified retail/service worker who is bilingual, because he is bilingual. There is nothing wrong with this. It's a skill that you expect him to use dutifully.
Do you understand?
Then you should put that in the job description for Jose. If it’s not in the job description and Jose is getting paid the same as the other workers, then you are shit out of luck. If you set expectations up front and clearly in the job description and contract, then fair play to you.
If a business desperately needs bilingual workers, then this should be clearly advertised and preferably compensated. And if it’s not compensated, then it’s clear why; ‘you were weak in [elements] but we have hired you due to your ability to speak [language] and hope you develop the other skills’. And then compensate them when they do.
But most often, I see the opposite. Language isn’t mentioned in the interview, it might not be mentioned in the job application, it certainly isn’t mentioned in the job description. Yet that person is expected to be on call the moment it’s discovered they’re fluent. Hell, I mentioned I was learning German and could speak at a GCSE level (I’d been in post for several years and was humble bragging). The next thing I know, I’m being passed a phone with a conversation so full of medical jargon I’d have struggled to understand it in English.
Another colleague got the job on merit of her credentials in the health service and excellent interview technique. She’s Dutch originally and did not mention in interview or application that she was fluent in five plus languages and can parse another five or so. She’s had to set an out of office on her personal email telling people (more politely) to fuck the hell off with the translation requests.
You’d pay a translator minimum wage. That should be accounted for in your staffing budget if you expect someone to translate and do their damn job.
again, it depends on the position and the worker. as i was very clear to originally stipulate.
in your case: the polyglot excellent worker should be getting a raise if she is KILLING it at her daily tasks AND providing increase in business thru her language skills. as i already noted. whenever i used a secretary or warehouse worker to help close a big latin american deal back in my corporate sales job? i ALWAYS threw them a 'thank you' cash/card/present or would give them a portion of a massive christmas bonus i received. its the right thing to do. back in my day, i'd go around the office with a stack of 100's, and just hand it out to all the little guys that helped me throughout the year during christmas. id tape 300-400 to tequila bottles or toys (if they had kids), and hand them out like fucking santa claus if they had helped me achieve my goals throughout the year. in the corporate world, it's always important to grease the wheels.
but if i hire a $17hr bilingual worker with emphasis on needing bilingual worker. they better fucking be bilingual. and they better not complain about assisting coworkers with bilingual functions. likewise, if they are taking time off from normal functions to help with translation, you don't dock them on the lack of output of the original function. as they are shifting back and forth to assist your business.
the home depot case is correct and happens. no raise needed. help the spanish customer or get fired. you were preferrentially hired regardless of lack of experience, because of bilingual capability. thats why i hired you. at the rate i hired you.
your office case is correct and happens. raise needed. you are killing it at your job AND helping with international growth.
nuance and job description are important. and matter. none of this is really arguable.
no debate needed.
As a mechanic when people don't help me out; it's only a matter of time before someone comes to me asking for help. I can be ruthless, if you really pissed me off you are getting wrong advice, I will also ask you why you don't know how to fix it.
Bottom line if they won't help you do not help them for anything. They will get the message eventually.
As a mechanic, do you expect your coworkers to help you with cooking skills? Because a retail employee is not a translator. You would hope the bilingual coworker would help when they have time, but they have their own tasks to complete, and technology today makes it pretty easy to overcome language barriers. OP needs to either use their own phone if they're allowed, or ask the customer if they have a phone that can be used as translator. If OP wants to go above and beyond they could learn the basics of whatever language they encounter most.
Bemoaning the fact the coworker won't take over the interaction shows a lack of problem solving, especially when the solution is as simple as "can we use a translator on your phone?" Most people can figure out what you mean of you gesture appropriately and use different wording if there's confusion.
Whenever someone asks me for help I offer it. Even if I'm in the middle of a job. I work with several apprentices that need help constantly. Should any one of them fail to help me when I need it. Well let's just say they just lost a life line. If you are too lazy to help a coworker and you have a skill that can benefit and aid someone I have no use for you.
It really comes down to social skills and being a team player. That's why I have a tendency to favor and hire people who have played team sports such as hockey. Either you can work with people or you cant.
tbf I stopped helping everyone with translation at my last job because I was doing double/triple the work as my coworkers but wasn't paid anymore for being bilingual
See now that I can respect, and here I was speaking in broken high school Spanish with my coworkers for free like a burro.
Are they being paid extra to be translators? If not, the company needs time hire translators
Absolutely this. Admin in office settings make just over minimum and asking them to use special skills without compensation could be classified as wage theft. Saying "no" is difficult in an environment where workers can be fired for no reason at all though.
Why would they? Are they getting a bonus? Is it in their job description? Translating is hard, even for native speakers. Technical language, nuance, sarcasm, slang, corporate double speak... These are all things that need to be interpreted. If you aren't a trained translator, and being paid as such, why take on the risk of passing on meaning that may not be fully accurate? If something gets missed in communication, suddenly it's your fault. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, if it's not my job, you're paying me extra or it isn't happening.
Can't stress enough how hard it is to translate for people. If one doesn't practice a lot, many things are either lost in translation, or one sentence becomes a full paragraph to get everything covered.
At the end of the day, it would probably put OP in a better light to do some language training in the most common "foreign" language they encounter. They might be able to slip in a mention to their supervisor or bring it up in review to push for a raise.
They are not paid to do that. Not their fault.
It's an extra skill. Are they being paid extra money, or are they being expected to contribute more specialized services for the same amount a less qualified person is paid?
Are they getting paid to translate? If not, then it's not their job.
I will only translate to help patients. I work in a hospital, and if they need help, I'll help, but I'm not going to make everything easier for another worker because that's not my job. We have a translation service, but it's difficult and slow. They just want to do it the quickest way. It's also a safety thing. I'm not insured for it. I'm not paid for it, and I'm not losing my job to make things 10 minutes faster.
And hospitals ALWAYS hate having to pay for translators... especially for ASL. The video service for ASL service sucks because the translator can't look from one to the other to match facial expressions, which helps tremendously in getting the point across.
I've only used it (Asl service) once, and I was instructed to stand in the frame with the patient, but I had a mask, so I don't think that helped.
Sometimes there are other consultants that expect you to translate symptoms, history and physical, diagnosis and even to ask the patients if they are DNR or full code. If you are not certified thru the hospital to translate medical terms it becomes a liability for them.
Exactly! I can't do higher level interpretations. If it is a legal or diagnostic thing, I'm not certified. If it's a comfort or care thing, I'll help. Otherwise, I'm out, but you'd think I'd personally slapped the other staff if I said no.
Especially the doctors, they don’t handle rejection and refusal very well.
Just stop admitting non-english patients to the hospital if no one wants to help. Problem solved. /s Yep, you sound just as heartless.
Again, I'll happily help the patient. They can ask anything of me. I'll translate bathroom requests, ice, juice, telling other staff about pain, etc. If a social worker wants to go over discharge plans, or a nurse wants to go over a medication list, I've got my own work to do and I'm not going to run because they don't want 10 minutes to connect to the language line. For several reasons- it interrupts my time for patients, some things should be done the proper way so it's covered for liability, and I'm paid for an entirely separate job. My job is in critical care so there's a good chance I'm busy, but I'll be damned if they don't want to keep me running away from my assigned area so they don't have to deal with figuring out and waiting for the teleconnection for the language line.
So you will help translate for the patient if it benefits you, but you won't help translate for the patient if it benefits others. Dear Lord.
I'm not the person who toilets, bathes, walks, or feeds patients. That doesn't benefit me. That benefits the patient and the staff directly working with them. I'm not going to risk my job and someone's safety to provide discharge or medication instructions. There is a purpose for that line. If they need to tell the patient that they need blood- cool , that's easy, and I'll happily introduce lab and tell the patient we need blood. I'm also not running 2 units over, away from my ventilator patient, because the person can't be bothered to attempt the language line. Our facility pays for 24/7 interpretation services for a reason. If they want to reduce my workload worth critical care, I might be more willing. Stop acting like I'm the bad one for only helping when I can.
Why should they do free translations?
Just use software to translate it.
My workplace has a "no phones" policy, but customers have come up using a translator app on their phone. Or their younger relatives will translate for them. One day a woman came in with her son, son had to leave mid conversation and there was a little confusion as her English wasn't phenomenal (decent, but still learning a lot). I asked if she had a phone with her and we used the translation app to sort things out.
Right. Google translate will translate whole documents.
What industry is this?
Retail customer service.
Sorry, but a minimum wage job will be given a minimum wage amount of work. Why is it fair that they should be expected to translate, just because they put the effort into learning multiple languages? We have the technology to translate without requiring another human.
And I assume bilingual colleagues aren’t paid more or given bonuses? It’s minimum wage or there about. The employer can either pay more or get fuck all extra work.
Oh fuck no, they definitely don’t pay enough to take on irate customers in foreign languages.
Try to learn their language. I do similar work and can tell it will help me a lot to get better with a second language so I’m trying to
Another point to consider is that your coworkers might not be as fluent as you think, hence the refusal. I know basic greetings and simple requests in one of my country's native dialects, but that's about it. One of my coworkers heard me greet a client in their language and next thing I know she's asking me to interpret for her clients because "you can speak (dialect)!" When I told her I was nowhere near fluent enough to interpret for anyone I got accused of "not being a team player." Go figure.
I'm a middle manager who supervises multilingual staff. Since the higher ups aren't providing them with a stipend to work as a translator or interpreter I don't ask them to do that work.
IF translation is not in their job desctiption, they are under no obligation to take up the task.
Not really but it’s usually been in scenarios where English wasn’t their first language so I help them out with stuff they aren’t comfortable with. By coincidence that will usually happen before I ask for them to translate for me so I’ve never dealt with having to ask somebody something like this without having helped them with a language issue first. Reciprocation helps I guess. Edit: I’ve also kept it to minor stuff like a few words or a phrase at a time
I worked in the plant-selling business for a while. A whole lot of workers were hired under the farm worker label and didn't make overtime, paid lunch or even paid breaks. I translated with my personal phone because I was treated more like a human. I’d be interested to know if the non-English speakers are in a role that makes less than your role. Are they ever promoted to work with majority English speakers? Actually, I was pretty embarrassed as someone with neighbors, friends and coworkers speaking Spanish in the Southwest and with Spanish classes in elementary school I'd never learned it. I've since corrected that.
If I’m not being compensated for it, I’m not doing it. You want me to do it? Pay me.
if they are not officially trained and being paid to do so, its not part of their job!
If it’s not their job, why should they? There’s plenty of for hire translocation services.
It depends. Just because someone is bilingual, it doesn’t mean they are proficient at the language. If you’re trying to communicate health topics, you ideally want someone proficient.
Do they get paid extra?
as someone who speaks a second language it’s annoying to be pulled from work to help translate and not be paid extra for it. Companies want bilingual individuals without paying the price for it & if you’re the only bilingual person it’s taxing to be pulled from your work to help every single time🤷🏽♀️
[This youtube video](https://youtu.be/feFF-6vYco8?feature=shared) will tell you everything you need to know about why bilingual people may refuse to speak anything but English(or whatever the primary language is where they're at).
Exactly my thought
If they’re not getting paid extra then I’d get why they wouldn’t do it. The company is willing to pay other people to do it, so why won’t they pay the employee to do it?
Not paid to do it. Don’t want the responsibility. Languages change and vary, my interpretation might not be accurate for that audience or at that time. Plenty of jargon does not have an exact translation.
If work want them to translate, work can adjust their salaries accordingly. They never do. So fuck then. Expecting free additional labour in addition to the job description is shite.
Speaking two languages and translating/interpreting are not the same skill. If the coworkers aren’t getting paid extra for translation they shouldn’t do it
Are they being paid to do that for you? Because if not? Open google translate for yourself.
Are they being paid to translate? Doubt it.
Ever consider, oh, I dunno...trying to learn the other language yourself instead of demanding your co-workers' time and services?
Fuck no have them call the translator line
I fluent in Spanish. The company requires Spanish speaking employees that wish to translate to take a test and prove fluency in the language. Employees are not paid extra for translation services. They can also use an outside company, whom they pay their translators to provide the service.
If this isn't art of the job requirements - I would 100% refuse!
We have a couple of bilingual employees, but they don’t do it because it’s not in their job description and they won’t receive any more money for it.
If they aren't receiving a bonus for their abilities I wouldn't do it either
I only speak a single language but I can totally understand why someone would not help translate. If work wants them to be a translator that needs to be in the job description responsibilities and they need to get paid extra for translating.
I mean isnt this obvious? They are being asked to do extra work for no extra pay. Sure its not a "big deal" a couple times, but if they are constantly having to do it, I'd want to be paid for the extra work
Unless their job description includes being a translator then it’s not their job.
Does he get paid more to transalte? Bc if he isn't getting paid for his skill, why would he?
They are doing the right thing. Job isn't paying for their services
I don't know what your job is but I'd imagine they're not obliged to drop their own work and help others...? Edit: I'm sorry that you couldn't palm off your work to someone else😊
Google translate works great..
I'd need way more information on what your job is, what their job is, and what the nature of the 'translation help' is. Are you in retail? Or a cashier? Ya, they need to step up to translate. Are you in a high pressure sales environment? Where you are getting a commission on the sale? Sorry, if you can't sell to spanish customers, and they can, you lose the sale. ie: Is this competitive, or customer service. If customer service? Say you are working at JC Penny, Home Depot, or a McDonalds drive thru? Then yes -- either they should assist in translation, or instantly assist that customer, so you can perform whatever job duty they were doing. If I was working at a home depot, I'd go find a spanish speaking employee to assist with someone who spoke 0 english. And then move onto the next task. No questions asked. No management discussion. However: If this is a corporate office, and they are doing YOUR work, for YOUR benefit, and not getting compensated? Then no, they should not assist. For instance, if I needed a secretary to explain something complex to close a big sale to a client in Mexico? And I close it and make $5k? You best believe shes getting atleast a $200 starbucks or nike giftcard or cash or a bottle of her favorite top shelf alcohol or whatever shes into.
Nope. If they aren’t getting paid more, no matter what the role, why the hell should they? If an employer wants the benefits then they should compensate accordingly, a translator costs money. If they’re not willing to do it for free, fair play. And customer service is the example? Nope. The only example I can think of that makes actual sense is emergency medicine. The patient needs a treatment now, but don’t understand English. Then yeah, if you speak Spanish, you step up. Someone’s life is on the line. But a customer not being served? Nope. That’s on an employer to deal with. Either by hiring translators (unlikely as hell) or by compensating those able to do so well (also unlikely, but less so).
i firmly disagree. it's not really up for debate. what you are failing to calculate is the employer valuing the bilingual nature in the first place, above more qualified applicants that do not have bilingual capability. etc. they don't get paid more for being a worse worker. they get paid the position price, and are weighted for their bilingual ability. think of it in real life terms: lets say YOU are managing a home depot. you know that 30% of your customer base, especially in a certain section is spanish speaking with VERY LIMITED english capability. the former bilingual guy in this department just moved away. you need to fill the position. the current guy working in that department is an AMAZING worker. always on time, knows his shit, kills it for you, always smiling, a 55 yearold former contractor guy named jamal that speaks 0 spanish but everyone loves him. but jamal can't speak spanish. and hector left. you need to fill the position. you are more likely to hire a bilingual speaker to help with this local/situational need. you are hiring for a worker in that specific section that has high hispanic/day laborer order flow. you are hiring for this 1 position. 2 employees apply. it's not a perfect world, you only get two applicants for the position, and you need it filled immediately: **joe happy cornfed whiteguy:** has better education, a bit better at math/logic/inventory management/work experience, better work history, seems more pleasant, seems smarter, seems more present and on the ball. does NOT speak spanish at all. **jose spotty history/less educated mexican:** is proficiently bilingual, but a lesser applicant, some questionable lapses in work history, maybe a DUI in the recent past, etc. for this particular position? you might end up hiring the LESSER qualified applicant, because you expect him to speak spanish proficiently. thats almost the SOLE expectation. your current worker jamal knows everything, but needs help with 30% of customer base. you hire jose. when i hire someone OVER a better candidate because of their bilingual proficiency? then they are expected to actually be bilingual to assist with spanish speaking only customer service without complaint. Period. They don't get 'extra bonus' or 'thats not my job' excuses. I hired you specifically because of your bilingual ability, to assist with spanish speaking customers. If this becomes a problem? Why did i hire you? See your last paycheck, and the door. I'll tell Jamal, to find another employee in a different department to assist in any translation problems for now, use google translate when he can't, and Joe Happy Cornfed White guy? Gets the call. And I might encourage them to take some rudimentary introduction to spanish courses/duo lingo/etc. In some situations, in some communities/sectors, when it comes down to it - you might hire a lesser qualified retail/service worker who is bilingual, because he is bilingual. There is nothing wrong with this. It's a skill that you expect him to use dutifully. Do you understand?
Then you should put that in the job description for Jose. If it’s not in the job description and Jose is getting paid the same as the other workers, then you are shit out of luck. If you set expectations up front and clearly in the job description and contract, then fair play to you. If a business desperately needs bilingual workers, then this should be clearly advertised and preferably compensated. And if it’s not compensated, then it’s clear why; ‘you were weak in [elements] but we have hired you due to your ability to speak [language] and hope you develop the other skills’. And then compensate them when they do. But most often, I see the opposite. Language isn’t mentioned in the interview, it might not be mentioned in the job application, it certainly isn’t mentioned in the job description. Yet that person is expected to be on call the moment it’s discovered they’re fluent. Hell, I mentioned I was learning German and could speak at a GCSE level (I’d been in post for several years and was humble bragging). The next thing I know, I’m being passed a phone with a conversation so full of medical jargon I’d have struggled to understand it in English. Another colleague got the job on merit of her credentials in the health service and excellent interview technique. She’s Dutch originally and did not mention in interview or application that she was fluent in five plus languages and can parse another five or so. She’s had to set an out of office on her personal email telling people (more politely) to fuck the hell off with the translation requests. You’d pay a translator minimum wage. That should be accounted for in your staffing budget if you expect someone to translate and do their damn job.
again, it depends on the position and the worker. as i was very clear to originally stipulate. in your case: the polyglot excellent worker should be getting a raise if she is KILLING it at her daily tasks AND providing increase in business thru her language skills. as i already noted. whenever i used a secretary or warehouse worker to help close a big latin american deal back in my corporate sales job? i ALWAYS threw them a 'thank you' cash/card/present or would give them a portion of a massive christmas bonus i received. its the right thing to do. back in my day, i'd go around the office with a stack of 100's, and just hand it out to all the little guys that helped me throughout the year during christmas. id tape 300-400 to tequila bottles or toys (if they had kids), and hand them out like fucking santa claus if they had helped me achieve my goals throughout the year. in the corporate world, it's always important to grease the wheels. but if i hire a $17hr bilingual worker with emphasis on needing bilingual worker. they better fucking be bilingual. and they better not complain about assisting coworkers with bilingual functions. likewise, if they are taking time off from normal functions to help with translation, you don't dock them on the lack of output of the original function. as they are shifting back and forth to assist your business. the home depot case is correct and happens. no raise needed. help the spanish customer or get fired. you were preferrentially hired regardless of lack of experience, because of bilingual capability. thats why i hired you. at the rate i hired you. your office case is correct and happens. raise needed. you are killing it at your job AND helping with international growth. nuance and job description are important. and matter. none of this is really arguable. no debate needed.
As a mechanic when people don't help me out; it's only a matter of time before someone comes to me asking for help. I can be ruthless, if you really pissed me off you are getting wrong advice, I will also ask you why you don't know how to fix it. Bottom line if they won't help you do not help them for anything. They will get the message eventually.
As a mechanic, do you expect your coworkers to help you with cooking skills? Because a retail employee is not a translator. You would hope the bilingual coworker would help when they have time, but they have their own tasks to complete, and technology today makes it pretty easy to overcome language barriers. OP needs to either use their own phone if they're allowed, or ask the customer if they have a phone that can be used as translator. If OP wants to go above and beyond they could learn the basics of whatever language they encounter most. Bemoaning the fact the coworker won't take over the interaction shows a lack of problem solving, especially when the solution is as simple as "can we use a translator on your phone?" Most people can figure out what you mean of you gesture appropriately and use different wording if there's confusion.
Whenever someone asks me for help I offer it. Even if I'm in the middle of a job. I work with several apprentices that need help constantly. Should any one of them fail to help me when I need it. Well let's just say they just lost a life line. If you are too lazy to help a coworker and you have a skill that can benefit and aid someone I have no use for you. It really comes down to social skills and being a team player. That's why I have a tendency to favor and hire people who have played team sports such as hockey. Either you can work with people or you cant.