Software dev job. Medium sized MNC with angmoh boss. I'm one of the few that dont speak chinese, and I'm the only one at technical level. Other non-chinese speaker are at management level.

Problem is: teammates speak chinese 99.5% of the time. As non chinese speaker, I cant know whether they are discussing work or just talking craps. Other people can join the conversation if they got curious or dont understand, while I can only join halfway when it's clear that they are talking works.

Now, if i ask them to speak english, they will. But they will also just tell me the things halfway, no one will want to repeat every single things that they have said. And I feel like I lost a lot of learning every day since I will know the things halfway but not the whole thought process.

Asking them to speak chinese - dont work.
I have not asked the management to do smtg with it, but from previous places that I've been to, the chinese actually change to speak english....for few days, and then back to old habit.

Now, I'm really lost. All the places I've been, I see same problems. I need to learn from them, but if they keep speaking chinese, I lost a bit every day - and over long term I am losing a lot.

Opinion?

Tldr: Teammates all speak chinese. Talking to them dont help. Even management cant break their habit. How?

90% they are just talking crap.

hey you should try find other jobs.

Hmm I think u better find others place to work...

No use work in such environment...

Been there done that. Felt left out all the time. Did the right thing and left them to rot.

Little Birdie
nexona88
TheHitman47
Remmie
Quitting the job and join another company and see the same thing?

.net developers are dominated by chinese, 3 previous companies that i joined all same situation. Any ideas? :/

I think it's easier if you just learn chinese. Its an added skill too. If you cannot get them to adjust to you then you have to learn to adapt. Survival skills

Apply for Chinese government scholarship, they offer a 1-2 year programme scholarship for non-Chinese citizen worldwide to come to China and learn Chinese language. Go and apply for it. Learning a new language will allow you to penetrate into others culture, besides it will enrich your lives

This post has been edited by Dominion101: Mar 26 2017, 01:17 PM

Switch to another field. Or go to GLC. My first job at an MNC the Chinese language spilled into official meetings with secondary discussions in Chinese I got totally fed up and left.

Wah really?
Didn't know have such thing..
Would share info to friends.. See if they interested or not

Very much agree!

well if you really only love that line of work then deal with it. learn mandarin or something.

oso i dont think thats right, maybe different perspective but from my point of view its not dominated by chinese at all.

Dear red.merc49,

My personal view is that before u ask people to change, why not u try to adapt and learn Mandarin/Chinese bit by bit. Working in a team is about team work and trust. U should start by gaining their trust, blend in and then discuss that with them. I am sure Malaysian Chinese is not that bad, u have not seen worse. While u can escalate to management but u will never be in their group and working there become more stressful.
tl;dr, before ask people to change, maybe u can try to adapt and move on. If u find it easy to ask people to change, then it is the same to u, why not.
Ideally, your colleagues should not behave like that, but unfortunately we don't live in ideal world but a realistic world.

My boss, pure ang mor from UK can learn to speak and understand Chinese in a year. Why can't you?

Are you a Chinese who can't speak Chinese? If so, there are a lot of reasons for learning our mother tongue. Although English has became the language of business, culture makes us wealthier and more tolerant. If you can weather this, you'll have potential to work in any big firm.

No not chinese.

I have worked with big firms (annual revenue of 16b usd considered big?) before yet still encounters same problem.

sign up a mandarin class. Not only for this job but for other opportunities later.

Could be a new chemistry at office for u!

why do you need to know what they're talking about.

This post has been edited by Drian: Mar 27 2017, 09:37 AM

all my fren who spoke only english but they actually can understand mandarin...

are you talking about malaysian chinese or chinese from china ?

It's good to learn another language, especially mandarin. No doubt about that.

But you can't do it in a short term. You are in a technical field and spend every day learning new technical stuff, it takes a lot of time and effort. Been there and done that.

Just get the hell out from that place and find a new job. The place is not conducive when you have to work like a loner and when no one 'sees' you and talks through you instead.

I've heard many situations like these from others and been through it too.

Good luck mate.

This post has been edited by abhipraaya: Mar 27 2017, 05:27 PM