Ask HN: How to deal with my team speaking a different language?

And I think they should be given the option to attend all other meetings too, maybe with the exclusion of those that are more business oriented like discussing the vision for the team with management, etc. It has to stay efficient.

Otherwise, how do you want your junior developers to not be junior at some point?

I wouldn't want to work for your company.

Not really; what came before is a story about how he'd talk with his friend in the office they shared, and then he condemns the OP for sharing the apparent American opinion that that kind of thing needs to be banned. The line from one to the other isn't exactly obscure.

What is the official language of the company? If it's English, there are grounds to enforce it. The company should _not_ be hiring people on teams who cannot communicate in the common language - that is their failing.

> My manager is remote and has no idea any of this is happening. I don't want to be the asshole to ask people to speak in English, or make my manager be that guy either.

There are several problems here:

1. You can't manage an IRL team remotely. You can manage a remote team remotely, but not an IRL team. Important conversations are happening all the time and managers at least need to be aware they are happening.

This manager should either come into the office or be moved aside for somebody who can.

2. The manager needs to be aware of problems as they happen. They cannot manage what they are not aware of.

3. You are not being an asshole for wanting to communicate with your colleagues. It is _them_ who are deliberately excluding you.

4. (Speaking carefully) Chinese culture specifically can be quite nationalist and diversity of thought and people is not an ideology that is typically shared. If you lost your job and was replaced with another Chinese person, this would be ideal for them.

If you are, then personally I think it is really bad form for the other team members to be speaking in a foreign language when the native English speaker is present.

It's rude and disrespectful and I think it's bizarre that we are in this contemporary situation where we are afraid to say that.

If I was working in a foreign country where the native language was - as you would imagine - that spoken in the office, I would damn well learn it and feel embarrassed at co-English speakers excluding somebody on the team who couldn't speak English.

I can't offer a "tactful" answer beyond having an informal chat with somebody you trust with influence, and even that might be risky in the wrong environment.