Posting in English Language only please

[#1]

Ever been to a product manufacturers website and had to pick a language or click on a flag to take you to the section of a site dedicated to your country or language?
Its no different really.
Unfortunately its hard to debate this topic without looking at the reasons why such a section exist.
There will always be a small minority of immigrants to the UK that either cannot speak the language, or (and on a lesser scale) do not want to speak the language.
It may be considered by immigrant workers that learning the language will give them an advantage over those who do not.
In building a successful and better life in the UK, immigrants may require use of broadband facilities, and as with any other product this can have problems, so why not have a section of the broadband supplier that caters for their suport needs in their own language.
Lets look at this another way, how much time would be absorbed in trying to cross the language barrier if a broadband supplier did not converse with the customers in their own language?
Would people be happy to be stuck in a support queue waiting to register a speed fault while the support staff insisted on having a polish customer use pidgeon english to try and raise their own fault?
Allowing people to converse in their own language speeds up any faults that may occur with the connections belonging to those people.  Providing them with a much more positive experience and perhaps rather than instilling a "lazy" attitude toward learning the language, may actually inspire them to "pay it forward" and respond in kind by learning our language.
If we all think outside the box, I feel the polish section of a forum could actually be quite a positive move.

[#2]

Quote from: chesterfield

Ever been to a product manufacturers website and had to pick a language or click on a flag to take you to the section of a site dedicated to your country or language? Its no different really. Unfortunately its hard to debate this topic without looking at the reasons why such a section exist. There will always be a small minority of immigrants to the UK that either cannot speak the language, or (and on a lesser scale) do not want to speak the language. It may be considered by immigrant workers that learning the language will give them an advantage over those who do not. In building a successful and better life in the UK, immigrants may require use of broadband facilities, and as with any other product this can have problems, so why not have a section of the broadband supplier that caters for their suport needs in their own language. Lets look at this another way, how much time would be absorbed in trying to cross the language barrier if a broadband supplier did not converse with the customers in their own language? Would people be happy to be stuck in a support queue waiting to register a speed fault while the support staff insisted on having a polish customer use pidgeon english to try and raise their own fault? Allowing people to converse in their own language speeds up any faults that may occur with the connections belonging to those people.  Providing them with a much more positive experience and perhaps rather than instilling a "lazy" attitude toward learning the language, may actually inspire them to "pay it forward" and respond in kind by learning our language. If we all think outside the box, I feel the polish section of a forum could actually be quite a positive move.

You raise some good points. I just question the motive, i just think its more a humour the staff exercise than any real benefit for customers. Another point is, if you start segregating customers like this, it can breed resentment and hostility and bigotry. I personally can see some good points from what you mentioned but i feel the negatives and the real reasons why this has happened, plus all the other facts mentioned in this and the other thread, outweigh the positives.     

[#3]

Quote from: Dusty

I just question the motive, i just think its more a humour the staff exercise than any real benefit for customers.

It's got nothing to do with humouring staff. It's about attracting Polish customers.
It seems to me that many Polish potential customers probably have good enough English to buy food in shops and talk to colleagues. But when it comes to getting technical help from a broadband supplier, finding an ISP that has Polish speaking staff would be a real benefit.
For example I can imagine if I went to work in Germany I would pick up enough German in my first year to be fine in pubs, shops etc. But it might be several years before I was able to follow technical support for my broadband service, in German over the phone.
Another example - my sister has lived in Japan for 5 years and has married a Japanese man. Her spoken Japanese is almost fluent - she only struggles with jokes and local dialect/jargon. But she finds 'official' forms and even applying for insurance/driving licences incredibly difficult because written Japanese is so hard to learn. So understandably she buys services from Japanese companies that have English-speaking helpdesks or English language websites.
Some ISPs target gamers, or light users or heavy users. AOL has for years actively marketed to Asian communities in the UK. We're simply utilising the fact that we have Polish speaking staff to try to target the growing number of Polish people in the UK.

[#4]

Oh dear Jelv, you certainly have misconstrued my posting and I am sorry for that.  My attitude is definitely not 'sod them' and I am disconcerted to be accused thus. As I can see no useful reason for continuing this thread so will bow out gracefully.

[#5]

Im with you as well poppy, i think iv said all that i needed to say in this thread.

[#6]

Quote from: Big

Is Dusty a foreigner i.e not English or does he just want to stirr the pot for some other reason???

I hope you mean British - lest you offend us Scots, Welsh and Irish on here

[#7]

Dusty,
As far as I can tell the No 10 website has translations of some of it's home page material in to French and Spanish only - presumably you have been in touch with the Prime Minister about that to complain that it is discrimination?

[#8]

I feel compelled to reply . English , Spanish and French are the most spoken languages world wide. IE countries that speak these languages stretch far and wide. That web site is not just for a domestic audience and number 10 is not a business.
Try and find me something similar where they allow disallow the use of languages on their forums but allow polish because they have a handful of polish employees and ill tell you its discrimination. Try and find like for like and not widen the goal posts to something that is clearly non related.

[#9]

I have to ask, where is the WELSH area for this site?
There are probably far more welsh speaking people with plusnet than there are polish. So where is there area?
And if you go a little further down that lane, what about gaelic (not sure if that is spelt right)
There is no bigotry involved in my post, but why has this not been created, come on plusnet, give us the percentages of welsh V polish customers?

And to give example above by jelv....ok, so if plusnet are giving an area donated to polish people, why not redo the ENTIRE site, so that you can view the site in polish

[#10]

Quote from: bigwierdone

There are probably far more welsh speaking people with plusnet than there are polish. So where is there area?

In Sheffield and working for Plusnet? I'd be stunned if there was one!
The point is they have sufficient Polish speaking employees to offer this service - so why not do so.

[#11]

Believe we actually have two, Jelv

[#12]

I believe that I've actually said in the past that having a Welsh site would be something that we may consider in the future.

[#13]

I was actually talking about customers, not staff.
HOLD ON A SECOND THOUGH!!
Your saying the portal is there for the staff, then why the heck do the customers need to see it.....again I ask, whats the ratio between welsh and polish customers. If there are more welsh than polish customers...why no welsh area?

[#14]

Um, I don't recall anyone saying that the portal was there for the staff?  It's clearly a tool for our customer base.

[#15]

But if its there for the customers.....why no area for WELSH customers?