Things NEVER to Say to a Foreign-Born Colleague

Since 1 in 7 employees in the United States is foreign born, according to the Congressional Budget Office, you’re likely to work with someone whose origins are from another country (if you aren’t already). But that healthy workplace relationship can quickly turn sour because of a seemingly innocent remark or question made on your part. How to avoid this situation?

Click here to read “10 Things NEVER to Say to Latino Executives.”

Click here to read “10 Things NEVER to Say to a Black Coworker.”

Click here to read “Immigration Awareness Month Facts.”

As part of DiversityInc’s commitment to cultural competency in the workplace, here are things NEVER to say to foreign-born people:

You’re from _______, right?

Manny Fernandez, corporate inclusion and diversity director at JCPenney (one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies in 2009), says a person’s country of origin shouldn’t really matter in the workplace. But if you feel compelled to ask where a coworker emigrated from, avoid jumping to conclusions. Fernandez was born in Cuba and moved to the United States as a child prior to the Cuban crisis of the late 1950s. Depending on where he lives, he says, people often get his country of origin wrong.

“I was raised in Miami, where Cubans are the majority, and have spent time in New York City and New Jersey, where people thought I was Puerto Rican,” says Fernandez, who now lives in Texas. There, “all Latinos are thought to be of Mexican descent, due to the proximity to the border.”

You must have such a sad story to tell.

Don’t assume that every immigrant was poor and destitute before arriving in America.Between 1962 and 1965, for example, about 200,000 of the wealthiest, most affluent Cubans relocated to the United States.

Mexican-bornRaul Magdeleno, associate director of diversity and community outreach at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, has witnessed this false assumption firsthand. “Not everyone who is foreign born has a story of survival,” he says. Although immigrants from a variety of countries report hearing this phrase, Magdeleno says that it “happens a lot with Mexican Americans.”

But you speak English so well!

Dr. Jane Junn, associate professor of political science at Rutgers University, has encountered numerous people who (wrongfully) presume that because she’s Asian American, she can’t speak English very well. That’s an insult to an immigrant’s intelligence and education level. In reality, 12.5 percent of U.S. immigrants hold master’s degrees versus 8 percent of the native-born population, reports the U.S. Census Bureau.

But even if a colleague who wasn’t born in the United States speaks perfect English, it’s not something he or she necessarily wants to draw attention to or to be complimented on.

“People will sometimes say, ‘You speak English well for someone who isn’t U.S.-born,’” Junn says. “They think they’re being complimentary, but sometimes it’s perceived as anything but.”

Category: Things Not to Say