> I don't want to be the asshole to ask people to speak in English As long as you think you're being an asshole by asking that, then you will be, because belie

> I don't want to be the asshole to ask people to speak in English As long as you think you're being an asshole by asking that, then you will be, because belief becomes reality. I'll leave the philosophy there, but that's obviously a heavy sentence. More practically speaking, ask yourself to think about it logically. Is it an unreasonable request? Personally I think asking people to stick to business lingua franca when in the office — which happens to be international English — isn't. If you ever come to that opinion too, you'll also be comfortable with it, and _then_ I'd say you should just ask them to speak English in the office. If it looks like you won't come to that opinion in the near future, then you have a few choices, as others have pointed out: * Learn Mandarin * Change team / jobs * Be okay with being uncomfortable at potentially being left out, and with all the potential disadvantages that brings I understand the logic is easier to come to than to action, but there it is. It's an interesting problem, because it mirrors the remote work dilemma organisations are facing. If they are not built for remote work from the ground up, then the people who are remote will suffer, and the organisation will suffer. If remote work is an option, there needs to be a decision made that _all_ processes are built around the notion of remote work, whether you're in the office or not.