7 ms·

Language probably plays a non-insignificant role. I'd hazard a guess that more Indians and Chinese (the nationalities that are fairly well-represented in US lea

by doytch 3y ago

Language probably plays a non-insignificant role. I'd hazard a guess that more Indians and Chinese (the nationalities that are fairly well-represented in US leadership positions) are learning English than German, Polish or Slovak.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>Language probably plays a non-insignificant role. Maybe so, but even Sony and Nissan had non-Japanese speaking CEOs for a while and Japan is not really know for its openness and progressiveness to foreigners. Also, we're talking about global tech companies which reap profits from the global economy, so fluency of the local language that's only spoken by 5% of the world's population shouldn't matter that much, when those mega-corps hire teams of cultural and language experts for each market anyway. I'd say it's more culture, mentality and protectionism of the status quo, than the language itself.
- whimsicalism 3y ago
  Which Sony CEO are you referring to? I think the Nissan case is a bit of an exception and if anything demonstrates how reluctant the Japanese are to have major Japanese multinationals run by someone not Japanese.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    Howard Stringer and Andrew House were head honchos at Sony.
    - tapoxi 3y ago
      House was Sony Computer Entertainment (PlayStation) which is based in San Mateo.
wddkcs 3y ago
This could be changing, ai translation knocking down communication barriers.
whimsicalism 3y ago
Europe also largely just has a less pluralistic and diverse society than the coastal US. Difficult to get the exact stats because it is illegal to measure demographic breakdowns in many European countries.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  >because it is illegal to measure demographic breakdowns in many European countries It really isn't illegal to measure, where did you come up with that?
  - eldaisfish 3y ago
    It is literally illegal to gather race or ethnicity based data in Europe. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/16/france-and-germany-urged-to-rethink-reluctance-to-gather-ethnicity-data https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/16/france-and-ger...
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      Where in that article does it say it's illegal to gather ethnical data in the EU? You're talking nonsense, I lived in 2 EU countries and government had ethnical data on citizens. From where I read the article, it it says the contrary, Germany has racism and discrimination on the labor and housing market, but it can't be proven because it gathers no data. So having no data actually makes the problem worse since racism and discrimination will continue to exist in practice (humans gonna be tribal) but you can't prove it because you have no data because you don't wanna be seen as racist. It's a self fulfilling prophecy. You're just turning a blind eye on racism while touting yourself as a crusader against racism.
      - whimsicalism 3y ago
        It says that efforts to collect discrimination data in France are viewed as unconstitutional, verbatim in the article. Clearly, at minimum, collecting this data is not easy in many european countries. > I lived in 2 EU countries and government had ethnical data on citizens. Could you provide that data for France? I never said it was true of all EU countries. e: Actually, reading your comment I am left a little confused - aren’t your latter paragraphs the exact point I am making?
gambiting 3y ago
Literally everyone under 30 years old in Poland or Germany will speak English(with a varying degree of proficiency, but English lessons are mandatory at school from the age of 7 until 18). No idea about Slovakia but I can only assume it's similar.
- lm28469 3y ago
  It's mandatory in the EU, so also in Slovakia, to pick up a second language from relatively early in the scholarship, it can theoretically be French, German or English but in the vast majority of cases it's english. https://www.eursc.eu/BasicTexts/2019-01-D-35-en-4.pdf https://www.eursc.eu/BasicTexts/2019-01-D-35-en-4.pdf
- RugnirViking 3y ago
  I believe the parent was insinuating that it's harder for immigrants TO poland or germany to rise to high positions in buisness because they start learning german/polish later. Of course they will be able to communicate in english, but it's not a substitute when it comes to leading people and culture/charisma (I have personal experience with this sort of thing, living in a country but not speaking the language well)
  - gambiting 3y ago
    Ah. Then yes, sorry I misunderstood.

by doytch 3y ago

FirmwareBurner 3y ago

>Language probably plays a non-insignificant role. Maybe so, but even Sony and Nissan had non-Japanese speaking CEOs for a while and Japan is not really know for its openness and progressiveness to foreigners. Also, we're talking about global tech companies which reap profits from the global economy, so fluency of the local language that's only spoken by 5% of the world's population shouldn't matter that much, when those mega-corps hire teams of cultural and language experts for each market anyway. I'd say it's more culture, mentality and protectionism of the status quo, than the language itself.

whimsicalism 3y ago
Which Sony CEO are you referring to? I think the Nissan case is a bit of an exception and if anything demonstrates how reluctant the Japanese are to have major Japanese multinationals run by someone not Japanese.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  Howard Stringer and Andrew House were head honchos at Sony.
  - tapoxi 3y ago
    House was Sony Computer Entertainment (PlayStation) which is based in San Mateo.

wddkcs 3y ago

This could be changing, ai translation knocking down communication barriers.

whimsicalism 3y ago

Europe also largely just has a less pluralistic and diverse society than the coastal US. Difficult to get the exact stats because it is illegal to measure demographic breakdowns in many European countries.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>because it is illegal to measure demographic breakdowns in many European countries It really isn't illegal to measure, where did you come up with that?
- eldaisfish 3y ago
  It is literally illegal to gather race or ethnicity based data in Europe. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/16/france-and-germany-urged-to-rethink-reluctance-to-gather-ethnicity-data https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/16/france-and-ger...
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    Where in that article does it say it's illegal to gather ethnical data in the EU? You're talking nonsense, I lived in 2 EU countries and government had ethnical data on citizens. From where I read the article, it it says the contrary, Germany has racism and discrimination on the labor and housing market, but it can't be proven because it gathers no data. So having no data actually makes the problem worse since racism and discrimination will continue to exist in practice (humans gonna be tribal) but you can't prove it because you have no data because you don't wanna be seen as racist. It's a self fulfilling prophecy. You're just turning a blind eye on racism while touting yourself as a crusader against racism.
    - whimsicalism 3y ago
      It says that efforts to collect discrimination data in France are viewed as unconstitutional, verbatim in the article. Clearly, at minimum, collecting this data is not easy in many european countries. > I lived in 2 EU countries and government had ethnical data on citizens. Could you provide that data for France? I never said it was true of all EU countries. e: Actually, reading your comment I am left a little confused - aren’t your latter paragraphs the exact point I am making?

gambiting 3y ago

Literally everyone under 30 years old in Poland or Germany will speak English(with a varying degree of proficiency, but English lessons are mandatory at school from the age of 7 until 18). No idea about Slovakia but I can only assume it's similar.

lm28469 3y ago
It's mandatory in the EU, so also in Slovakia, to pick up a second language from relatively early in the scholarship, it can theoretically be French, German or English but in the vast majority of cases it's english. https://www.eursc.eu/BasicTexts/2019-01-D-35-en-4.pdf https://www.eursc.eu/BasicTexts/2019-01-D-35-en-4.pdf
RugnirViking 3y ago
I believe the parent was insinuating that it's harder for immigrants TO poland or germany to rise to high positions in buisness because they start learning german/polish later. Of course they will be able to communicate in english, but it's not a substitute when it comes to leading people and culture/charisma (I have personal experience with this sort of thing, living in a country but not speaking the language well)
- gambiting 3y ago
  Ah. Then yes, sorry I misunderstood.