Thank you for writing and sharing this, Alix! I’m sorry that it was scary for you to post and I’m glad you did. You also linked to so many other useful readings I hadn’t seen previously!
I’m wondering how these dynamics play out across different platforms and spaces—e.g. hiring processes for organizations with varying degrees of international staff vs. international online platforms like the Forum or EA Anywhere Slack vs. in-person events—and if there are better moderation mechanisms for acknowledging and accounting for language barriers across each. Online, for example, it’s easy to list the languages you speak and some organizations list this on their staff pages (e.g. “You can contact Alix in French and English.”). Maybe this could be added to Forum profiles or EA Global Swapcard profiles.
I’m also wondering how we can better account for this as community builders, especially in places with many immigrants. We remind attendees at the start of most EA NYC events that everyone present has a different starting point and we all have something to learn and something to teach. We began doing this, in large part, to make sure newcomers who don’t “speak EA” feel welcome. But there might be a benefit to also explicitly noting possible language barriers, given how deeply international and multicultural the community here is. This is also making me want to look into facilitation trainings specifically focused on these dynamics; I’m sure there are non-obvious things we could be doing better.
Forum and Swapcard profiles including languages seem like a good idea!
I think it’s an important conversation to have as community builders, as you said in places with many immigrants, especially in places where the community is driven by native English speakers. I’d be keen to discuss what it means for e.g. NYC vs Switzerland: 2 places with high levels of immigrants but different first languages. In Switzerland, we would all speak English at events, but it’s not the first language for the vast majority of people, and I’ve experienced much less frustration in those contexts than at events where English is a mother tongue for most—and then maybe I’m blind to some other dynamics that impairs how welcoming we appear to certain people. What should each of us be more aware of so that we make it as welcoming as possible?
If you find relevant trainings, please share!
I like this “everyone present has a different starting point and we all have something to learn and something to teach”, I’m gonna steal it :p
Side note regarding hiring, I feel there’s also the tricky problem of behavior expectations and cultural bias e.g. during interviews, where your culture can be an obstacle (e.g. from my experience, US and UK people tend to be very friendly and cheerful even to strangers, which could be unconsciously expected of you during interviews, while in your own country it would not be expected of you) - a dynamic that I believe also plays an important role in gender diversity.
Thank you for writing and sharing this, Alix! I’m sorry that it was scary for you to post and I’m glad you did. You also linked to so many other useful readings I hadn’t seen previously!
I’m wondering how these dynamics play out across different platforms and spaces—e.g. hiring processes for organizations with varying degrees of international staff vs. international online platforms like the Forum or EA Anywhere Slack vs. in-person events—and if there are better moderation mechanisms for acknowledging and accounting for language barriers across each. Online, for example, it’s easy to list the languages you speak and some organizations list this on their staff pages (e.g. “You can contact Alix in French and English.”). Maybe this could be added to Forum profiles or EA Global Swapcard profiles.
I’m also wondering how we can better account for this as community builders, especially in places with many immigrants. We remind attendees at the start of most EA NYC events that everyone present has a different starting point and we all have something to learn and something to teach. We began doing this, in large part, to make sure newcomers who don’t “speak EA” feel welcome. But there might be a benefit to also explicitly noting possible language barriers, given how deeply international and multicultural the community here is. This is also making me want to look into facilitation trainings specifically focused on these dynamics; I’m sure there are non-obvious things we could be doing better.
Ah I really like the idea of adding languages to swapcard profiles—I’ll share this with the events team!
Thanks Rocky!
Forum and Swapcard profiles including languages seem like a good idea!
I think it’s an important conversation to have as community builders, as you said in places with many immigrants, especially in places where the community is driven by native English speakers. I’d be keen to discuss what it means for e.g. NYC vs Switzerland: 2 places with high levels of immigrants but different first languages. In Switzerland, we would all speak English at events, but it’s not the first language for the vast majority of people, and I’ve experienced much less frustration in those contexts than at events where English is a mother tongue for most—and then maybe I’m blind to some other dynamics that impairs how welcoming we appear to certain people. What should each of us be more aware of so that we make it as welcoming as possible?
If you find relevant trainings, please share!
I like this “everyone present has a different starting point and we all have something to learn and something to teach”, I’m gonna steal it :p
Side note regarding hiring, I feel there’s also the tricky problem of behavior expectations and cultural bias e.g. during interviews, where your culture can be an obstacle (e.g. from my experience, US and UK people tend to be very friendly and cheerful even to strangers, which could be unconsciously expected of you during interviews, while in your own country it would not be expected of you) - a dynamic that I believe also plays an important role in gender diversity.