I never heard of Belize before I got this new job. I work with a lot of Belizeans, Panamanians, and people from the Caribbean. When I looked up Belize, it said it was an English speaking country but my co workers(3 of them) are from Belize, and they speak Spanish with the rest of the Spanish speaking people at my job. Granted, they sound Jamaican when they speak English but I never knew they spoke Spanish. Please explain how, or why?..LOL

Funny but it's true.

I excempt Mexicans to this question, because majority of them thats are illegal can't really speak proper English. And I know the prejudice of Mexicans would react harshly.
JOEANDHISGUITAR - Good point! We don't really know who are the illegals...they could be our bosses, our neighbor (might actually own a bigger house than ours), co-workers, employees (that might actually be more competent than the your legal employee)
LADIB812 - I think you have a reading comprehension problem. You do not have an arguement, so please stop your nonsensical answer. I wouldn't differ you from those people that has shallow minds. You obviously did not understand the question correctly.

my boss doesnt like when my co-workers and i speak in spanish while we are working

are we allowed to speak in a different language or is there a law that prohibits it?

Most of my other co-workers and I do not speak Spanish, so we often times have no idea what is being discussed. My non-Spanish speaking co-workers have told me they believe it's very rude when they do it, and I've been the only one to ask them to speak English when they're around non-Spanish speaking employees so we can understand. It happens pretty frequently, and it makes me and others feel alienated. Is there a state (California) or federal law regarding this issue?

I ask this question with an open mind, I've heard it all...I have been cussed at, spit at, ridiculed, laughed at, you name it, because I look mexican and do not speak spanish. I know what I have learned in school and that is about it. It never occurred to me that this is a "problem" for people who speak spanish, until I was about 14, when I started working. People told me I should be ashamed of myself, and would make me cry at first. I wanted to learn so bad that I would stress about it in high school and try to learn and do all my other school work, but it is very hard to learn. Now I feel like I am only trying to learn to please others and not myself, it would be great to know, spanish, but a part of me has a feeling of resentment, that I am being forced to do this. If I didn't look so mexican would I still have to learn? My father tells me I don't have to, this is america, he speaks spanish, and now never uses it, he feels that I shouldn't have to, but i have mixed feelings...he doesn't know what its like to be made fun of and not even be able to understand your own co-workers. Im also mixed with philipino, american indian, and irish, but this means nothing to anyone else but myself because they only see a mexican girl. I wish I could be more informed about my mexican culture, but people have told me even if I learn spanish, I didnt grow up with the culture and would never fit in anyways...anybody have any thoughts on this? something i havent heard before? Im not asking for anyone to be sorry for me, but it would be refreshing to hear something encouraging, or helpful.

I would like to know what people who speak Latin American Spanish think of people who know or are learning "Castilian" or "Spain" Spanish. I have been learning how to speak spanish for a few weeks now with Rosetta Stone software. I am learning so that I can travel to Spain. I would like to try some of my spanish at work with some of spanish speaking co-workers but I don't want to sound like an idiot speaking Castilion when they are from Mexico. I don't want to screw up and make my "s"s sound like a "th" and sound like I have a lisp or something.

Hi Everyone,

I need a reliable English to Spanish (preferably Latin American) online translator. This is not for school... I have several co-workers from South America whom I would like to be able to communicate with better. LOL dispatch is a bit rough when there are language barriers. Thanks for your help in advance!