“Un Paso Atrás, Dos Adelante”: Reporting the Experiences of Spanish-Speaking Latin Americans Navigating and Adapting to the Canadian Workplace

Jully Paola Merchán Tamayo and Jenepher Lennox Terrion ()
Additional contact information
Jully Paola Merchán Tamayo: University of Ottawa
Jenepher Lennox Terrion: University of Ottawa

Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2023, vol. 24, issue 4, No 16, 1865-1889

Abstract: Abstract The linguistic landscape of Canadian workplaces is becoming increasingly diverse as organizations employ individuals from various countries and who speak different native languages. As language is a critical marker of identity and group membership, language-based identities are powerful in shaping workplace experiences. Understanding these experiences and how individuals adapt can offer organizations insight into how to integrate a linguistically diverse workforce. This study explored the language-related experiences of Spanish-speaking Latin Americans in the Canadian National Capital Region as they adapt to and integrate into their workplaces and the coping strategies they use. Twenty-four semi-structured interviews demonstrated that participants vacillate between feelings of self-doubt and a sense of confidence as they navigate the emotional and cognitive challenges of working in their non-native language. A detailed description of the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and interactional coping strategies that participants enacted to navigate and adapt to their workplaces is provided. Findings from this study have implications for practical strategies to facilitate the integration of non-native speakers into the Canadian workplace.

Keywords: Language diversity; Linguistic identity; Coping strategies; Integration; Spanish-speaking Latin; Americans; Canadian workplaces (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-023-01046-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:joimai:v:24:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s12134-023-01046-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... tudies/journal/12134

DOI: 10.1007/s12134-023-01046-4

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Migration and Integration is currently edited by Lori Wilkinson

More articles in Journal of International Migration and Integration from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().