We Don’t Speak the Same Around Everyone

Read this article with me.

We change the way we speak depending on who we're talking to. I think we can all agree on that. Some do it more than others, and some ethnicities HAVE to do it more than others, in order to try to avoid being stigmatised or stereotyped. I thought this was SUCH an interesting article about the Costs of Code-Switching and how we are impacted by it. This article focuses more on how Code-Switching affects black professionals in the US, and gives a really interesting view into a world that perhaps most of us are completely unaware of.

Transcript

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Hey, what's up? What's going on? Welcome to another episode of English with Dane, a podcast designed to help you enjoy the process of perfecting your English. As always, I'm your host Dane, and you can find me on Instagram and TikTok at English with Dane. Today's episode is about something that I find fascinating. It is about the concept of something called code switching. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with coding, coding apps or JavaScript or anything like that. Code switching is the practice of alternating between two or more languages, dialects, or speech styles depending on the social context or audience or setting. We all know it well. You speak to your lifelong friend from school in a very different way than you would to your coworker or your boss, for example. In my case, being from Peru, I sound really different when speaking to my brother or my family than when I speak to Spanish friends here in Madrid. I don't suddenly become Spanish, but I do change my word choice and my intonation. It's not necessarily a conscious thing, but it is something that happens. I'm sure some of you maybe live here in Madrid and speak a certain way, but when you go back to your pueblos or to wherever you might be from originally, you notice yourself change. Code switching is also a huge reality for black Americans in the labor market in the US, as well as second generation immigrant families, right? Because of the negative stereotypes associated with their cultures and socioeconomic conditions. I think this is something super interesting, and I thought we could learn about it in today's episode. So this is an article read-along, and you can find the full article in the episode description. So take a second to navigate to that, click on the link, and let's read along together. Another quick note: several people have already written to me to inquire or ask about the immersion program we'll be doing in late February or early March of 2026. And a few of you have already asked me to put you on the list. So if you want more info on that, write to me at EnglishwithDane at gmail.com or just on Instagram. All right, let's get into this article. You are listening to episode 32 of season two of English with Dane. Hit it. Okay, you heard the music, so let's get right into the article. This article is from Harvard Business Review, and again, you can find a link to the full article in the description of the episode. We're not going to read the whole thing because I think it would be a bit exhausting, so I'll skip a few parts. So let's read this together. The Costs of Code Switching, written by Courtney L. McClooney, Katharina Robotham, Serenity Lee, Richard Smith, and Miles Durkey. In 2012, a video of President Barack Obama entering the locker room, in the vestuario, the locker room of the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team went viral. In the clip, viewers can see that there's a clear difference between how Obama greets a white assistant coach and how he greets the black NBA player Kevin Durant. This moment inspired a sketch on Kean Peel in 2014 that played off the idea that Obama, quote, switches how he greets people depending on whether they're white or black. Kian Peel is a great sketch show, by the way, I highly recommend it. Let's keep going. This kind of behavioral adjustment is casually referred to as code switching, which has been a strategy for black people to successfully navigate interracial interactions and has large implications for their well-being, economic advancement, and even physical survival. Broadly, or in general, code switching involves adjusting one's style of speech, appearance, behavior, and expression in ways that will optimize the comfort of others in exchange for fair treatment, quality service, and employment opportunities. Research suggests that code switching often occurs in spaces where negative stereotypes of black people run counter to what are considered, quote, appropriate behaviors and norms for a specific environment. For example, research conducted in schools suggests that black students selectively code switch between standard English in the classroom and African American vernacular English or AAVE with their peers, which elevates their social standing with each intended audience. We also see examples of guidelines encouraging black people to code switch to survive police interactions, such as, quote, acting polite and respectful when stopped, and quote, avoiding running even if you are afraid. Based on our research and the work of others, we argue that code switching is one of the key dilemmas that black employees face around race at work. While it is frequently seen as crucial for professional advancement, code switching often comes at a great psychological cost. If leaders are truly seeking to promote inclusion and address social inequality, they must begin by understanding why a segment of their workforce believes that they cannot truly be themselves in the office. Then they should address what everyone at the company needs to do to change this. The upsides and downsides of code switching. Workplace research suggests that code switching can generate both positive and negative outcomes for black employees. In our review of the existing literature, we identified three main reasons people code switch in the workplace. 1. For black people and other racial minorities, downplaying membership in a stigmatized racial group helps increase perceptions of professionalism and the likelihood of being hired. 2. Avoiding negative stereotypes associated with black racial identity, for example, incompetence and laziness, helps black employees be seen as leaders. And three, expressing shared interests with members of dominant groups promotes similarity with powerful organizational members, which raises the chance of promotions because individuals tend to affiliate with people they perceive as similar. At the same time, we know that code switching comes with social and psychological repercussions. Downplaying one's racial group can generate hostility from in-group members, increasing the likelihood that those who code switch will be accused of quote acting white. Seeking to avoid stereotypes is hard work and can deplete cognitive resources and hinder performance. So it makes your performance worse. The goal of this research was to examine how code switching as an impression management strategy informs black people's work experiences. We also wanted to examinate the pros and cons of this behavior for their professional and psychological well-being. Our findings, while largely self-reported, add to the ongoing work of understanding how black professionals navigate mostly white American organizations. Creating workplaces that are inclusive of black people will enable companies to retain a diverse workforce and bolster innovation. To bolster, escrito B-O-L-S-T-E-R, means to support, to strengthen or reinforce something, in this case innovation, to bolster innovation. However, black employees who feel pressure to code switch may perceive that they are being devalued, which in turn may reduce their commitment to the company and desire to contribute their unique insights. Our work provides an in-depth review of black employees' working lives that will allow companies to create better strategies for recruiting and retaining these workers. The complexities and nuances of code switching. To begin our research, we developed a code switching at work scale to assess the extent to which black people downplayed their race, like I try not to act like other members of my racial group, to avoid stereotypes, for example, I avoid behaviors that would make people at work think I'm lazy, and promoted share interests with majority group members. For example, I try to talk about topics that other people would find interesting. On average, across all three dimensions, participants responded at a four, which indicates that code switching is neither overly present nor overly absent from these employees' work lives. Clearly, there is some complexity in when and how code switching occurs. Through our survey, participants largely acknowledged the benefits of engaging in the three kinds of code switching listed above. They also articulated how they view and experience these benefits and how different situations can influence the extent to which they code switch. We list four of these situations below. Leadership Aspiration. We found that black employees with high career aspirations for leadership and promotion opportunities actively avoided conforming to black stereotypes to a higher degree than those with low career aspirations. Quote, I operate under the assumption that most people expect less of me because of my race, said a 31-year-old black anesthesiologist. Another quote, under that assumption, I find it easy to modify my behavior slightly to consistently outpace expectations of my abilities. To outpace means to go faster than something or someone, right? To surpass or to grow or progress more quickly. Respondents also named specific stereotypical behaviors that they regularly avoid. Quote, I go out of my way to make sure I don't appear lazy because I know the stereotypes, said a 23-year-old black female program manager. Another quote, people talk, and if you look a certain way, you really have to work twice as hard. The sentence we just read was I go out of my way to make sure I don't appear lazy because I know the stereotypes. Black employees who perceived that they fit in their organization also reported downplaying their race and promoting shared interests with dominant group members. It's exhausting navigating an all-whereplace. This next part is about vigilance. High levels of vigilant behaviors, that is, always preparing for potential discrimination and mistreatment, were also positively associated with all three dimensions of code switching at work. One black man described his vigilance about race as, quote, constantly being under a magnifying glass. Due to the questions asked by my coworkers, it is clear that they view my presence as a sneak peek into black culture, he said. I find myself constantly trying to be aware of my mannerisms to ensure that I don't portray myself or the people I represent in a negative light. Another man, a 31-year-old financial analyst, noted that he's more vigilant at work because the stakes are so high. But when you're being judged by co-workers in a place that you want to build a career in, it's not an easy dismissal. Those perspectives hold weight because it can make or break your career here in America. Finally, a 32-year-old black woman described vigilance as a day-to-day coping mechanism. It has been my specific experience that it is simply easier to anticipate the complaints, jokes, and negative comments from white people and just adapt to their discomfort and ignorance in order to maintain workplace peace. The third one is diversity environment. We found that the racial composition of the workplace, as well as whether respondents perceived that their organization had an environment that promoted diversity, influenced the extent to which black employees code-switched. While we know that black employees code-switch when they aren't well represented in companies, we also uncovered evidence that they downplay their racial identity and promote shared interests with others even when they are equally represented. Why and when is this the case? We have a few theories. It is possible that the stigma associated with black racial identity affects how larger groups are perceived, especially if they are seen as or actually are low-performing. In these situations, black employees may downplay their race and try to reduce the stigma attached to it in the presence of others. Another theory is that non-black co-workers may be more likely to promote shared interests with others outside their own racial group when black employees are equally represented. This may increase the likelihood of black employees code-switching in return. We were also surprised to find that black employees avoided stereotypes about black racial identity when they perceived that their organization either did not embrace diversity, also known as a colorblind ideology, or strongly embraced differences, also known as a multicultural ideology. In other words, a failure to acknowledge differences reduces the ability to recognize discrimination. Black employees might therefore seek to avoid stereotypes in colorblind organizations to avoid differential treatment. And in contrast, companies that actively promote diversity-friendly work environment can make the differences between groups more visible. Conforming to stereotypes in these multicultural environments may encourage the belief that black people have innate and fixed behaviors. Thus, in order to be seen as an individual, a black employee may code switch. All of this is, of course, complex and nuanced. Indeed, it seems that no diversity environment perfectly eliminates code switching, but that may be the point. It can be challenging for a black employee to navigate any organization's racial composition and diversity climate, especially over the span of an entire career. But even though he's at an organization now that's more focused on diversity, he still struggles to find co-workers to bond with because of his previous experience. Taxing. It's a really normal thing we do as humans, and there's definitely a lot of psychology and cultural issues behind this. It's really cool and really interesting to be aware of these types of things, not only to navigate the world of English, but also the world. I hope you found this article interesting and that it gave you something to think about. And as always, I hope you got something from it. We came across a lot of great new words, and I invite you to choose the ones that you liked and write them down or add them to your hopefully ever-growing vocabulary list on your phone. If you don't have a vocabulary list on your phone, start one today, you won't regret it. Alright, that's the episode. I hope you liked it. Share it with someone who you think would also enjoy it. And don't forget to give the show a five-star rating on Spotify or wherever you listen. Also, I love your feedback, so write to me on Instagram if you have any, or if you just want to say hi. Alright, have a great week. Later.