Bridging The Language Gap In Multi-Lingual Workplaces?

raestarr asks: "I work in a predominantly French speaking company here in Silicon Valley and am having a difficult time conversing with my counterparts. I speak English, some German and some French, but for anyone that has ever tried to learn a language knows, it is difficult to understand a native speaker. The main problem I have is that we have had more than a couple of e-mails asking everyone to speak English in the office to no avail and I have begun to feel isolated in what should be an exciting company to be a part of, due to the lack of communication between the English speakers and the French speakers. So I guess my question to the Slashdot community is this, has anyone else ever been in this situation and how was it resolved (or was it)?"