Working in non-english speaking countries

jimz · September 12th, 2007, 05:51 PM

Hi,

I was wondering if any programmers/developers/designers here have worked overseas in non-english speaking countries, when they speak very little of the native language.

I'd really like to live and work somewhere that is completely different from my own culture for a while, but still working as a developer.

Any ideas or experiences?

Cheers,
Jim.

alexgeek · September 12th, 2007, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimz

Hi,

I was wondering if any programmers/developers/designers here have worked overseas in non-english speaking countries, when they speak very little of the native language.

I'd really like to live and work somewhere that is completely different from my own culture for a while, but still working as a developer.

Any ideas or experiences?

Cheers,
Jim.

Are you talking about moving geographicaly, or just developing for foreign people?

c010depunkk · September 13th, 2007, 02:22 AM

Hi, I grew up in England / America and about a two years ago moved here to Germany to do an apprenticeship in Software Development. I knew a little German when I arrived, but not much. I work for a small company during the week and go to school 1-2 days a week. I also do some freelance programming and web design stuff on the side.

For me, the language barrier was actually not such a big problem, and knowing English was and still is a HUGE plus, especially in the IT field, due to the large amount of English terminology. All programming languages are "English" (kind of). In a lot of foreign countries, almost everyone learns English, and they can mostly at least understand you when you talk English and a lot can also talk it OK.

I now speak German fluently, and my written German is also quite good. Doing this was definitely a good experience and don't let the foreign language or culture bother you - it won't prevent you from doing your work and you'll learn to love your new environment soon enough. And if I managed to learn a foreign language and immerse myself in a foreign culture, then anyone can

....

welshstew · September 13th, 2007, 05:05 AM

I'm just about to head out to Ethiopia to work as a developer with Unicef for a while, so when I come back I'll let you know how it was.

Stew

Ross · September 13th, 2007, 05:07 AM

Just talk louder

Worked for me when I had french and polish clients

welshstew · September 13th, 2007, 05:15 AM

hmmmm louder....
I think I'm going along the talk slower route, as well as lots of paper planning and flow diagrams

jimz · September 13th, 2007, 05:21 AM

Wow, Ethiopia would be interesting

Germany would be great too, although I thought Frankfurt was a bit boring... Maybe Berlin?!

I was more thinking Japan, UAE, Europe (not UK or Ireland), Russia - I never really considered anywhere in Africa.

lol, yeah, I'm not to sure about the talking louder thing either.

Ross · September 13th, 2007, 07:12 AM

worked for me... maybe they were just agreeing with everything, just to shut me up

welshstew · September 13th, 2007, 09:27 AM

why not try somewhere like the canaries...
hot weather, beaches, brush up on your spanish,
must be lots of design work available - esp around the tourist trade

alexgeek · September 13th, 2007, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by welshstew

why not try somewhere like the canaries...
hot weather, beaches, brush up on your spanish,
must be lots of design work available - esp around the tourist trade

I'm guessing they'd have slow internet

Ross · September 13th, 2007, 11:48 AM

Nah very fast actually! Due to tourists wanting to email home and send pictures to friends and family

welshstew · September 13th, 2007, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross

Nah very fast actually! Due to tourists wanting to email home and send pictures to friends and family

Yep, was out surfing there this year and managed to hook up ok

A lot of the business out there rely on the tourist industry, but don't advertise until the tourists get there, esp the surf schools and saling schools, adn tennis schools, and scuba schools, and so on and so forth.

PGS · September 13th, 2007, 01:34 PM

Hello, I live and work in Brazil and in the UK, in design, I do not work with web design. But my friend and the person who put my web site together for me lives part of the year here and part in the US. She works full-time as a web designer and has clients in both countries. It is my understanding that you can have clients anywhere in the world , since you can communicate by email, instant messaging... even now phone calls through skype are not price-prohibitive... (payments can be made even via PayPal or similar, I guess). How many of you free-lancers actually meet with every client face to face? I might be terribly wrong, but my guess is that you don't need to get clients only from the area where you live... I thought this was one of the positives of the profession. And as for the language, most people who are in a situation where they need and can afford the services of a web designer will have some knowledge of English, as c010depunkk wrote above. So, you are styling, man! go for it :-) best of luck to you!!! any more info on Brazil, just shoot, I am not a frequent member here but I will reply promptly and in the best way I can.

sannbe · September 13th, 2007, 05:40 PM

Absolutely agree with PGS. You can live in one country and work for clients all over the world. I do and have never had a communication problem. I have found with many foreign companies there is always at least one person who speaks english. I do speak some german, and just enough french to be dangerous, but other than Lakota Sioux (a native american language) i only speak english....and as I said, it has never been a problem...yet.