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Working abroad only for languages

 Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work Post Reply
9 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
prz_
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Poland
last.fm/user/prz_rul
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890 posts - 1190 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian
Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish

 
 Message 1 of 9
22 July 2012 at 2:46pm | IP Logged 
I think that everyone here knows how important is a contact with the living language... That's why it makes me wonder what are the possibilities to work abroad, but not tire oneself out and spend as much time for languages as possible. (Including the idea of voluntary service.)
2 persons have voted this message useful



eggcluck
Senior Member
China
Joined 4461 days ago

168 posts - 278 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 2 of 9
22 July 2012 at 3:15pm | IP Logged 
Well I am currently in China with plenty of time to study. Let me put it this way.

I have been here for 8 months...it has been a difficult unhappy experience. I have no friends and everywhere I have gone I have only been met with abuse. To say I feel lonely would be an understatement.

Edited by eggcluck on 22 July 2012 at 3:16pm

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newyorkeric
Diglot
Moderator
Singapore
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Speaks: English*, Italian
Studies: Mandarin, Malay
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 Message 3 of 9
22 July 2012 at 5:25pm | IP Logged 
I'm sorry about your experience, eggcluck. Care to expand a little on why you feel this way?

Edited by newyorkeric on 22 July 2012 at 5:26pm

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hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
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Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 4 of 9
22 July 2012 at 6:23pm | IP Logged 
eggcluck wrote:

I have been here for 8 months...it has been a difficult unhappy experience. I have no
friends and everywhere I have gone I have only been met with abuse. To say I feel lonely
would be an understatement.

I guess I can understand feeling lonely, but how do you feel abused?


R.
==
2 persons have voted this message useful



viedums
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Thailand
Joined 4426 days ago

327 posts - 528 votes 
Speaks: Latvian, English*, German, Mandarin, Thai, French
Studies: Vietnamese

 
 Message 5 of 9
26 July 2012 at 5:58pm | IP Logged 
To the OP: Well, you could teach English in Asia, although from your target languages you seem more focused on Europe. In a country like Thailand, I believe it’s possible for Europeans with a good level of English to get work in schools or universities. At the uni where I used to teach, they hired an Estonian, as well as a Romanian who had spent some time in Canada. Of course, there’s a large element of luck in going to work abroad. Teaching didn’t work out for me in Taiwan, although I really enjoyed studying Chinese there. Perhaps Southeast Asians have a more relaxed approach to life generally. And for someone who’s into languages, Southeast Asia is just fantastic.


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sctroyenne
Diglot
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5151 days ago

739 posts - 1312 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Spanish, Irish

 
 Message 6 of 9
16 August 2012 at 10:43pm | IP Logged 
For work that won't tire you out and leave you time for languagues you could consider a
sort of simple, mind-numbing job. I worked answering phones for a hotel and while there
were certainly busy periods there was a lot of downtime where we could read and browse
the internet. I got so bored I ended up going back to school just becaue I figured I'd
use the downtime for something productive. Other similar jobs such as manning a desk that
doesn't get too busy, security guard, overnight shifts such as night audit at a hotel,
etc would give you a lot of downtime to do other things. Working in a hostel will put you
in contact with a lot of speakers of a lot of different languages. A lot of people get
jobs as nannies and au pairs in order to move to a new country and learn the language if
you're into that (and female as families tend to prefer them). As long as you can legally
enter the country and seek work these can be good jobs to earn some money while exploring
the culture and language.
1 person has voted this message useful



baskerville
Trilingual Triglot
Newbie
Singapore
scribeorigins.com
Joined 4006 days ago

39 posts - 43 votes
Speaks: English*, Tagalog*
Studies: German*, Japanese
Studies: Hungarian

 
 Message 7 of 9
07 June 2013 at 5:21pm | IP Logged 
sctroyenne wrote:
Working in a hostel will put you
in contact with a lot of speakers of a lot of different languages.
Hey, this sounds like a great job. More
nationalities, more practice :)
1 person has voted this message useful



vogue
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4014 days ago

109 posts - 181 votes 
Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Ukrainian

 
 Message 8 of 9
19 June 2013 at 4:36pm | IP Logged 
You can try workaway-ing or woof-ing for volunteer options - usually the people you stay will with provide you with
food/housing.

Right now to work on my Italian I'm an au pair, though as Sctroyenne mentioned families tend to prefer young-ish
(18-30) females, as au-pairs are really more of an 'exchange' program than work. Though you do get paid, room
and board is certainly covered, and in some cases additional perks (mine being phone and transport costs covered
as well as getting to use the facilities at the sporting club and getting afternoon gelato sometimes :)) I do have to
speak in English with their child (20 months), but with the parents I can speak Italian, and often when they're tired
they prefer Italian to be spoken.

Edited by vogue on 19 June 2013 at 4:39pm



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