language barrier when you first moved to a new country for work
Posted by Accurate-Beyond-9627@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 11 comments
I’d love to hear your experience, especially if you’ve moved to a country where you weren’t fluent in the local language.
Square_Positive_559@reddit
Moved to Norway and I was not fluent in the local language.
At the end, everyone is fluent in english maybe 95% of the population.
For daily life, I don't need the language.
For work, in my current company I don't need it, sometimes people speak Norwegian during meetings or by mail but when they see me in the meeting for example they switch to english.
Problem is that : If I want to have more professional opportunities I must speak Norwegian, as I said 95% of the population speak english but some industries are only open to Norwegian speaker.
RoundAd4247@reddit
I’ve never moved to a country where I don’t speak the language fluently (well, to Denmark with only Swedish, it took two months). Is there something preventing you from studying French, like a serious brain damage?
Ok-Stress2326@reddit
No, French is just a weird language 🤣
Mashdoofus@reddit
Easiest: face to face interactions with people who speak clearly and minimal slang Medium hard: much older or much younger people (due to slang) Pretty hard: people who speak with accents - you're trying to understand already let alone the nuances of accents! Really hard: people who speak really fast and mash all the words Diabolical: phone calls
wapera@reddit
Bro I literally hung up twice when I had to make a phone call in French for the first time. 🤣
Accurate-Beyond-9627@reddit (OP)
having travel experience in France, they dont speak English
Subterraniate2@reddit
Many do, but you *have* to make the effort to communicate in French or you’ll remain feeling like an outsider far too long, snd possibly even chuck in the towel. .
It’s not helpful to view a ‘language barrier’ as a fixed entity. It diminishes in size and importance the more you exert yourself to deny it.
mmoonbelly@reddit
Live in France. A lot of the French in our town have decent conversational English.
mmoonbelly@reddit
Moved to France at 22 after not having spoken French since GCSE.
Full immersion, was B1 after 9 months without lessons. Made it to C1 after 121 lessons kicked in the next year.
Had French friends from uni in Germany who were also living in Paris. We used French in Paris, not German as a common language.
hyterus@reddit
It took me 3 years to feel comfortable
my_peen_is_clean@reddit
first 6 months were mostly me smiling and nodding at meetings and hoping no one asked follow ups; tons of mental fatigue after work. it got better once i forced myself to do small talk daily. takes time but worth it