IT Work without spanish

daver says on Aug 23, 2004, 14:16:

Kenneth,

Your best bet would be to put all your efforts into learning Spannish. I am in the same boat, as I want to work in Medellin, and I have an engineering degree, and I can't speak Spannish. So when you look at Colombia's economy, and the fact you don't speak the language, you will have a really hard time finding an IT job. I mean, if a Colombian with an IT degree came to Ireland, and didn't speak English, what do you think would happen.

One possibilty would be to teach English (of course) while learning Spannish, and at the same time, look for IT work.

You will need to do some research into getting work VISAs. You can probably teach English without one, but I doubt a IT company would have an illegal employee on the books.

Good luck, its not easy to do what you are trying to do, but it'll work out in the end.

Dave

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Mr. Hollywood says on Aug 23, 2004, 15:55:

Spanish is vital Sorry to be a wet rag, but you have almost no chance of getting IT work without the language skills. The first reason, of course, is that IT workers need to be able to communicate will with their clients, who are unlikely to speak English. Second, there are a lot of qualified people in almost every tech speciality in Bogota. Blame all those good universities.

Like they said above, focus first on learning Spanish. The other thing I'd suggest is asking around to see if there's a specialty you can develop that's hard for Colombian employers to fill domestically. The other possibility is to think about keeping your career outside Colombia and living there part time. Believe me, you could probably make more in 2 months consulting in the USA or Europe than you can in a year working at Colombia wages.

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Kenneth says on Aug 24, 2004, 16:24:

Thanks Daver & Mr.Hollywood,

Thank you both very much for your advise. I probably needed a reality check but I'll do my very best somehow.
Sure is difficult falling for a colombian girl.

Best Regards,
Ken.

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utopiacowboy says on Aug 24, 2004, 16:28:

I don't know why you say it is difficult falling for a Colombiana. Sure there are a few hurdles to jump but they are well worth it.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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daver says on Aug 24, 2004, 17:33:

Yes. Falling for a Colombian girl is EASY. Falling for Colombia is the more difficult part.

As unique and beautiful as that country is, the people are easily the best part.

Just don't expect to make the same money as you do in Ireland.

Dave

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kiwi says on Aug 25, 2004, 03:44:

Put your PC into Spanish Trust me this is the best way to learn all those tech words in Spanish. I did it cause I had to support our Madrid office - I work in IT support in London - in just a few weeks I'm up to speed with enough tech words to talk with the engineers/users all in Spanish.

Like Daver & the guys say, go out there and teach English for a while, get near fluent in Spanish and go from there. IT is a wide field so anything is possible.

I've been with my Paisa gf for 2 yrs, am now high intermediate in Spanish. Methods that helped me learn:
- love the language, be totally into it, passionate about it
- listen to Spanish music, internet radio, watch DVDs in Spanish with English subtitles, chat on internet, read news in Spanish online
- try to speak, read, listen to at least some Spanish everyday
- Pimsleur CD course is helpful. I also bought the Michel Thomas 8 CD course from Amazon for about £60.
- I went to night classes once a week for 2 hrs for about a year, helped get a grounding in grammar rules, structure of Spanish verbs
- whenever you meet someone from Sth America or Spain attempt to say as much in Spanish as you can
- www.studyspanish.com is where I started, it has heaps of free stuff
- www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/ plenty of stuff here too

You get back what you put in. All the best Kenneth! Buena suerte amigo!

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LarsBrink says on Aug 25, 2004, 05:08:

More language links? Hi kiwi,

Thanks for the language links! I used the studyspanish one but never saw the BBC one and it seems cool.

Other people have similar links?

Regards,

Lars Brink - colombia.dk - brink-christensen.dk

~ Lars Brink ~ www.colombia.dk ~

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utopiacowboy says on Aug 25, 2004, 08:05:

Excellent list of suggestions, Kiwi! The only one I would add is: Marry a woman who only speaks Spanish and does not speak any English. You gotta be passionate about it then!

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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pointofview says on Aug 25, 2004, 08:26:

Utopia Cowboy Quote:

"Marry a woman who only speaks Spanish and does not speak any English. You gotta be passionate about it then!"

This is a receipe for an excellant relationship until the time you both find a common language to communicate with. jajajjajajajajaj

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kiwi says on Aug 25, 2004, 12:34:

a few more links Yeah sometimes I wish my gf wasn't fluent in English! We seem to speak English all the time for some reason!

Someone may find these useful:

http://iteslj.org/v/s/
www.lingolex.com/spanish.htm
http://spanish.allinfo-about.com/grammar/verbs/verbindex.html

Everyday I listen to internet radio from Bogotá. Find it at www.tropicanafm.com click on "escúchanos en vivo". I'm sure there are 100's of others. Here's a couple:

www.caracol.com.co/
www.rcn.com.co/

Watch the news from Colombian TV here:

www.canalcaracol.com/

Click on "Noticias en video" a flashing icon on the right. Uses Real Player or Media Player. Quality is not fantastic.

Get hold of some Colombian/Sth American music. Stuff like Maná, Carlos Vives, Shakira, Juanes, Grupo Niche are popular with most Colombians I've met.

While you're listening, jump onto Google, search for the song lyrics & read along while you listen. Works for me. You start understanding & enjoying songs a lot more. When I saw Juanes in concert a couple of months ago I was singing along with the rest of the 99.9% Latino crowd! Great fun.

www.asklyrics.com/ will find most of what you need.

I read here somewhere that when you marry a Colombiana/Latina you are marrying the culture. True I think. Was talking to a lady from Peru at a latin party last weekend, she's married to an English guy. Where is he I asked? He doesn't like these kind of parties she said. Great food, music, dancing, laughter, a few beers...what's not to like?

Hasta luego...

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utopiacowboy says on Aug 25, 2004, 14:00:

Well, Kiwi, I guess we both have to look at the bright sides. Even though my Spanish has progressed at a remarkable rate (it had to since that's all my wife speaks), sometimes I really want to talk to her in English. Yes, I can think in Spanish but there is something about your native language that is special. So I guess I am surprised that she doesn't sometimes talk to you in Spanish.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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kiwi says on Aug 26, 2004, 05:00:

I asked her why Utopia... and she said it's because when we met we always spoke in English (I only knew a handful of words in Spanish), so she "knows me in English". Sure we speak some sentences in Spanish, but if I speak Spanish to her as I do a lot, she answers in English usually.
Does yr wife live in the States? And she doesn't speak any English?
How long have u studied Spanish?

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utopiacowboy says on Aug 26, 2004, 08:38:

I know where your girlfriend is coming from - once you get in the habit of speaking to someone in a certain language, it's hard to stop. Now I should be speaking to my wife in English but it's become instinctive to talk to her in Spanish. My wife has lived in the US since April so it's only been 5 months - she is studying English. For me, I started with no knowledge of Spanish and have been learning for the past year and a half with my wife.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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Dan says on Aug 27, 2004, 07:33:

Spanish Marriage is a great help. I'm working on it right now. My future wife only speaks spanish. When I met her, I was working on teaching myself Russian. The Russian only lasted a week and a half. Now I am totally focusing on Spanish. Listening to Radio, TV Reading Newspapers. I have a few movies with Spanish Audio that I watch once in a while to see if I recognize any new words. (Lilo & Stitch seems to be my favorite right now in Spanish)... I also have little more than a dictionary and a Verb book. I also have a couple books that are in Spanish that I got for my girlfriend, but I am reading them myself and looking up the words I don't know. I like the idea of putting the computer into Spanish too. I have my keyboard setup to be able to switch between typing Eng/Esp.
With all this, My girlfriend said that my spanish has improved a LOT. That is, until I went back to the US and then she said it got worse, but still not as bad as when we first met.

Good luck with your progress.
Daniel

God Bless America!

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FrankLeal says on Aug 28, 2004, 19:55:

Learn Spanish in Colombia! Hi!
I'm writing you from Bucaramanga a city distant 30 min from Bogotá by plane and 9 hours by car. I am an English teacher at Centro Colombo Americano a renown institution in Colombia. I can offer you a very cheap plan to learn Spanish during the time you desire, it could be 2 or three months. The prices per month are:

Lodging (with a family) $250.000COP=$98USD
Spanish course (25 hours per week)=$650.000COP=$255USD
3 foods $360.000COP=$141USD
Other expenses (e.g.transport) $100.000COP=$39USD
Total (1 month) $1.360.000COP= $533USD

If you want to work giving English classes that would be possible and you will earn, working 14hours/week about $430.000COP =$169USD

That means that in total you will expense $930.000COP = $365USD per month.

Near Bucaramanga there are interesting places for practice of X-treme sports or you could during weekends visit beautiful colonial towns (or of course go to Bogotá and visit your girlfriend).

For more information contact me at franklealt at yahoo.com.ar

Best regards,
Francisco Leal

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