Hello everybody!

[snowleopard]

Hola!
I'm so glad I found this site (by a chance, while looking at ads on loquo.com). I've been thinking about moving to Spain for a long time, and I'm looking for like-minded people, and also the ones who made it already and who could share their experience.

This won't be my first change of the country. I did it once already-moved from Moscow to New York in 1992. 5 years later I moved to San Francisco, and... it's time for me now to move again, this time back east! I just don't seem to be able to stop... ;D

The only thing that stopped me from moving to Spain before is the absence of EU residence (I only have US and Russian citizenships). Otherwise, I'd have gone long time ago. However, I decided it's enough sitting around and waiting: nothing will happen if I don't make a move. So I'm planning now to go to Barcelona first for 3 months to take Spanish classes and research the situation. I'll see what happens. I know it's useless to sit in the US and apply for jobs in Spain online. I've seen openings in my field (I'm a web designer/developer), but they all require EU residency.
Anyways, just wanted to introduce myself... and I'd greatly appreciate any advice and info!

Saludos,
Vera

[que]

Welcome!

you've come to the right place. There are many people here with a passion for learning spanish and with the intent on moving to spain someday.

Whilst i cant help you with information on the best way to get to spain, i wish you all the luck. Im sure some people here can help though.

Look forward to seeing you about in the forums!

[Ben]

Hi, my advice is just to go for it, you will find loads of opportunities once you are here. Of course it would make sense to keep as many contacts as you can from the States work-wise, as the beauty of your job is that you could work for clients anywhere (e.g. the US), while sitting in a nice appartment in Spain!

[Edith]

Hi, my advice is just to go for it, you will find loads of opportunities once you are here. Of course it would make sense to keep as many contacts as you can from the States work-wise, as the beauty of your job is that you could work for clients anywhere (e.g. the US), while sitting in a nice appartment in Spain!

Hi Ben, there is something I have been wanting to ask you for a long time: were you trained to be a translator? I know you work as a translator every now and then, translating Spanish into English.

I am thinking about embarking on a 4-year course to be a translator after returning from Tenerife. They train you to translate from Spanish into Dutch. This would enable me to do some free-lance translating, so I can improve my financial position and move to Spain eventually (after my retirement). What do you think? What are my chances of finding (free-lance) work in Spain after completing the course?

[Ben]

Hi, I think you have lots of opportunities here to work freelance with a qualification like that. To be honest I have no formal qualification - I just sent some CVs to translation agencies in Madrid a few years ago and started to be sent work. My CV had a bit of translation experience on it already from work I had done in the office where I taught English. So, the course may not be essential for an English person where there is a lot of work around, but perhaps dutch is more competitive, in which case you might do well to have the qualification, I'm not sure. Hope this helps a bit!

[Edith]

Hi, I think you have lots of opportunities here to work freelance with a qualification like that. To be honest I have no formal qualification - I just sent some CVs to translation agencies in Madrid a few years ago and started to be sent work. My CV had a bit of translation experience on it already from work I had done in the office where I taught English. So, the course may not be essential for an English person where there is a lot of work around, but perhaps dutch is more competitive, in which case you might do well to have the qualification, I'm not sure. Hope this helps a bit!

Thanks Ben! I did some free-of-charge translations for Amnesty International (English--->Dutch) a couple of years ago, but I know I still have to learn a great deal about the Spanish language before embarking on such a project. It would be quite a challenge because it means I will have to spend at least four to five evenings at home studying Spanish for four years to get the certificate! On the other hand, I'm very motivated to start a new career! :)

[josh]

Hi Ben, there is something I have been wanting to ask you for a long time: were you trained to be a translator? I know you work as a translator every now and then, translating Spanish into English.

I am thinking about embarking on a 4-year course to be a translator after returning from Tenerife. They train you to translate from Spanish into Dutch. This would enable me to do some free-lance translating, so I can improve my financial position and move to Spain eventually (after my retirement). What do you think? What are my chances of finding (free-lance) work in Spain after completing the course?

Ben has no qualification fro anything. He barely scraped through school. He was brought up in the slums outside Oxford. That he has managed to get so far is an inspiration to us all.

[Ben]

Josh, the above rude-boy, is a great friend of mine who is obviously very very bored at work. Please ignore him and his dark English humour unless he has someting inteligent to say.

Didn't I get better qualifications than you at school Josh? ;)

[josh]

you got an A in censorship, thats for sure.

[omeyas]

Not sure how well paid translation work in Spain is, but we briefly had a Spanish teacher from Barcelona, and whilst here she was working in a sports shop, and she reckoned that paid her as much, if not more, than working in Spain. :confused: