Going Global
The first day of a new job is usually a) busy, b) exciting, c) terrifying or d) all of the above. Here at Global Language Jobs, you can add another option - e) unusual.
I'm Kate, the newest member of the Global Language Jobs team. As an English girl in an English office in an English village you would not expect to be considered a minority, but there are so many other nationalities here that the number of native English colleagues by no way dominate the office (except for Swedish speaking Scouser Mike who is always heard before he is seen!). Because of this diversity it isn't like other workplaces where everybody speaks, thinks and works the same.
English is my first language, my comfort zone, despite having a colourful background of Latvian and Puerto Rican descent - no, I don't speak Latvian or Spanish, but Finnish...don't ask - so I see the perks of GLJ quite differently to some of my colleagues. A couple of years ago I planned to move to Finland, nowhere near fluent in the language then but desperate to learn. But English speaking jobs just weren't available, nor was there any online support for help in the area. I was left with the unfortunate impression that there just wasn't a need for English speaking workers in Finland. But, as Global Language Jobs has shown me, all countries in Europe require links to their neighbours and what better than to employ fluent speakers from all over the globe.
If GLJ had been around in the past, I'm sure my situation would be very different. But, for now, I'll stay in England. After leaving Liverpool for the rural charm of Saltaire, it's sometimes like living in a new country. Considering I find it easier to understand my new colleagues at GLJ than broad Yorkshire accents, I would say that this is definitely e) unusual.
