When the opportunity of being an expat comes around, there are many things to think about. This change can be very scary, and the fear can make people leave this chance pass them by. Even when it can also bring them great things.
We get it; it can be a tough decision.
If you’re currently in this position, don’t stress anymore. We’re here to help you get some clarity by knowing the pros and cons of being an expat. Do the advantages truly outweigh the disadvantages? Only you can make that decision.
And remember: There are no right or wrong answers! There’s only the option that better suits you.
Pros of Being an Expat
New experiences
When you go to live abroad, you’ll inevitably have new experiences. Because you’re in a new country you don’t know well, even if you’ve visited it as a tourist. It’s different to live there.
There are new places, ways of living, food, and people. So you’ll definitely have tons of adventures discovering the country and culture. It’s always interesting to discover new things and new perspectives.
These adventures will make great memories and anecdotes!
At the same time of having fun experiencing new things, you’ll also get more cultural knowledge. Think about it: By living in the country and culture, you’ll learn a lot about their traditions, lifestyle, values, history, gastronomy, and more!
Developing cultural sensitivity
Like we said above, if you go to work and live abroad, you’ll get to learn about a new culture. Even better, you’ll experience a new culture. This might be hard at first, but it’ll make you a better person because you’ll develop cultural sensitivity.
This means that you’ll get to truly know the culture and all the differences and similarities it has with your own culture and traditions. This will make you respect that culture despite the differences with yours and whether you like it or not.
This is a very valuable skill to have. It’ll help you personally, but also professionally. Maybe you’ll keep working with other expats or with a multilingual workforce.
Or maybe in the future, you’ll have clients and business partners from other parts of the world. So, you’ll know how to understand them better and be respectful of them because of your cultural sensitivity.
International connections
Being an expat doesn’t just mean going to work abroad and staying in the office 24/7. You’ll also have to make a life outside of work there. This means you’ll have to interact with people and make friends.
Sure, you could easily find a community of other expats. They’ll probably understand your struggles, speak your native language, and some might even be from your birth country. That would be great for understanding and companionship.
But we highly recommend you also integrate with the local community. That is with people that are from your new country of residence. Natives love when foreigners integrate with the locals. So definitely try to do this! You won’t lose anything and will probably gain a lot!
You’ll make international friends with new perspectives on life and different matters, which will make you grow. You’ll also won’t feel so alone, have tons of fun, and they can help you fully merge with the culture.
That’s not it! Friendship is one type of connection you can make while living abroad.
You’ll also create new international contacts for work! By working abroad and interacting with people in your new job, you’ll create professional connections there. They can act as potential coworkers, business partners, employees, clients, investors for your professional future.
Even if you go back to your home country, these people can still be great contacts later in life. For example: What if you decide to create your own business and need international people to reach new markets?
See? Being an expat is a great opportunity to create personal and professional connections.
Problem-solving skills
When living and working in a new country for the first time, you’ll face different challenges. This might seem like a disadvantage. But what comes when you figure them out it’s amazing. You’ll develop problem solving skills!
Whether at the office, interacting with locals, doing everyday activities, understanding the new culture, you’ll have to figure out things you don’t know.
What makes it harder is if you’re alone. No friends or family to help you right there. But even if you take your family with you, they might not know how to do or solve something, especially at your new job.
But don’t let this stress you out. Little by little, your problem-solving skills will improve a lot, and challenges will become easier for you.
Language fluency
We’ve already seen that if you’re an expat you’ll have to interact with the new country and its people. Even in the slightest things, like buying a soda in a convenient store, or saying “good morning” to your boss. And even in everyday activities like going grocery shopping, going to the bank, listening to the news…
These small things will help your vocabulary, speaking, listening, and overall language skills improve a bit.
But you can also achieve language fluency. If you’re working in your second language, you’ll inevitably have to use it almost every day. Not only on paper, but also by speaking it! For business meetings, chatting with coworkers, asking questions, attending clients, and so on.
Add to that, speaking your second language during the weekends with your local friends and doing normal activities like visiting the market. Your language practice will be a lot! Every day to be exact.
Therefore, you’ll gradually start noticing advancements in your fluency. Maybe you’ll pronounce the words better and stop stuttering much. Maybe you won’t have to pause to think of the word you want to say, and maybe you’ll even speak faster.
Career growth
Oftentimes, expats go to a new country because they’re offered a better job position or even better salary. After all, they’re leaving their comfort zone, family and friends behind, so it’s probably for a good reason.
This means they’ve been offered the opportunity to grow in their job industry. This is a great first step to keep on growing.
Who knows? If you make a good job abroad, maybe you’ll keep growing in the company and achieve your dream job position.
Being an expat can also be impressive to recruiters if you want to look for a job anywhere else. Because they’ll know all the skills you had to develop as an expat, like bilingualism. Skills that can help you in your new job.
Cons of Being an Expat
Far away from home
One of the biggest challenges of being an expat can be being far away from home.
You won’t visit the places you always did and loved. But most importantly, you won’t be able to see your friends and family as much as you used to. Depending on where you live you might even spend months without seeing them in person.
This is always hard. They’re the ones you love the most, you grew up with, you spend your free time with, and the ones that support you.
It can be especially tough at the beginning of your expat journey. Because you still have no friends and are in the process of adaptation.
After all, our loved ones are always a great support during different and new situations.
Of course, this can get a bit smoother if you can take your closest family, like a partner and kids, with you.
But even after you’ve been an expat for months and the closest members of your family are there, we always miss all our people. You can still feel a bit homesick.
Dealing with bureaucratic tasks
Things like doing your taxes, opening a bank account, getting your work visa, getting healthcare, renting, and more are always hard and tedious to do. Nobody likes the long processes and all the paperwork we often have to go through to get those things done.
This becomes especially hard in a brand-new country with a different culture and maybe even a different language!
You might feel a bit more confused and lost by the different systems and processes. So, you have to pay even more attention to what you do and what people in charge of these things tell you to do.
This can be exhausting. Remember: Have patience!
Validate your title
This can be related to the point above. Because for some people one of these long bureaucratic processes is getting your career title validated in a new country. This is because not all countries recognize your title if you studied it somewhere else.
For example: Maybe you studied medicine in your home country, but not all places recognize your title if you didn’t study it in your new place of residence.
So if it’s important for you and your job, you must find out if your title is accepted in your new country of residence. And if not, look how you can validate it there.
Adapting to a new culture
Yes, it’s true that being immersed in a new culture can bring many amazing things into your life. It’s a new adventure and, like we mentioned above, it’ll make you culturally sensitive.
But we can’t deny it can also be tough. You’re not only going to miss your culture, but adapting to a new one will bring many cultural shocks. Because there’ll be things you might not fully understand.
The new culture will go from art and history to everyday customs. For example:
- Eating etiquette
- Gastronomy
- Public transportation usage
- Dress code
- Socialization norms
- Driving rules
- Rules of workplace
- The level of your voice
Even the personality of society can be a shock! For example, in some countries the people are more extroverted than others.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t adapt to this new culture, but it can be difficult.
But it can also lead you to a wider perspective on life and different matters, and overall personal growth.
So it’s up to you to think whether you’re willing to do it. Whatever you choose, it’s fine.
Language barriers
We’ve already mentioned that being an expat will help your fluency a lot. But if you aren’t fluent yet, have a very narrow vocabulary, struggle with your listening, and can’t hold conversations, your expat experience can be affected.
Having language barriers will hinder your communication in all aspects of it. You’ll struggle to understand your boss, clients, and coworkers. Which can lead to problems and confusion at work. Nobody wants that.
But let’s say, your work is in English or in your mother tongue even when you’re in another country. They don’t need the official language of that country for your job there. What about your personal life?
You still need to speak the native language there to get through the everyday tasks and to socialize. Plus, people appreciate it when you speak their language in their country.
Now, even if you speak the native language of your new place of residence, you might still find some struggles.
There’s always new vocabulary we don’t know. There are idioms, slang, and everyday expressions nobody teaches at school. And, of course, there’s the native accent and the speed in which natives talk, which is often fast for foreigners not used to it.
This can make you feel frustrated and desperate.
Of course, we’re not the kind to say to give up because of the language barrier. But it’s important that you know it can be a disadvantage at first.
Fluency Corp Helps You Break the Language Barrier
Don’t let the language challenges of being an expat stop you from achieving your dream of working abroad!
We know it might be hard, and you might feel discouraged. But we also know you can improve those skills you lack to be a great expat employee.
In fact, you can do it with the help of Fluency Corp! We offer corporate language classes. This means that each lesson is customized to the job and your language needs.
Oh, and our classes aren’t just for 1 person. They’re for you and your whole work team. So if you have a team of expats that need help, you can count on us!
If you must learn a new language for working abroad, we can help you! Or if you want to acquire more vocabulary for a meeting, we’re here for you.
Maybe you need some accent training to make yourself more understandable, we got you covered! Whatever you need, we’re here for it!
Plus, we highly encourage students to speak in all of our classes. So they practice their speaking skills. This is the best way you’ll achieve language fluency!
The best of all is that we have classes in more than 10 languages! So you can pick the one you need the most.
Ready to start? Just pick your language, choose between our online or onsite classes, and contact us for a free consultation.
