As a freelancer, do you face communication difficulties because of different languages?

EliteWriter Level 3

June 17, 2016, 9:38 am

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As a freelancer, do you face communication difficulties because of different languages?

Being a freelancer we have to deal with people from all over the world. As a result I often end up trying to understand what a client is trying to tell me, but since he/she is not able to explain himself well in English, we end up not understanding one another. It bothers me a great deal when such a thing happens because before starting to work I always want to be sure what the client is expecting from me. There were times when I ended up even trying to write in their language because it became almost impossible to comprehend what they wanted!
Do you face these communication difficulties often? What do you do?

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anwebservices

Well i had some difficulties many times. As you said, sometime you just can't understand what exactly they want. So i had to talk over and over again about something very simple or even about one single word to make sure exactly what is the task i have to do for my client. In few cases i had even to give up because it was so messy that i felt i could only earn negative feedback after trying to work for them. But trough the years ox experience as freelancer you get used to that, so after it bother you less and less and you starting to understand some broken English words. I also didn't grow up in English speaking suroundings so i understand it can be difficult speaking other language when you just starting it.

10 years ago

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hitmeasap

This is a very unfortunate circumstance that happens every now and then. I've been in several situations where I'm in need of specific details from the buyer and all I get as an answer is "ok" "yaes" or something like "thenkz". The thruth is, that I'm totally fine with these kind of responses as long as I don't require in-depth specific details. I'm not native in English myself so I can understand the fact that people are having troubles with grammar and all that, and these three things I stated above is still understandable, even though it might look insane. What I usually do when these situations occur is to cancel or reject any orders from such buyers, as I'm not comfortable doing work for people I can't discuss things with.

10 years ago

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salesboost

Communication is very important. I feel if buyers cannot wrote well in English, they could provide instructions in their own language and Google translate could make it work.
It's absence is not okay

10 years ago

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ajlancer

Hi EliteWriter Yes I have faced such situation several times and as a freelancer language difficulties may face many user several times to communicate with his client by English. Because everybody has to interact each other by English language and to letting know all requirements for starting any order. All buyers and sellers all are come from different countries and they use different languages too. And it is really difficulties to understand accent to communicate each other. And I saw my some clients said me he unable to write proper English to communicate to persuade me and I feel such difficult if he wants any specific service. Here grammar is not mandatory but I think at least communicative English has to need all to do work a freelancer whether buyer all seller.

Thanks by Ajlancer

10 years ago

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MasterA

This has happened to me in the past and I totally understand what you mean. The key to this is just patience. The problem is you can’t understand what they are saying but actually if you ask them a few times and make them clarify your instructions, then it is actually possible to get full instructions, maybe after 2 to 3 attempts or even 8 to 10 attempts. Remember, this is income that you will be losing if you give up the project. Therefore, you need to be patient and try to help the client to provide full instructions. This is definitely difficult but it is worth it in the end.

10 years ago

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MusicMoguls

Yes, we do face these difficulties a lot of the time working with people from all over the world. The best thing my wife and I try to do is just try to be as patient with them as possible because the more frustrated you sound to them the more they will not want to try and do business with you anymore. Being able to communicate with your buyer is HUGE when you have your own business, especially an online business. When we have run into these communication barriers, my wife and I have used Google to help translate whatever their native language is to English. (which is our native language)

10 years ago

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Pixie06

I am currently working as an online English tutor. My students are of different nationalities and some of them can't understand English. Sometimes it can be quite tough to communicate with them but I still manage. Sometimes I really have to use an online translator. That's the only challenging thing about this work.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

I once had experienced being offered to be a moderator of an African site. I declined the offer but he insisted so I said that I only work for a fee. The reply I got was a pretty lengthy speech that was focused on helping people who are in need. I don’t know if the guy as out of synch or he had difficulty with his English. Nevertheless, I stopped replying to his messages.

8 years ago

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