Freelance Writing Language Barriers
In the world of freelance writing, dealing with language barriers is quite common. And of course, the way that you deal with this issue could be the difference between securing a contract and being turned down.
From my experience, writing web content brings a lot of opportunities to work with people from other countries. While many see this as a negative, it is actually quite interesting to me. Of course, it does pose a problem in many cases because I only speak English. For this reason, I always proceed with extreme caution if I am dealing with a client that does not speak English as a first language.
In the past, I have had some issues with project details and pricing in these situations. For example, I was recently contacted by a potential client who’s English was noticeably bad. Luckily for me, he was open about his struggle with the language, and apologized in advance. But even then, I had my hands full sifting through what he was interested in. It can often times be difficult to decipher what the client wants. In this particular case, it took about 10 emails back and forth to finally narrow down the scope of the project.
When working with clients who do not speak great English, never take anything for granted. Make sure that you always double check the details, and that everything is laid out on the table from day one. This way, you can always go back to prior conversations should something get out of whack during the project completion process.
To go along with the actual details of the project, pricing is also very important. Once again, somebody who is not fluent in English may not understand the American Dollar. It is very important that you also come to terms on the exact cost of the project before you start.
Overall, I am open to working with anybody and everybody, regardless of location. After all, one of the greatest benefits of the internet is that it brings together people from all over the world. Just make sure that you have all the details in line if you are going to be working with somebody who is less than proficient in the English language.Â
