If you want to get what you want, know the language ( or someone who knows it)

[zeus777]

I’m not a native English speaker, but thanks to the fact that I grew up in the states due to my father’s job, I can speak and understand the language pretty well. I am completely aware that learning another language is difficult ( heck, it was VERY hard for me!), and not everyone understands English, and just because I can speak the language doesn’t mean I should expect the same from others. However if you are doing business, it’s a different story. If you do not know English, it would be a good idea to ask someone around you that knows the language well.



One way to lose potential customers is to have a gig description with bad grammar. For me, a description with bad English is a red flag because I will immediately think that I will have communication problems. Not only that, but I will see that buyer as being unprofessional since he/she did not take the time to perfect the description, and for me it doesn’t matter what the gig is about. When I see posts here at the forum asking why they are not getting any “sells,” I assume that one reason is because of the English. I can understand that in some cases it is not that easy to find someone who can check your English for you, but it is worth taking the time to do so.



The same thing could be said for buyers I think. I once had a customer who had ordered a lot of illustration gigs from me, but each time it was very difficult since his English was not good, and for each illustration he asked for, he had a very specific request. Several times I had tried sending subtle hints to him that it would be very helpful if he can find someone who speaks his language AND English, but he never got it. Every time he placed an order, we had to send 50 messages back and forth, along with many rough sketches attached, until I understood what he was trying to say. Finally I decided that the stress was not worth it, so I honestly told him I am no longer willing to do gigs for him unless he found someone who can help him with this messages. I tried being polite, but he didn’t get the part where I said “I am unwilling to,” and kept asking me when I can work on the next gig. In the end I had to type something like "I’M VERY SORRY, NO MORE GIGS, GOOD BYE."

Did I feel bad? Of course! But it was just not worth it. BTW, something like this has happened to be 3 or 4 times,

turning down a gig because of the communication/language problem. sigh. [-(



You can lose both customers and sellers if you can’t communicate clearly.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this will give some ideas to both sellers and buyers!

[wordpress_luv]

I’m sure that more than 96% of these cancelled orders was due to language misunderstandings. While in India in 2014 I earned over USD $4,600 inside 90 days, just working with software companies as the contact person between the client and the developers. If you want larger orders, less headaches, more profits then hire a native English speaker to talk to English speaking buyers.

[ruslancer]

I’ve had buyers like that.
I’m not saying I’m that good at English, I’ve never lived in USA or any other country where I could practice it well, but my USA customers don’t complain…
When I deal with customers who barely write in English I always say right away that I’m happy with everything, but since we have communication problems it’s gonna be harder for me to do my work, they can pay more or provide informaton in any other more “visual” way like screenshots, slides. If nothing works, I guess, mutual cancellation is the only option… although I’ve never done it yet.

[fastcopywriter]

I don’t use this, but I’ve heard great things about Grammarly for those who struggle with grammar. Or you can hire a proofreader, there are those doing that on Fiverr.

[dusuacangmon]

Reply to @ruslancer: your english is very good, my english maybe got many gramma error T_T