Working in your SO's country

[C.M.]

I am so overwhelmed by the prospect of finding a job in Norway. I don't speak Norwegian and am in the middle of a "useless" degree (women's studies , a field I LOVE but now wish I had picked something more marketable.) I was counting on teaching English but spoke with a TESOL representative today who said it would be "virtually impossible." I feel so hopeless

[lucybelle]

Well I can't speak too much about Norway, or even Europe, but I eventually found a job in Costa Rica. It took me about 6 months. I'm a science teacher and found a job teaching science in English.

How long will you be in Norway? Do you plan on living there? If so, I'd hold out on the job and start by taking language classes. It'll not only help you with getting a job, but it'll make you feel more at home and be able to communicate with his family. In fact, if you can you should start taking language classes NOW. During that, you can always volunteer teach English somewhere. In an affluent place like Norway, I bet there's plenty of English speakers who can fill these jobs just fine. So I really think you should start by learning the language, then try to find a job later.

Have fun!

[C.M.]

Well I won't be moving until I am done with my bachelor's in two years. My fiancee will be a student at that time so I don't think he'll be able to support both of us. I'm trying to find a good source online for learning Norwegian as there are no classes near my school. I'm just trying to get a feel for the job market now and it's not looking good for me unfortunately .

[elina]

If Norway's anything like Finland, the opportunities are quite slim :/ My SO moved here and basically what he can do is deliver adverts, where you don't really have to speak to anyone. It might be different in the capital city, but we don't live there. Every place requires Finnish, naturally. He's trying to get on Finnish language courses so he'll learn the language and then hopefully find a job.

How about trying to learn at least the basics online? I'm sure there are pages where you can learn. Or buy dvd's that help you learn the language. That way you could at least get started. As far as I know, Norwegian shouldn't be that hard a language You can ask your SO to teach you the basics, too! That'll give you something fun to do together

I hope you'll figure something out!

[mllebamako]

I was counting on teaching English but spoke with a TESOL representative today who said it would be "virtually impossible." I feel so hopeless

Hmm did she explain why it's "virtually impossible"? Not that I'm doubting the representative, he probably knows what he's talking about.
I found a job teaching English in my SO's country (Mali). First, I worked for a private language school where I taught adults, working in embassies and NGOs). Now, I work in a French elementary school.

Does the Norwegian gov't have an English-teaching program? I went to France on a assistant teaching program. So maybe they have something like that...?

[C.M.]

A LOT of people in Norway already speak English, and she said that practically everywhere would rather hire someone who is already Norwegian. I don't think she understood that I will be moving on a fiancee visa and won't need sponsorship or anything like that. She also said I would need at least two years of teaching experience which means I would have to stay in the US even longer. I haven't talked to my fiancee about it yet, but since he is Norwegian he can technically live anywhere in the EU, so maybe I could get a job in Germany or some other country that doesn't have quite as high a rate of English speakers as Norway does.

[Tooki]

I know in countries like Norway, that you need a lot of experience to get an English teaching job. Also, they generally expect you to have a bachelors degree plus ESL qualifications. And those countries have a high standard of English so the demand for teachers would naturally be less than in other European countries like Spain, Russia etc that don't have the same standard. I know the Scandanavian kids speak good English before they are 12. And you don't necessarily have to be in the US to do teaching. You could go to another country then try to go to Norway later .

And I've already had this conversation with my missus . I'm not going to move to Estonia .

[TwoThree]

If Norway's anything like Finland, the opportunities are quite slim :/ My SO moved here and basically what he can do is deliver adverts, where you don't really have to speak to anyone. It might be different in the capital city, but we don't live there. Every place requires Finnish, naturally. He's trying to get on Finnish language courses so he'll learn the language and then hopefully find a job.

That's more or less what the situation looks like for me. I'll be the one moving (my SO could never live in my country) and I already know that my employment prospects are pretty bleak :P I'm told that even for a cleaning job (which I could consider in a moment of dispair) you are required to speak/understand Finnish. So I'm probably going to go through the language/integration courses first, when I move in, and then hope for the best.

Btw, C.M., you being a native English speaker, you probably won't have THAT much trouble learning Norwegian. At least not as much as I will, learning Finnish (a pretty unique language). So good luck and focus on teaching yourself the basics, even now.

[C.M.]

Oh no, is Finnish that different? Maybe it's only Swedish/Norwegian, but once my boyfriend told me that Scandanvian languages are more like dialects of the same basic language than three/four different languages (Norway has a ridiculous number of different dialects!) I try to navigate Norwegian websites without turning on translator and so far it has been pretty easy! I wish you luck with your language courses, it's a shame there is no Rosetta Stone.

I have been talking with my boyfriend and I emailed a girl who writes a blog about moving from the US to Norway and they have definitely calmed me down! Worst case scenario I will pick a neighboring country to teach in for a few years to get enough experience to live in Norway, since my bf is a Norwegian citizen he can live anywhere in the EU .

[TwoThree]

Both Norwegian and English have Germanic roots, so I'm assuming the "transition" will be easier for you. Finnish (being part of the Uralic language family) has absolutely nothing in common with pretty much any language I'm even remotely familiar with, so I'll need all the focus I can muster to learn it. Which I'm trying

Glad to know things are looking up for you!

[Tooki]

Finland isn't in Scandanavia . It's a Nordic country though.

And my missus is Estonian (Estonian and Finnish are very similar). I've tried to learn Estonian and it is very difficult. As TwoThree would have noticed, there are only a handful of loan words from English and Swedish. And Finnish is notorious because it has 15 cases. (And it is a living hell trying to disseminate which of the 15 forms of the word to use )

[milaya]

Being from Denmark, the neighbor of Norway, I can only agree to what you have been told about the changes of teaching English is slim. I know a lot of non-English speaking countries likes to hire native English speakers to teach their students, especially here in Asia, but Scandinavia is different. I'm pretty sure you need an actual teaching degree before even being considered and we're normally taught English by Danish people (Norwegian for Norway of course). I've never met a person who has been taught English by a native English speaker. If there were native English speaking teachers, which I'm of course sure there must be some of, then they're required to speak the language of the students as well.
I have been taught German by a German... but he as well spoke Danish.

If you really want to live in Norway, there's no way around it, you have to learn Norwegian. I'm not sure what job your degree can get you (I have the same problem with my degree), but since it's not aimed for a certain kind of job or gives you special skills I'm not sure it'll be a job that can provide for you both.

[TwoThree]

Finland isn't in Scandanavia . It's a Nordic country though.

And my missus is Estonian (Estonian and Finnish are very similar). I've tried to learn Estonian and it is very difficult. As TwoThree would have noticed, there are only a handful of loan words from English and Swedish. And Finnish is notorious because it has 15 cases. (And it is a living hell trying to disseminate which of the 15 forms of the word to use )

I love how Finnish text-books always start with the loan words, as if to avoid making you panick from the get-go. Thanks, now that I know the words banaani, kahvi and museo, my life will be so much easier! But yeah, those damned cases... it's pretty frightening that Finnish grammar has so many rules, but then each rules has so many exceptions to it... But what can you do.

Are you planning on moving to Estonia, though?

[Tooki]

I know right! My missus made a note of how the final Estonian language test is HARDER than the final English test in High School .

I don't think I would move there. She doesn't want to live there long-term. We would end up in the UK/Ireland unless we decide to learn a language and move elsewhere. Most skilled jobs require Estonian + English at a minimum . (Add Russian/Swedish/Finnish if you want to be competitive)

[wanderlust]

Norwegian isn't really anything like Finnish.

I think Norwegian is pretty doable for an English speaker... you just have to work at it. Maybe focus on finding places that offer lessons or even language groups / social groups focused on Norwegian or Scandinavian languages. I don't speak Norwegian but I can read a bit of it just based on my knowledge of English.

You definitely can do it... don't get discouraged.