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Sick of this country

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  • Registered Users Posts: 510 ✭✭✭AerLingus747


    any job on the continent I've looked at, even if it's an english speaking role, has always required a level or an interest to get to a level of conversational linguistics for at least 1 European language.... French and German being the most popular, with Spanish, Italian and Polish being others



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 38,403 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    I wouldn't know. My area is Science and ads usually demand fluency in English and occasionally the local language as well. I saw a role I really wanted in Paris and it didn't mention French at all.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 26,459 Mod ✭✭✭✭Podge_irl


    I assume its industry specific, but I have never (or maybe only rarely) seen requirements for the local language, just English.



  • Registered Users Posts: 348 ✭✭iniscealtra


    I have friends who work for the EU Commission and the UN. Another language is a requirement for those roles. Depends on the industry maybe.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 38,403 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    It's essential. 2 out of English, French and German. It's infuriating.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



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  • Registered Users Posts: 348 ✭✭iniscealtra


    My friend who works for the UN did his interview in French. I don’t think you need a European language but you do need fluency in another language if not two. Arabic would have been accepted also I think. Anyway he gets posted mainly to French speaking countries as a result of that.



  • Registered Users Posts: 14,100 ✭✭✭✭Thelonious Monk


    Like when I was in my 20s everyone I knew in my peer group and myself were all planning to leave, this was during the last days Celtic Tiger. I'd say like 90% of us came back. It's just a thing Irish people do nowadays, regardless of the housing or work situation. We're an island. Kiwis do it too, nearly all of them go to live in London or somewhere in Europe. NZ having an awful housing crisis right now too.



  • Registered Users Posts: 510 ✭✭✭AerLingus747


    there'll always be an element of wanderlust, particularly more so with so many missing out due to lockdown, while I do agree everywhere has their issues, it doesn't take away from the fact that Ireland is pretty grim at the moment, and it doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon...

    so if the country doesn't change, sometimes it's time to change country.

    What has been highlighted though is that many English speaking countries are in similar circumstances. But there are many examples of non-english speaking countries having somewhat better opportunity for better quality of life **

    (** subjectively speaking)



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,184 ✭✭✭riclad


    Theres countrys with low rates of tax where houses are cheaper and there,s no major housing crisis , You might need to learn another language to get a good job there ,irish people have always traveled ,and worked abroad .You might have a better quality of life maybe ,if you are prepared to

    live in a country where most people don,t speak english . theres not many people emigrating to australia because its an expensive country to live in in terms of housing costs and you,ll probably have a long commute to work if you want to live in a place where the rent is reasonable .You can only travel to ireland maybe once a year a the flight to oz is expensive .house prices are going up in most western countrys where english is the primary language



  • Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,953 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    Norway is an amazing place to live.

    There are seasons!! It is 28 degrees in Oslo atm and loads of gorgeous snow in winter.

    Income tax is only slightly lower then Ireland but you get a lot in return especially if you have kids.

    Stay at home parents are very rare as there is good maternity,paternity and parental leave and creche (Barnhage) is heavily subsidised .

    Low wages are a lot higher than Ireland but higher wages can be the same or lower here there is a much smaller pay gap between normal staff and management and C level staff.

    The language can be incredibly hard to learn as an adult because everyone speaks english to you when you try to speak Norsk. It is also needed for most jobs which makes job seeking as a foreigner hard.

    There are plenty of jobs in english too for those in certain areas and some people never learn Norsk.

    Post edited by Boards.ie: Paul on


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  • Registered Users Posts: 510 ✭✭✭AerLingus747


    I think a safe synopsis of the last few pages is:

    -Irish like to complain

    -Irish like to travel

    -most people will emigrate to English speaking countries for sake of ease

    -through natural supply and demand, English speaking countries have a similar issues to Ireland (which people are looking to escape)

    -lots of non English speaking countries don't have this issue and have lots more quality of life benefits

    -most people generally don't want to learn a language as part of moving

    So learn a language or be prepared for less benefits and loss of money



  • Registered Users Posts: 27,648 ✭✭✭✭blanch152


    I could say the same from when I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, with most planning to move away, the only difference being we couldn't afford to go away to an event.



  • Registered Users Posts: 19,151 ✭✭✭✭Tony EH


    The wife was in Oslo in the winter. She said it was a nightmare. A Slip'n'Slide Mecca and she fell on her arse several times herself.

    Lots of people walking around on crutches and the winter the is around 4 months long.

    The Aquavit is tasty though.





  • Norway is amazing in summer, in winter it is indeed a nightmare and as it’s very hilly that makes it worse. I have visited during winter and in Oslo it’s at its worst as the pavements are more trod down and slippery, in regional areas it’s less so. Some years a few west coast towns get very little snow due to the effect of the Gulf Stream



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭tesla_newbie


    Nordics are a very polite people but very very reserved



  • Registered Users Posts: 39,970 ✭✭✭✭Boggles


    Norway have a 1.3 trillion investment fund, more than the Saudis.

    They are probably the closet thing in Europe to a true welfare state.

    It helps to have shít loads of energy.



  • Registered Users Posts: 23,968 ✭✭✭✭Larbre34


    They're not that polite. I'm not saying they are rude by nature, but they have little sense of delicacy or discretion and will happily ask and answer pretty intrusive or overly direct questions without a second thought.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭tesla_newbie


    Blunt ?, maybe they are a bit like the dutch ?



  • Registered Users Posts: 27,564 ✭✭✭✭steddyeddy


    You could get a job in academia in Germany without German but the industries would require a little bit of German (even if they don't state it on their advert). Have you thought about Copenhagen? It's great for science and biotech in general. They certainly don't require Danish.



  • Registered Users Posts: 9,170 ✭✭✭limnam




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  • Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,953 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    They also invest a lot of money in education , young people , libraries etc it is much easier to see where your tax money goes



  • Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,953 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    It is mostly fine and so pretty . Breaking bones ski-ing , snow boarding , climbing etc is taken as part of life but not as common as it seems :)

    when the snow turns to ice it is a nightmare but wearing yak tracks or studs help . That is only for a week or 2 though , roads are cleared paths are frites .



  • Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,953 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    They are not more polite then Irish people . They are very closed and private people but if they can help you with something will .

    I find a lot of them have the same friends since kindergarten and it is extremely hard to make friends .


    Things that we find rude , they would not .



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 38,403 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    I hadn't as it happens. I know there are a few Danish pharma firms doing clinical trials but that's the end of my knowledge. I was leaning towards France or Germany as I could learn a second language that would make me eligible to work for the EU.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,670 ✭✭✭jay0109


    This will make you even sicker!

    [quote]The couple borrowed €2.4 million between 2006 and 2007, across seven mortgage accounts. At the time their combined salary was about €100,000, and the loans were all granted on an interest-only basis.....

    .....She noted that the couple were “unwilling” to accept suggestions from the lender to downsize their 743sq m (8,000sq ft) family home with a swimming pool, or to dispose of their six rental properties, while the bank also expressed concerns in 2015 that the second complainant was seeking finance for a new car.[/quote]



  • Registered Users Posts: 16,194 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    I'm working for a german company in germany and our department is all english speaking (It's the online section of a large german supermarket chain)

    Talking to the expats here, there's a lot of them in english speaking roles in IT firms. I'd imagine once you get into actual industrial jobs they'd probably require german.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 38,403 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    I'm reading John Kampfner's book at the moment. It's incredibly illuminating I have to say.

    I met a woman randomly in an Indonesian restaurant and she gave me her card. It looks like she markets the city of Frankfurt as some kind of investment destination. I was hoping there might be some opportunities there but I think my CV is too niche and specialised.

    It's a much weirder country that I was expecting based on my reading and the book I mentioned above. Apparently, a lot of the bureaucracy is still heavily paper-based which I found surprising given the German reputation for efficiency.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



  • Registered Users Posts: 16,194 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    There is a fcuking form for everything. A ridiculous amount of paperwork and bureaucracy.

    There's some thing that are great. You can get a thing called a schufa which is a credit check. It's also based on your rental history so your landlord can make sure you're a good tenant. However it took me 4 weeks to get and it was a paper copy that had a reference number that I could put online. So it made my apartment hunt easier when I got it but made it impossible until I got it.

    I had to register at the local city to say I live here. If I move I have to register again. My landlord had to give me a form to say I lived here.

    When i started work they asked if I was private or public health insurance. I had no idea. Turns out that work will pay into either but I have to sign up myself. After googling I found there's about 200 insurers. So I chose one that had an english language website :)


    Frankfurt has the largest number of Irish people in Germany. There's a few hundred there. It's becaise there's Irish semi state orgs there. I believe it's Bord Bia and the IDA.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 38,403 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    That sounds horrible. I can just move around the UK as I please. Well, the three places where I can get a job that is. I shan't be relocating to Ayr any time soon.

    I didn't know that about Frankfurt. I was looking at Mainz at one point (I know it's nearby) as BioNTech are based there. Then I saw the mess that is the housing situation.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



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  • Registered Users Posts: 19,151 ✭✭✭✭Tony EH


    Reputations, both good and bad, are largely bullshit.



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