Opportunities for native English tutor, Russian translator?

[bobs12]

Hi folks.

Due to bureaucratic circumstances I may shortly have to leave St. Petersburg, my home of the last 5 years. I'm looking at Finland as a likely destination, and I have a thousand questions. So, here are just a few of them:

Is there much market for native English teachers? I have a little over 4 years' experience and glowing references from Russian schools and businesses where I taught in-company (mainly IT and telecoms companies). I also have a reference from a college in Porvoo.

Can private English teachers earn a decent wage with a normal schedule?

Is there a market for English - Russian or Russian - English translation? I have a pretty decent protfolio of translated websites with some fairly high-profile clients.

Does the fact that I hardly know a word of Finnish mean that I have no chance?

How difficult is it (for a UK national) to get residency in Finland?

Is it difficult to get self-employed status as a UK national?

Answers in the form of links to relevant forum threads or other sites would be great. At the moment I'm not even sure what information I really need, let alone where I should be looking for it.

Many thanks.

[bobs12]

I should add that I'm not limiting myself to teaching or translating, those are just the areas I have most experience in.

I really just need any kind of work that doesn't involve hamburgers, kebabs, or cleaning toilets.

Outdoors work would be just as good. I wouldn't refuse salting roads, driving a snow plough (hell, I'd love to do that actually) tractor (plenty of experience in that, actually ) delivery van, etc.

Though I assume the fact I don't speak Finnish limits me pretty badly

[Hank W.]

See your only problem is we already learn English at school. Theres private teaching, but you're competing with a flightful of HBS cases off the Ryanair as "natif speekers" - its a niche, but nothing as lucrative as in the Big East.

The more prole the job, the more Finnish you need.

Then again "nobody here speaks Russian" (except enk, but she's off to yankiedom), so theres your niche right there, with international companies.

Getting yourself registered you need a job, or being self-employed you need the customers... easy peasy... you know Finns were taught the bureaucracy by Russians... right papers, right office... only difference is we have everything in the computer, and we missed the "Part II- Lubrication" part of the bureaucracy lesson.

otsen harasoo tavarits, iti zudai ruki ver

[bobs12]

Yeah, Russia doesn't even need RyanAir to bring in shoddy, illiterate native English speakers I hate them and I don't want to even try to compete with them.

To be honest, English teaching would be a last resort that I'd like to avoid anyway. I got sick of it last year and vowed never to do it again. I've been translating since. I've been to Finland a lot in the past and I know that there is very little real need for TEFLers there, unless there is a market for teaching labour immigrants from Eastern Europe?

I've heard before about a dearth of Russian speakers in Finland - though I understand there are plenty of Russians? I assume that means Finland needs Finns that speak Russian?

I can actually teach basic Russian, up to about intermediate level (I guess I'd need to have a formal degree or certificate of some kind?) - do you think there'd be any demand for that in companies..?

Or a Russian-speaking point-of-contact? Although to be honest I'm not too keen on this type of work. I've done it for RU companies. It's basically just a receptionist job

I can bring about 80% of my translation work with me (I'll still be able to make trips to Russia to pick up payments that can't be wired or paid through my website) but I'm worried that it won't really be enough to keep me in bread and butter in Finland after taxes (although I do well on it here).

Although I work 'online' I do like to work with clients that I can physically go and visit, thus my interest in the local demand...

Any ideas on what the tax rules would be if you're self-employed in Finland and you are charging Russian clients for translation? Especially if the money is either going via a US bank account into a UK one, or is being picked up in paper form on trips across the border? Is that just asking for trouble?

BTW thanks for the quick reply and the glimmer of hope Appreciated

[bobs12]

Registering...

One of my reasons for moving to the EU would be the security of being 'part of the system', as opposed to the invisible, semi-fugitive life I live here in Russia.

You mentioned needing customers - would I need to show some kind of evidence of having customers to provide income? Do they need to include Finnish companies?

Any ideas where would be a good place to put an advert out to test the water?

[Hank W.]

though I understand there are plenty of Russians? I assume that means Finland needs Finns that speak Russian?

Well yes, because Russians get a slightly predudice... mjen jare mjafia jand wjoman bjisnjes ljadies...

I can actually teach basic Russian, up to about intermediate level (I guess I'd need to have a formal degree or certificate of some kind?) - do you think there'd be any demand for that in companies..?

Maybe perhaps.

Especially if the money is either going via a US bank account into a UK one, or is being picked up in paper form on trips across the border? Is that just asking for trouble?

There is a Finnish saying; "Whom hath happiness, shall hide it". So just keep the bureaucrats happy with... enough evidence.

[bobs12]

There is a Finnish saying; "Whom hath happiness, shall hide it". So just keep the bureaucrats happy with... enough evidence.

Muahahaha, I like that...

[mdn]

I can actually teach basic Russian, up to about intermediate level (I guess I'd need to have a formal degree or certificate of some kind?) - do you think there'd be any demand for that in companies..?

Here is a lot of Russians who are teachers of Russian Language (with different degrees etc) - and most of them are unemployed.

P.S. I think that at least about ~50k know Russian as a mother tongue in Finland now.

[kitty wonka]

i take it you are preparing for the new the changes (read, 'restrictions') to the issuing of 1-yr ME visas in mother russia?

my fiance and i just moved here a few months ago from long-term residence in moscow. we are quite relieved to have left when we did, to be honest. he did have a work permit/visa, but i did not. what a nightmare.

just a few thoughts. there are a lot of russian speakers here it seems to us. it's difficult to know if they are living here or visiting, but i suspect a lot of them actually reside here.

as a UK citizen, i believe you have certain rights to live / work here which we do not (we are American and Cuban), making navigation of the residence permit/work permit process somewhat 'easier' for you. i would read through some of the threads on self-employment / residence permits for UK citizens that are already posted here.

you may also want to check with your russian clients to see if they would still care to work with you when you leave russia. i also work as a freelancer and all of my russian clients agreed to continue working with me when we left.

one word of warning -- check on cost of living differences between spb and here. we have found it to be roughly equivalent to life in moscow, but my understanding is that COL in spb is much less than moscow.

best of luck.

[kay30]

I really just need any kind of work that doesn't involve hamburgers, kebabs, or cleaning toilets.

Sounds slightly ridiculous coming from someone who doesn't speak Finnish. You may not have a choice. You may not get any work. You may not even get hired at those places, due to your lack of language skills.

BTW - there are quite a few people on this forum who DO those jobs you so disdainfully scorned: cleaning, hamburgers, etc. So you might not want to put those kinds of jobs down since they are honest, hard and much unappreciated work.

I would suggest using search since this question has been answered about 1,000 times before.

[bobs12]

Thanks for the constructive replies, especially to kay30

There's nothing wrong with those kinds of jobs, I just don't want to do them as I'm used to a slightly different type of work. Like I said, I'd happily drive a tractor all day. I'm not sure whether 'tractor driver' is very far up the employment ladder from 'burger flipper', so I don't see where I 'disdainfully scorned' it, as you say. Why does every forum need a cynic? Those are the kind of jobs you're least likely to get if you don't speak the local language fluently. At least here in Russia, anyway.

Yes, I am fully aware that I may get no work at all. However, this is fairly unlikely as I do already have connections, just not in the areas I'm looking to pursue. I'm most interested in the opportunities for self employment so I can more or less carry on with the lifestyle I have here in SPb. Thanks Kay for picking up on innocent questions and putting me down, much appreciated!

Kitty - this is exactly the reason I'm looking at moving. The screw just keeps turning, and there's no saying how far in they'll drive it. Staying here is increasingly becoming a game of 'guess the next move' and dodging it when it comes, usually without warning. It's no way to live. Five years of it has finally driven me to submission.

I lived for a while between Moscow and SPb. I could spend more in a weekend in Moscow than in two weeks in SPb. I've spent time working in Finland before, but as a teacher for Russian co's. There was an offer from a Finnish college once, though it was only for part-time work and that's not really what I'm aiming at, though at the time I wasn't really looking for work - it just came out of the blue.

I realise that not speaking Finnish makes it 'ridiculous' to even think of trying to get a job in Finland. Just as it is ridiculous when non-Russian speakers look for work in Russia, or any other equivalent example. However, where there's a will there's a way. I'm generally good at wriggling into a niche - thus posting questions on this forum and picking people's brains.

I did use search, and didn't find anyone asking the exact same question, sorry kay

I've spoken to members of the Russian community in Finland before. I know that it's not easy to find work given the unemployment level in Finland, but there is unemployment everywhere. There is also always under employment in certain areas - i.e. niches.

If push comes to shove, I'm a decent welder and can get my codings to work somewhere. Yep, I scornfully disdain working in the catering or cleaning industry because I hate those kinds of jobs. With a passion. But welding & fabricating is fun. Although also likely to need Finnish. Dilemma.

[bobs12]

Also to kitty - yep, I've been through the question with my clients before (last year I was planning to be gone by August 2007) and they told me they're happy to keep working with me wherever I go.

My worry is that these earnings wouldn't be enough to get by on in Finland, given that I'd have to travel monthly to pick most of the money up as only one company pays me by credit card. Or at least I'd suddenly have a lot less disposable income.

Did you have to take on extra work or are you doing okay on what you get from Ru clients?

[kay30]

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[Hank W.]

However, where there's a will there's a way.

OK... jobs... tattoo artist that can spell?

But welding & fabricating is fun. Although also likely to need Finnish.

Actually, if you're a class-welder the dockyards employ. And you wouldn't believe how much Russian theres spoken in the construction sites

[bobs12]

Thanks again, Hank, for the encouragement. Thanks also Kay - some of the links were indeed useful, but a lot were just the usual bickering you get on forums and none quite fitted the question I was asking. Which was why I asked it. I hoped there might be someone who knew someone who did something similar, etc.

I didn't see anyone on there with the same situation as me, or asking for any kind of comparison of similar options to mine, but I really appreciate (without sarcasm) the effort very much. As I'm potentially going to be evicted from house and home within the next year, every bit of information is useful.

I note an interesting recurring theme - is there really such a lot of Brits coming over, dossing around and trying to get income support? (or am I not supposed to ask that question since it's been discussed before?) I've never claimed any SS funds in my life and the one time I really needed it I was told where to go (not to the dole office). Thus I've learned not to count on that even as a last resort.

Welding and construction could be interesting options. I've heard about the numbers of Russians going to Finland as welders.

Or I could teach English to tattoo artists