[schoen]

Are you a non-native English speaker or do you speak a variety of English other than American English?

I noticed your use of Unicode apostrophes (’), capitalization of "Junior", "to be applied"/"get applied", "a instant", and "through this way", which all sound non-native or not like U.S. English to me. (The apostrophe would be normal in a world processor document but I don't think a U.S. English keyboard layout usually produces it when typing in a form with a web browser.)

I'm wondering about that because I wonder whether it affects either your own or others' perception of your communication when applying for work with Americans.

[zenia_penny]

I’m half Canadian half X but speak mostly in X

So that weakens my oral communication…

Nice ;)

[schoen]

I don't know how much of a practical obstacle your language skills are for communication -- I'm guessing it's not actually a significant problem -- but you might want to work on your spoken and written English in case that affects other people's perceptions of you or your own confidence (like during those oral interviews).

I think someone else's suggestion in this thread of finding non-work opportunities to talk about technology in English could be very helpful. Or even just trying to find some more people to socialize with in English sometimes.

[dzhiurgis]

Look at the community of X (Russian isn’t it?) in Canada, perhaps get in touch with few established devs there via linkedin.

I find remote work doesn’t require much oral comms really, so it’s just about getting thru interview.

[2143]

> X (Russian isn’t it?)

How did you deduce X is Russian?

[dzhiurgis]

it's in the name zenia is a form of https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Jevgenija commonly used around Russia

+ construction work

+ some language style signs

p.s. wonder if Russian is also frowned upon nowadays in west. It's pretty much taboo here in Eastern Europe.

[drakonka]

> It's pretty much taboo here in Eastern Europe

This is really interesting, which Eastern European countries is this if you don't mind me asking? I'm a Ukrainian who grew up speaking Russian because that's what was used in schools, and speak Russian regularly with other Ukrainians and others from Eastern Europe now (in a Nordic country). Now that Ukrainian refugees have been arriving, I hear many of them speaking Russian on public transport. Even those speaking Ukrainian still appreciate a Russian speaker approaching them to help if they look lost looking for their connection.

With so many Ukrainians having grown up speaking Russian due largely to the suppression of Ukrainian throughout history, but still with a fully Ukrainian identity, stigmatizing the language they speak seems like it'll just make their lives even harder. I am honestly surprised if this is the case, especially in Eastern Europe where people are very aware first hand of the pervasiveness of Russian regardless of the speaker's nationality or identity.

[dzhiurgis]

That's what I heard from some Ukrainians and locals in Lithuania. Some Russian speakers even getting some services refused.

My partner is helping a family who recently started looking for housing - the phone hangs up immediately after hearing Russian. There could be many reasons - people not wanting to deal with migrants, mixing up Ukrainian with Russian language or plainly not knowing either language. Most post-Soviet kids can't even tell the difference between two, let alone understand it.

[2143]

> here in Eastern Europe.

Heuristics can be wrong.

For example, your profile says "Auckland", but you seem to be in Eastern Europe which is almost as far away as one can get from New Zealand.

(So far away, that I believe there are no nonstop flights between New Zealand and Europe because planes can't fly that distance non-stop with a full load of passengers and luggage.)

[dzhiurgis]

> So far away, that I believe there are no nonstop flights between New Zealand and Europe because planes can't fly that distance non-stop with a full load of passengers and luggage

I did some research few years ago when flights Sydney <> London were under consideration. There's def planes that can do Auckland <> Helsinki, Warsaw, Istanbul (decent hub) and maybe even Copenhagen. Trouble is for whatever reason airlines think they first need to serve UK first!

Personally, I'm having some time off from NZ until housing market normalises (lol).

[zenia_penny]

Tho the fact that your reasoning wasn’t correct, the username was computer generated ;)

I just don’t want to give much info about myself…