BritTom

Hello
I am planning a trip in January and I hope to be able to vist both countries. It will be a holiday but while im there I would like to find out what it would be like to live and work there. Its a long term plan as I only speak a tourist level of Spanish, but im not jumping in without a little planning first.
I would like to hear from anyone who lives there in either country, is one better than the other for English expats? I work in construction too and would need to work so I would also go where work is. Maybe there is another country ive overlooked too, but from reading on the net etc I like these two countries.
Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Tom.

SteveDW

I've just lived in Buenos Aires for 10 years and sold my apartment there recently. A wonderful city, but a lot of expats are leaving at the moment. I had a great time there, but the general levels of corruption and incompetence gradually wore me down. Inflation has made it an expensive place to live there these days, and as for getting a job, forget it. Unless you have very specific skills there and good spanish skills, you won't have a chance. Fantastic place to have a holiday, but not somewhere to live full-time as an expat.

Uruguay is similar, but at the same time, totally different. Much more laid back and the level of corruption much less. I love the place, but don't know anything about job prospects.

For more info on Argentina, I'd recommend that you have a look at http://baexpats.org/ A forum pretty much dominated by US expats, but a very useful insight into the country.

BritTom

Thanks for reply, SteveDW. It got that impression a little that Argentina is like a European city but doesnt function quite as well or maybe just not for expats which is understandable.

devxon

Hello BritTom, I'm new here and very happy to be part of this community. I'm from Buenos aires, Argentina.

I don't know how I arrived to this webpage but here we go.

I don't recommend you to work in construction since the conditions on that job are quiet bad, instead, I think you would be very valuable as a teacher of English.

My level of English is very limited but I can't help you if you want to know where to stay, towns with good prices and other stuff.

You'll be very lucky with girls here, they love british people haha

sab23

Hi Tom

I am an expat in Argentina and I live in Rosario. I don't know how is the situation in other parts of the country but here life is a little bit easier than in Buenos Aires. As Steve suggested spend a little bit of time on the BAexpat website and I would also recommend you to sign up to the yahoo BANewComers group.
Yes, inflation is high and it's not looking like it's going to go down any time soon. In terms of employment, I have found that things were a little bit easier here in Rosario because there are fewer expats (I work in Marketing). However to be able to get a job in Rosario, you will need a good level of Spanish, but this can be obtained in a matter of months if you are motivated (or running out of money).
Teaching English may be an option but it doesn't pay much so I would look at your skills within the construction sector or other and see how you can transfer them to another kind of job. In Rosario for example, there is a current boom in the construction and a couple of the companies are foreign companies, however I am not sure if this growth is going to last much longer, probably not.
If you are serious about living in Argentina or Uruguay, I would highly recommend you to visit both countries and spend time in various cities in both countries. Life in Cordoba or Rosario is very different from life in Buenos Aires. I don't know about Uruguay... Good luck

BritTom

Thank you Devxon and sab23 for your replies.
I will have a look through those forums. Maybe teaching English would be a good start given I dont speak Spanish well yet.

elhombresinnombre

You don't say where you fit into the construction industry. Site worker? Senior management? There may be openings in the management structures of foreign operated construction companies or you might be able to carve out a niche as a builder to the expat community but you will not want to work on site in Argentina: not only because of the absence of the safety standards you have grown used to but also because it's a totally Spanish-speaking environment and you would be competing with cheap, foreign labour from neighbouring countries. By the way, there was yet another construction site-related building collapse in the city yesterday: it's happening all the time.

Many of us who were brought up speaking and writing English think that we can teach it too. The truth is that most of us don't speak and write English very well and if our Spanish teachers were as badly qualified as we are, we'd be horrified! And the moral is? Think long and hard before taking up English teaching. And find out whether your Spanish teacher is a real language teacher rather than a moonlighting shop assistant.

SteveDW

Second those comments about the construction industry. I'd say prospects for a non-spanish speaker would be about zero, and I'd doubt whether you'd actually want to work there either. How about taking a TEFL course if you're thinking about language teaching? With one you'd increase your prospects exponentially, not just in Argentina. There are plenty of intensive one month courses available. The Univiersity of Buenos Aires has an internationally recognised one, so you could do one there and build up some local contacts at the same time.

BritTom

I work as a construction site manager, for 8 years now, I started out as a plasterer so I have a few skills to help me get by, it has come in handy when travelling in the past and I need to make a few quid.
To work on site I would need good Spanish skills and learn all the technical terminoligy in Spanish too, before I do that I would like to have a holiday there first, I think teaching English is an easy way in to start but I dont have tefl or any experience.

el rubio

Hi BritTom.

I'm a chartered civil engineer who has worked in construction and done a stint teaching English in BA.

I echo all the comments about site safety and wouldn't go near a construction site there. If you're brave enough, and you have the right connections, you probably could scrape a living plastering or in some other building trade but you'll be up against big competition from Bolivians and the locals who are prepared to work in harsh conditions for a pittance.

As for teaching English, elnombresinnombre is quite right. Knowledge or ability in a subject alone does not make anyone a competent teacher and you will probably find that most people want much more than conversation. I got away with it but had to bone up on the grammar I learnt at school and always made sure I kept at least one chapter ahead of my group in the textbooks. My pupils were all educated professionals with high expectations and would have gone somewhere else if I hadn't taken it seriously and been more than just a native speaker.

That all said, BA and Argentina is a great place to be if you have the the money and support to insulate you from the rough side of life. Inflation has eroded ex-pat buying power but you can still live the good life for a fraction of the cost compared to London and elsewhere. BA is a welcoming place for ex-pats in my experience but things could be different oustide the large cities.

SteveDW

Just to echo the point about inflation. Inflation has hit hard in the last three years, and its definitely not cheap any more. Compared to the UK buying a property is cheap, but renting is not any longer. Outside the big cities the people can be very friendly to foreigners, but you'll need to speak spanish. To teach english, some kind of TEFL qualification is almost a must these days, without one you'll struggle.

BritTom

Thank you for your replies.
I didnt know construction sites were that different in terms of health and safety. That has made me think a little, but that thanks for the info I would sooner know now than find out on arrival.
Maybe I am picking a difficult country to work in.

SteveDW

Yes!!

BritTom

lol..
I want to visit somewhere where theres a chance of getting some work so looks like I may need to look at some other options.
Thank you all again for your input.
Tom.

fionamw

Don't live there, never have, only have family and have spent some reasonable time there. Those that do live there know infintely more about job prospects etc., than I... but don't allow yourself to think Buenos Aires=Argentina or Argentina=Buenos Aires. The country is wonderful, lots of people believe BA to be the Paris of the S Hemisphere etc. However, people in BA (and I mean Argentinos too) don't necessarily know much about anything further than about 50km from the capital! Definitely worth looking at as many Arg. forums as you can to get a wide picture. Oh, and I'd second the thoughts about teaching English, too...all of them! Good luck.