Lidija

Hi there, if anyone needs help translating any formal or fiscal document at any time, or help with any phrases or sentences, let me know. Am fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and know how difficult it is when you first move to a new country, so let me know if can be of assistance. Thanks Lidija

Sue

Hi,

Is this your line of work?

Sue

Lidija

No its not my line of work, but i feel sorry for all expats coming to spain who need help with language....want to offer my services really

Sue

So you aren't charging or anything like that?

zanzina

sue, the country has crippling unemployment so if this person is looking for work or will offer for free I admire them for trying to help this country out one way or the other. I would happily pay someone to help me fight through beauracratic jargon I receive from the ajuntamento.....so we need fighting spirit and encouragement to people who want to help be it free or a few euros

Sue

By all means I understand that, it's just members aren't allowed to use posts to tout for business, so hence why I was checking. If the OP is just offering to help peeps for free then that's fine.

angiescarr

I agree. When we first arrived here, even though I had A level Spanish and my husband spoke a bit, we had difficulty understanding a builders quote and working out whether he was ripping us off. It's hard to find someone who'll just help you through that on a friendly basis (maybe with just a little gift afterwards;-)) We were desperate, but did eventually find someone who was an English teacher and we paid him his hourly rate as a teacher to help us. Because there aren't reasonably priced specialists in this area. Of course anyone can ask for help free on this site. But otherwise how do you know? and most people don't want to be 'troublesome' posters. As I said. There should be more information exchange for people looking for or offering work. Fairly recently someone offered a skillshare option on this site. Maybe that's the way to go...

Eg We need help learning to plaster walls. (true) We (as a couple) can offer computer support, or I teach miniature crafts... would that kind of post be more acceptable Sue?? Perhaps OP needs help with something.

lunacrout

I know it's not perfect by any means, but to get the gist of something I find the google translate tool invaluable

agoreira

Better than nothing, but at times it's result can be laughable, and as the OP specifically mentioned "formal or fiscal documents" I think it's important it's 100% accurate.

Mitzyboy

Posters are not allowed to solicit for business or advertise within threads on the forum, although they can have a signature that fits within the rules.

It may seem harsh, but you only have to look at some other places to see why. They are filled with spammy messages all over the place and it makes reading the threads actually quite difficult. So .... it's not done to deprive you of any help, it's just to keep the boards "clean", otherwise once one person does it every one else joins in. It's quite acceptable to recommend someones services that you have used by the way.

lunacrout

I know - that's why I specifically said that it was useful to get 'the gist' of something - no way would I recommend it as a final translation solution

fionamw

So where does the OP's offer stand (if not looking for reward?) ... cos as others have said, it might be very welcome for some of us, and we don't want to frighten her off now, do we?!

Sue

Well people can utilize their forum signatures (as you have) and then every time they post it is displayed, but it doesn't detract form conversations in the thread. That's probably the best in terms of exposure. (and I might add something that some other online communities don't allow ) We've also got the Connections forum and the links section.

There's also nothing wrong with someone posting and saying they need help with something, or asking members if they can recommend anyone. The only time it becomes a problem is when someone uses the community to promote their own business/service and then just touts for business all the time. All that is is self-serving and is not in the spirit of BE.

Sue

Sue

No, we certainly don't.

jdr

Well there will be one of two outcomes, the poster will return to help for free, or the poster will not and then you know that Sue was right.
Maybe it is a genuine offer, but I lost count of the spammers I banned on here, members don`t realize the amount of work the admin and mods do in the background to keep the site running smoothly.
As is being said, read the site rules and put your link in the signature then it doesn`t affect anybody unless they need to know and then they can click on the link.