In the United States, no matter how well or poorly our business is doing, we feel like we know the environment and we know the challenges. But what about trying to do business in another country, a country with a foreign language and different customs? And if that country were, say, Spain…
Having been there, I have a deep sympathy for foreigners trying to do business in the United States, especially small business owners who don’t have many trained professionals to help them.
I am a non-Hispanic who has resided in California for decades (originally from South Carolina by way of New Orleans). English is my native language. I am currently doing a lot of work in the south of Spain and spending a large part of the year there.
My job is cinematography. I am an independent producer-director with my own small production company. I am working on two shows in Jerez de la Frontera, a city located in the region called Andalucía. Jerez is halfway between Cádiz and Seville. It is a city known as “the cradle of flamenco”, which is particularly important for one of the two shows. Both shows are intended for an audience in the United States, as well as an audience in Spain.
The more ambitious of my two projects is one that I am co-writing, co-producing and co-directing with a well-known singer from Jerez. It deals with the childhood of the singer in question, Antonio de la Malena. Antonio is Gypsy (Gypsy). This means that in addition to working in a foreign country with a different language, I am working with an ethnic minority group.
But first, the language issue. As any immigrant will tell you, getting along in a country where the common language is not the language of your home can be very difficult. And to solve THAT problem, most people in Spain outside of maybe Madrid, Barcelona, and people in the tourism industry, do NOT speak English. After all, why should they?
In the four years since I started coming here with essentially no Spanish, I have mastered the language quite a bit. I am certainly not, however, bilingual. I have a foreign accent (although not as strong as at first). Sometimes I have to stop in the middle of a sentence to try to think of a word. Often, especially when it comes to a conversation involving more than two people, much of what people are saying slips past me.
In these circumstances, trying to introduce or remove subtleties from a script, trying to work with the actors or subjects of the documentary, trying to communicate effectively with the technical team, can be problematic.
In Spain, as in many other countries (do we include the United States here?), being a foreigner in itself also creates problems. You don’t know the people. They don’t know you. Many of them suspect that you are trying to take advantage of them. Many times, you wonder if they are trying to take advantage of you. And until you’ve been here a while, people assume you’ll be leaving soon, as soon as you finish whatever simple thing you came here to do. That means that it is not important for them to maintain good relations with you.
When you add the issue of dealing with an ethnic minority community, one that has been marginalized to a greater or lesser extent and does not want to allow outside influences to overwhelm and wipe out their culture, well, things can really get very complicated. .
In my case, after four years, it is clear that I will be around for a while. If your business is one that you wish to take root in that foreign country of your choice, the mere passage of time will allow you the same chance of eventually gaining local recognition. It will be especially helpful if you are renting or buying property in the area where you want yourself and your business to be accepted.
It is also important to establish that you are in compliance and that you do, in fact, have the money to pay. Don’t expect the locals to rush to your aid just because they want to partner with an American company or American person. As many Spaniards have learned, MANY foreigners here take advantage of the fact that good manners in Spain often prevent telling people, “no, you can’t do that.”
(Of course, part of the flip side of being taken advantage of is that in some cases there is now a double price system, especially when you frequent small local shops and restaurants. In these cases, a foreigner may find you/paying yourself extra for being a foreigner).
And there’s the barrier of not having the local connections for your business. Here are the obvious helps: go through your local government to find organizations in your field that are set up to help professionals.
You also need to make a real-time effort to learn the language, not just the language you need to deal with merchants, but the language for professional AND everyday language.
But that still leaves the question of different customs and the QUIETIES of language. As an example of what I mean about different customs, I will give a “local” illustration. Where I grew up, my mother taught me that you should NEVER accept a social invitation until you’ve been offered it three times. (Reasoning: The first time is spontaneous and not well thought out. The second time is out of courtesy. Only the third invite is a solid invite.)
When I moved to California, it took me several years (and many lost social opportunities) to learn that this is NOT the California custom. The same type of miscommunication occurs all too often in foreign countries.
A good way to deal with this problem is to develop a strong personal connection with a local who is someone in your field. There is a double advantage in this.
In the United States, good business practice often means following the rules and treating both people and situations objectively. Personal relationships are not supposed to be particularly important. In many other countries, however, the personal connection is probably the most important part of all aspects of life. If you ignore it, people will tend to find you cold and may be reluctant to associate with you.
The bottom line is that personal connection is not only helpful for good communication, but also very important for general acceptance. Developing it takes time and patience. The time it takes to develop this type of relationship will vary greatly depending on the situation and the people involved. In my case it has taken me more than a year but it has been worth the effort.
My own collaborator has been the key to overcoming many of my problems. He knows the language. Know the customs. He knows many of the people before we start working with them. And being a gypsy, he can deal with gypsies in a way that I can’t.
That he is extremely charming and talented is also very helpful. That he loves working as a cinematographer is also a big plus.
In short, in addition to working like a dog on your foreign language skills and learning about the customs of the area where you plan to do business, as well as putting down visible roots by staying for a while and buying or leasing property. In addition to asking for help from the local government or appropriate service organization for your task, and in addition to putting in the effort to learn the language, when working in a foreign environment, it is VERY helpful to have a talented person from the area by your side. equipment.
Having said that, I must also add that doing business in a foreign country can be a very rewarding experience. It’s a good way to stretch yourself in a business sense and also in a personal sense. Good luck and have fun. May you have all the success.
