Any Asians expats working/living in Brasil?

Hello Meow07,

I think that you're going to find that the vast majority of job search sites in Brazil will be in Portuguese since it's the official language.

I trust that you are aware that it will be virtually impossible to get a decent job here without a relatively conversational level of Portuguese. Despite the fact that English is heralded as the "universal language of commerce" you are going to find that it is not widely spoken here, not even in the business world. I can tell you this from personal experience; I have worked with executives in many major companies in several states for the past eleven years. It is rare to find even executives that are able to communicate in English in most workplaces. It will also be extremely difficult to get by in day-to-day living without some fluency in the language since the average Brazilian speaks two kinds of English - LITTLE or NONE. How will you communicate with your co-workers, neighbors, shopkeepers?

If the fact that Brazilian laws which require employers to clearly demonstrate that they have exhausted all avenues of placing a qualified Brazilian in a job vacancy before they hire a foreigner isn't enough to make finding a job difficult enough for you; inability to speak the local language reasonably well will only make it that much worse.

If you plan on following your plans of seeking opportunities here then I would highly recommend that you start learning Portugese as soon as possible and that you consider an intensive or immersion course in order to accelerate your learning. About the only jobs readily available here to non-Portugese speakers here in Brazil is teaching their native language and these traditionally pay very poorly indeed.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Hi William,

Thanks for your reply.

Well i have been learning spanish for the past month now and i am going to start my portugese class this week so yes i do know how important the languages are. But i believe there are also set skills that many multi-national companies are looking for. I've heard that they are many chinese companies in Brasil and i am hoping that with the mandarin and the asia working experience and exposure to differnt cultures during my work experience in Singapore and Cambodia, these will be advantages if the companies are looking to venture in asia markets in the near future. This also depends alot on whether the companies recognise the need for asian talents in their company.

Everything in life is not easy. If not it will not be worthwhile.

Thanks again.