What I learned as a non-native English UX Writer
One year ago, I moved from Brazil to the Netherlands to start a new chapter in my career as a UX Writer: to write experiences entirely in English at a global company. Since then many people have reached out to me to learn more about my so-called adventure, so I’ve been rehearsing writing about this for a while.
Why spill the tea now?
Do you know how sometimes you just need a little push? This push happened thanks to the amazing Lucia Kabia and her interactive session on inclusive communication for UX Writing. The session was part of an initiative organized by UX Writing professionals who aim to create a lively community of the discipline here in Amsterdam. The idea is that in every gathering we can have important discussions to strengthen ties and share knowledge.
At the beginning of the session, Lucia asked us to try to describe her based on our biases. Things like her age, her gender identity, her sexual orientation, etc. And then she asked us to guess her nationality. A lively discussion started around this, to the point I heard other Brazilian UX Writers sharing some sad experiences that even bordered on xenophobia.
That touched me a lot, because I remember experiencing something similar while going through my search for a job abroad. And I almost gave up my dream, if it weren’t for Dragana Milovanovic’s article “How not being a native English speaker makes me a better UX writer”.
All of this made me realize I had more to share than I thought about this new moment in my life, which could help people with the same dreams and objectives as me. Wanna know what I learned?
1. It’s not only about writing
Of course we need to write and have an advanced understanding of English grammar rules, and so on. Just like we need when working with content in our native language. But it is not only about that. During Lucia’s presentation, we got to the same point Dragana questions in her article:
“What does it really mean to be a native speaker? What knowledge does it guarantee?”
And I believe you might already know at this point that being a UX Writer is much more than just writing copy! It’s about finding a way to align our product’s goals with our users’ needs and make the whole experience as meaningful and fluid as possible.
Writing is just one more way of communication, and that’s what we as UX Writers really need to master: how to tell a good and convincing story, how to present your rationale behind every decision, and why your proposals will solve that problem and improve the user experience.
And for that, we have a handful of tricks like methodologies, processes… and our personal experiences!
UX is about experiences, after all! And when I say experiences, I mean the ability to put ourselves even more in the users’ shoes — especially when writing for non-native English speakers. Being in the same boat, I will always seek and advocate for plain language, for options that are free of jargon (when and if needed, of course). If I have to reread a sentence twice, for instance, I might conclude that it’s ambiguous or misleading and that I will need to improve that.
2. You will never know everything. And that’s okay!
Opening my heart to you now. One of the things that bothered me the most at first was that I wouldn’t allow myself to make grammar mistakes, either when speaking or writing. After all, I’m a writing professional. “What will they think if I say something wrong?”. So I would be so concerned about not making mistakes that I would get nervous, forget words, and obviously make mistakes. The law of attraction and all that, you know.
So one day I ended up sharing that concern with a colleague. And this is how she responded:
“Stop right there! You communicate so well, and when you write you don’t make mistakes. You should be proud of yourself for being capable of writing experiences and communicating in a language different from your own, and on top of that making yourself so clear!”
Gosh… I didn’t know I needed to hear that until I did. Just like that, all the weight I put on my shoulders went away!
I mean, I don’t know all the English words that exist (especially if we’re talking about classic literature!), and I’ll never know them all, no matter how proficient I am. I will still be learning a new word every day. Which is good, because I love learning!
The difference is that I don’t let the fact that I might not know something push me back anymore. If I’m chatting with a stakeholder and I don’t know a word they used, I will ask them, and that’s it! I stopped worrying about being perfect and neat. After all, part of my job is to look for the best way to communicate something! It’s about the user, not me.
So yeah, I guess I don’t even need to say my confidence has increased and my resourcefulness has improved even more.
3. Your knowledge and background are super valuable
I can’t speak for all nationalities, but in Brazil, we have a thing called the Mongrel Complex. Quoting Wikipedia, this term expresses the “collective inferiority complex reportedly felt by many Brazilians when comparing Brazil and its culture to other parts of the world, primarily the developed world (such as Europe or North America).”
That feeling can show up in many things, including how we see other job markets. For some reason, I stupidly assumed that Brazil was thousands and thousands of miles behind in UX Writing.
And here I am, months later to prove me wrong! I’m having challenges similar to the ones I had in Brazil. Now I can contribute to challenges here, thanks to my experience in previous jobs. There I was again, thinking that what I knew was too obvious and silly. Guess what, it wasn’t!
I’ve been learning more and more each day. Either about English grammar rules, the product, or processes and methodologies. But I have things to share too, and my teammates and peers see value in that. It’s a two-way street!
4. Your team trusts you, and so you should too
I would lie if I said that I don’t feel insecure about writing experiences in a foreign language. I’m afraid to say that this feeling might never go away. But there are a few ways that might help you to get around this — and that’s regardless of the type of job you have. One of them is “believe in you”. I know it might sound super cheesy, but it is true. Every time my “beloved friend” impostor’s syndrome comes into play, I always try to look for the signs that prove my thoughts are complete nonsense. For example, I constantly have positive feedback from my leaders and peers about my work and impact on the team. Why am I second-guessing myself when no one else is?
So if you’re feeling like you have no value or that you’re not good at what you’re doing, ask for real feedback and see for yourself! And of course, there’s always gonna be room for improvement in some areas. But that’s where fun and beauty lie in life, am I right?
The summary is: don’t give up!
If you’re looking to be a UX Writer abroad while not being a native English speaker… Just keep swimming. You might not succeed at your first interview, or second, or third. But you need a few no’s until your first yes arrives!
If possible, ask companies to give you feedback on what you need to improve. Learn from your mistakes, and do better. If you don’t have a skill, go after that. Just don’t give up!
Beyoncé got numerous no’s too. And well, look at where she is now!
Unfortunately, I’m not her! But if you want to chat more about moving abroad, you know where to find me!
Oh, and a special shoutout to my dear friend and teammate Samira van Rhee for giving a piece of her brain with incredible inputs and reviewing skills!
