The Most Neglected Step when Planning a Move Overseas

The very first thing you should consider once you've made your mind up as to where you are going to live overseas might surprise you. The many letters we receive from potential expats always begin with the theme of cost of living. While important, most who contact us in our adopted home of Guanajuato, Mexico, never get past this economic issue. It is as though the economic issue is the most important point in the whole expatriation adventure. We answer their pleas with the statement that if you downsize your American lifestyles, live as close to "going native" as is humanly possible and comfortable for you, then you will do fine economically.

However, in Mexico, we rarely, if ever, hear from those who are concerned with what we regard as the First Stepâ€"the languageâ€"when moving to a country where your native tongue is not the predominate language.

I've also wondered if those Americans who move to any country in which English isn't the predominate language are concerned with the linguistic issue. The answer is, apparently not. I talked recently with a retired Foreign Service Officer who not only served in the Foreign Service but also who was raised in a family where her parents were Foreign Service employees. The story she told was the same with slight variations on the same main, monolingual themeâ€"language is at the bottom of the list when moving overseas!

The expatriation phenomenon in Mexico is predominantly composed of baby-boomers who are rapidly finding out retirement in the U.S. is going to be all but impossible unless you are in Bill Gates' will. A smaller segment of the American expats in Mexico are those who work here or who have mobile enough jobs and can have a great adventure in another land while making a living via the Internet. It's what I do. I send stories to publishers in America and my books surf the email waves to those who want to buy my manuscripts. But, most of the Americans and some of the Canadians are "retirees" who, for the most part, never learn Spanish.