Where in Western Europe to move to?

thanks,stuckbehindadesk.
i must admit that i do make english spelling errors (im trying to improve that, but its not so easy).
one should know that i have learnt english all on my own, i have not had a day of formal english training (had german, french and latin at school) until i went to university and even there the classes were mainly aimed at people who already had english at school, so they didnt give more basic grammair/spelling instructions, rather giving lectures in advanced grammatical reseach (lexicology, etc).

but i do tend not to write "there" if its "their" or things like that. :O)

my finnish i think is the most limited of all languages that i speak, since its really hard, so it takes more time to improve. but anyway, i am happy to say that in all these years (and i live here for nearly 10 years now), not a single person tried to improve my finnish, unless i asked them to. they are just happy when foreigners make an effort to learn their language, whilst it seems some english speakers assume that one has to learn english and even speak it perfectly. in fact, when i was at first reluctant to start speaking finnish, because it demands a high level of concentration on correct forms, etc, people said "just speak or write, never mind the grammair, we will understand".

some years ago, i think it was 2004, there was a kiwi policeman visiting finland. we (my finnish friends and myself) met him in a pub by accident. well, the next day we met him (we offered to show him around) he kept correcting everyones english the whole time, so in the end what happened was that people had enough and just switched to finnish and ignored him from then on. this can easily happen in any non-native english speaking country, because nobody is obliged to speak english, people do it out of politness, english is NOT an official language in the EU.

but coming back to the original question, i dont understand why the OP doesnt try to live in bulgaria. its now an eu country, with bulgarian citizenship no permit would be required.

ah ok, i read now the answer about bulgaria..well, im afraid the general choice if even possible will be very limited.

also one should keep in mind that even in liberal countries, the gay scene is mainly limited to capitals/bigger cities (in northern europe mainly to the capital..the more north, the more conservative, except perhaps sweden).

In regards to English teaching, obviously you need to be careful about which mistakes are productive to correct and which are not.

So would it be productive to correct this?

Seriously, you come across as a truly obnoxious brat. These people have been trying to help you. I was going to continue trying to do so, but not after your series of insulting posts. Grow up, and learn some manners. Just because you aren't hearing what you want to hear doesn't mean you have the right to insult people.

stuckbehindadesk and Keti, please don't think I'm referring to you in my post above - I just want to clarify that I was speaking to epiphanieb.

Keti - I genuinely admire you for being able to communicate in 10 languages, and your English is actually quite good. :o)

I guess my mum and I will have to be all the more determined if we want to move to Western Europe. I do think that where there's a will, there's a way. :o) Another option we could explore is to try the San Francisco Bay area or perhaps southern California (not LA, though, it's too polluted)...

Gecko - Please don't waste my time with your negativity. I wasn't trying to insult anybody.

you could always consider checking out the netherlands, of course the bigger cities, they have high levels of profiency in english and it might be easier getting a job there, i dont know, but check.

epiphanieb- I'm still not sure why you should (as a native English speaker, or at least one who should be native after 20 years in an English-speaking country) need to use dictionary.com. English is Keti's fourth (fifth?) language and yet she knows a word you don't, yet you presume to correct her (however innocently or well-intentioned) on her use of the English language.

With regard to your statement 'when there's a will there's a way' I like to believe that this is true, however with regards to matters of immigration you have to be realistic. You are misinformed if you think you have much chance at all of obtaining work as an English teacher in Spain or any other EU country. The level of demand that you might find in South Korea or Japan simply doesn't exist, and there are more than enough British and Irish passport holders willing to occupy those vacancies that do appear. You have next-to-no hope of securing the necessary work permit on an Australian or Bulgarian passport. Furthermore, the recession has caused a subsequent drop in demand for private English tuition. You could of course work illegally if you are willing to countenance that 'option'.

Have you considered the possibility of training and gaining the necessary experience (while still in Australia) to teach Bulgarian? Of course there are going to be a very limited number of vacancies in this field, and you will require ample experience and training, but it is these 'niche' skills which are more likely to obtain you a work permit and subsequent residency. However, again,nobody will employ you via the internet. There are a small number of universities in Europe with departments where Bulgarian is taught and I'm sure there is occasionally some need for native English/Bulgarian speakers with a good track record of teaching experience. Your Bulgarian will of course need to be of an exceptionally high standard.

Your mother has somewhat better options- however for you I think a WHV would be the best place to start. Once again, it really needs to be stressed that your mother and yourself will be treated (and quite rightly so) as two independent adults. If she does manage to secure a job and residency then you cannot waltz in under her entitlement. Your application will be considered entirely on its own merits as you are not a dependent of your mother.

Keti - Thanks, I'll look into it.

Sbad - I don't know every English word in the dictionary (nor do most people)... I'm very glad I've learned about 'nostrification', and I do my best to be open to what other people can teach me, because everybody has valuable skills.

Thanks for the suggestion of teaching Bulgarian, but that's not a viable option for me. I'm not enthusiastic about the language, while I am very enthusiastic about writing. If I had to teach Bulgarian to move to Europe I would prefer to stay in Australia and write.

Keti - Can I ask you what are the 10 languages you speak in full? Maybe you have broken some kind of record or something. ^^

Apart from English and Bulgarian, the 0.5 is in Japanese.